I am getting very excited to head back South to Ketchikan!  I was born a fisherman, and built into a fishing guide.  I love to fish Ketchikan, and this time of year pulls in all directions.  Thinking ahead from logistics of shipping a vehicle from Kodiak to Ketchikan, getting myself down there, and getting the boat in top shape are some of the top of the list.  My other big task this time of year is keeping my website up to date so that you folks can find me.  Some of us “rough Alaskan” fishermen have built and maintain our own websites.  We “strain” over the keyboard throughout the winter to make sure we hit the search engines in the top spots.  This “fishing report” is one way to do that.  In fact, most people will not read beyond this, nor will they take the time to read much of the information on the rest of the website.  Most people know exactly what they want.  Ketchikan fishing charter, Ketchikan salmon fishing, Ketchikan halibut fishing, Ketchikan fishing guide…and the list goes on.  In fact, in the last month alone, there were 184 unique search phrases that hit the site.  Some were different just because “Ketchikan” is a spelling shot-in-the-dark to many people.  Ketchican is the most popular, but I have seen Ketscatchewan, Katchacan, Ketchinken, and even one of my competitors misspells it on his advertisements as Kethchikan!  Wow…you are still reading?  You must either be really interested in my complete blabbering, or really still looking for a reason to go salmon fishing or halibut fishing with this fishing guide in the Salmon Capital of the World, Ketchikan.  I cannot put it all into words.  I recommend looking over the site, look at the charter boat, look at the pictures of all the salmon and halibut from our cruise ship charters…oh my, cruise ship charters…that will be the next word bombing fishing report.  Look for it real soon!

Our Ketchikan cruise ship fishing charters offer anyone a chance to catch salmon.  Starting with King salmon fishing in May and rolling into our early coho’s and then to the outrageous action of pink salmon.  Salmon fishing charters in Ketchikan are great because our short runs to the fishing grounds and ease of access for our guests. Whether you arrive on a Disney Cruise, Holland America, Princess, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Carnival, Celebrity Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean, or any other that comes through town, we move our charter boat close to your ship to pick you up.  No long walks, cab/van/bus rides, and no wasting time to get you on the fish.  We offer licenses on the boat, drinks, snacks, and all the fishing gear.  King salmon start our season off.  They typically range from 15-25 lbs with many fish breaking the 30lb and even 40lb mark.  Depending on the area, timing, and availability of fish, we will use herring, vinyl squid (hoochies), and metal spoons while trolling.  These are the lowest number and hardest to catch of all the salmon species in Ketchikan.  The time and fighting effort put into each King Salmon makes them all a great reward.

We then roll into our early coho run and then to a mixed bag of salmon.  Some king salmon are still lurking, along with a few coho.  Pink salmon become the name of the game.  Lots of aggressive salmon converge on Ketchikan and the action can be overwhelming.  It can be hard to get all the lines in the water and avoid tangles when the pink bite hits full throttle! Doubles become the norm, with the occasional triple and quad hookup.  4 wild Alaska salmon running and dancing behind, beside, and under the boat is a situation sure to get anyone’s excitement to rise!  The limits on pinks in Ketchikan, Alaska is 6 per person, and our fishing charters yeild limits many, many times throughout the season!

Some of our groups try their hand at an extended 6 or 8 hour Ketchikan Fishing Charter.  On these trips, salmon and/or halibut are available.  We get to run a bit further from town to find fish as needed.  Having an extra 2-4 hours can make a huge difference in catches, and fish availability.  These charters typically take us 15-20 miles from town and put us into some very productive fishing areas.  Most of our cruise ship guests book a charter to focus either on halibut fishing, or salmon fishing.  Sometimes we get into it all…both on purpose, and by accident.  Halibut will come off the bottom and strike a bait being trolled for salmon, and that can be quite an interesting fight!

Arriving by cruise ship, staying in town, whatever your itinerary, we have a charter that can be customized to your group!  Contact us today for more information or to book your date with us!

Who wants to go Salmon fishing!?  Halibut fishing!?  King Salmon, Pink Salmon, Chum Salmon, Coho Salmon….we run daily fishing charters in Ketchikan, Alaska for all of them.  May and June for King Salmon, July through Sept. for all other species.  Halibut fishing is good throughout our fishing season with the best fishing from mid June to the end of August.  Cruise ship passengers enjoy a better experience with us compared to booking on the cruise ship.  We offer private fishing charters for your group, one of the newest, fastest, and safest fishing charter boats in Ketchikan, and top of the line fishing tackle from manufacturers like Shimano and Lamiglas.  Booking through the cruise line?  You may encounter poorly maintained equipment.  When you start with cheap equipment and let simple maintenance and repairs slide, you end up with drags that do not work properly, stripped gears, and ultimately lost fish.  How about a “charter boat” that has little or no electronics on it?  There is a reason we run top of the line electronics…to find and target FISH!!!  There is a standing saying between myself and the boats I work with.  You can miss a fish by a foot, or miss him by a mile…you still miss him.

