Got back last night from Alaska, stayed for 6 days at Salmon Run Excursion lodge located in Excursion inlet, what a awesome place. me and my wife had a great time, caught some monster halibut, salmon, cod and rock bass. Jared, the host and owner has some great halibut spots about 10 minutes from his lodge and we caught salmon right off the dock in the evenings. the food we had was great, some thing different every night and morning that was very good, I think I put on 10 lbs.
All I can say is Alaska is a awesome place and I will be going back again soon, very soon. here's a couple of pics of the halibut we caught.
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Congratulations Chuck, I'm sure you had a great time.
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Thanks for posting your report and pics Chuck. Nice halibut, how large was that big one? Sounds like you and your wife had a great time.
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the big halibut was 150 and the the other was 73. they were caught 5 minutes apart.
my wife caught her's and we got it in and I dropped the line and made 2 jigs and fish on, the fight lasted 45 minutes. then our host went to the same spot 15 minutes after we came in, and he landed a 180 pound'er.
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Very nice! I'll be up there in a few weeks. Seward however.
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Looks like an awesome trip, thanks for sharing the tale.... Do they send you out in a boat and let you do your own thing, or are you guided? I assume they give you gps coordinates if you do your own thing... Sounds like fun... Can you troll for the salmon as well? When I was up last, there was so many salmon jumping all over as we were heading to the halibut grounds I was wishing I could do my own thing and troll for salmon too.... We took a cattle boat out so we just got to line the rails and fish with extra heavy gear, it provided good food, but not a lot of fun... Is that outfitter pretty expensive? Thanks J
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yea we had our own boat with gps depth finder to use and did our own thing they took us out the first day in another boat and set us up and then they left. they fixed us breakfast, lunch and dinner. we trolled for salmon in the early morning and anchored for halibut at noon.
salmon run is priced very good, and the lodge is awesome, look up their web site and check it out. salmonrunexcursion.com here's a couple of numbers you can call.
Jared long, 801-557-9714, or Scott long, 801-231-1052
tell them Chuck Peck sent you.
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Thank you that sure sounds like a great trip. Did you have to book a long time ahead? How was the big halibut for eating quality? I always hear they aren't as good, but I wonder if that is just what the guys that don't catch a big one tell themselves to try and feel better. How did you get that big halibut into your boat? Did you have a gaff or really big landing net? I think I'll add that trip to my bucket list and start saving up. Thanks again. J
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bring some hali steaks sunday and lets do shore lunch. wish phillis could have gotten that rodeo on tape... im still smiling about that story!!!! funny chits.
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that second pic has a toad halibut!
More pictures please!
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Just curious on the type salmon you were catching, the wife and I don't care for the kings or pinks for eating but like the silvers or sockeye. We went a couple yrs ago to Seward and Deep Creek for our trips. Hoping to book another trip back up in a yr. or two. That sounds like a neat place you were at, can't pull the site up here at work but I'll try it when I get home. Thanks for posting.
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Nice shirt
] Even better fish and pics though!! What a spectacular trip, your making me super jealous over here.
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the salmon we caught were hump back and pink and one silver.
the big halibut's meat is awesome tasting but the smaller ones are a little better.
the salmon fishing is better in Aug, the salmon we caught were 7 lbs. up to 12. and one that broke my rod was big.
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Sounds like a king came to play if ya broke your rod. Thanks for the info. J
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[#0000FF]Hey Chuck, glad you and Lady P got in a good trip. Nice "buts"...nothing personal.
Hey, if you broke a rod you should take it back to the guy who made it. Maybe you can get him to make a new and better one.
Oh yeah, remember: Fish don't break lines or rods. Fishermen do.
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Thanks for the reply, we found the smaller halibut were better eating (30 to 50 lb.) The outfitter we went with was originally from Farmington and he told us the larger halibut tend to get worms in