When this kind of activity is below you, it helps to know.  Many boats and small skiffs are allowed to be booked through the cruise lines, and for many of them, the only part of this that they will see, is you reeling in your fish!  Don’t go “hunting” for fish…come with us on an educated fishing trip where catch rates are high. We have dependable spots that produce quality fish…and if a spot is not hitting, WE WILL WORK TO FIND FISH!  We will not sit on one halibut spot that is dead for the entire charter.  None of our boats promote laziness, as we are all experienced and active fishermen.  Most of the operators for the cruise lines do not own the boats.  Most are not allowed to go fishing on their day off with the boat they run.  This adds up to a general lack of knowledge when it comes to having multiple fishing spots.  They go to the same place as the large congregation of boats and operate a charter based on chance rather than knowledge.  Do not risk your fishing trip by booking the unknown.  Book a charter boat that is 24′ or larger. Book a boat that has up to date electronics.  Book a boat that offers top of the line fishing gear.  Book a charter that you can speak directly with the captain of the boat.   WE OFFER ALL OF THIS! We offer private boats at prices that beat the cruise lines, and on boats that will not leave you feeling cramped.  Contact us today for more information or to book your Ketchikan Salmon Fishing Charter or Ketchikan Halibut Fishing Charter!

Just a quick post with a picture of Ketchikan salmon fishing in July.  Late July is a great time to catch your Alaska salmon with us.

We had a great year of charter fishing this year. Now it is time for hunting. We went to Delta Junction and made an attempt to moose hunt. I never thought that I would actually say that we almost went moose hunting. It’s funny that pretty much the only thing that messes up our fishing in Ketchikan is weather, and having to do with how rough the water gets. Well, the water got us again. In the unit that we are allowed to hunt, you must cross the big Delta River. The three weeks that preceded us going up there had been in the single digits or below zero. I figured this would make the river passable but I was sorely wrong. Although near the banks had been frozen the main channel of the river was still pushing just as hard as it usually does. We could not cross the river and get into the unit so that is why we almost went moose hunting. Our journey however was filled with many moose and caribou sightings. It was enough to drive us nuts to see all the moose on the hill across the river and to have ones that were in photo range of our cell phone cameras. In three days we saw 40 to 50 moose that we could not take because they were in the wrong unit. It made me think of that old country song that said “Standing knee-deep in a river, and dying of thirst.” I’ve not had much of a chance to go out fishing in the saltwater in Kodiak, however we did make one trip that we did catch halibut, lingcod, and rockfish all while we were trolling for salmon.

First salmon charter of the year produced a beauty! Caught at 74 feet on a left hand rolling whole herring behind a KoneZone Chrome and Chartreuse flasher.

We still have one great block of dates in June for Kings.  If you are looking to come fishing for a few days and haven’t booked yet, this is the time! We have a week long block from June 8th through June 14th.  This is a great time to fish Kings and Halibut.  It includes a weekend, so if you are looking at a few day trip before returning to work, we can do it.  Remember, Ketchikan, AK is very easy compared to other destinations.  From Seattle, we are only a 90 minute flight on Alaska Airlines.  No float planes, no long drives.  We have plenty of guests from Washington, Oregon, and California, and even Texas that come for a short stay over a long weekend and get a ton of fishing time.  If you would like to talk to us about putting together a trip, contact us today to learn more!

Here comes spring!  We have been getting some great weather and the fishing continues to improve.  Less than 2 weeks until the first cruise ship arrives in Sitka (my winter home and fishing grounds) and the street sweepers are out and the downtown buildings are being painted after a tough winter.  We broke records for snow all over Alaska, and had a record number of days in Southeast that had winds of 60 mph or more.  We recently got out halibut fishing again and had great early season success.  We took 3 halibut, a limit of big rockfish, and a dozen pacific cod.  It yeilded about 30 lbs of white meat for the freezer and the frying pan!  We have been taking a ton of bookings and the schedule is filling up…especially in June.  June is prime time for King salmon and the halibut typically show up in great numbers by mid month.  If you would like to fish in Ketchikan, contact us early to book your date…this time of year, dates are filled quickly, so don’t take a chance on missing out on the fishing trip of a lifetime!

On Thusrday, we ventured out and set some crab pots.  SE Alaska in true form gave us sun, wind, rain, hail, snow, flat calm, and more wind in just a short time.  We set some pots shallow and some deep and gave them a 24 hour soak.  On the way in, we fished close to town for halibut.  We had a few bites, but just as we would get a scent trail working, a 40+ mph gust would blow us off anchor.  After the third time of that, we decided that halibut was not happening.  Yesterday, after a day long soak, we pulled the pots and were quite happy with the results.  We ended up with 25 keepers, and we took them home and ate them immediately!  No halibut fishing, or salmon fishing.  Just crab fishing!

Just a pre-season halibut fishing update…last week, we fished for just a short time and picked up one nice 32lb halibut along with a good batch of other bottomfish.  This past weeked landed us 4 “chicken” halibut on a half day of fishing.  They are starting to enter Sitka Sound following the herring and other bait in.  In the next couple of weeks, we should be reporting bigger numbers and some larger fish as the halibut make their way closer to town.  We are booking trips almost daily now, so it is a good time to contact us, check availability on your date, and get your fishing charter booked.  Every season, we have to turn people away because we are already full, and at times, every boat is already booked in town.  Don’t lose your chance to fish for salmon or halibut in Ketchikan, AK, call us today!!!

Winter Halibut Fishing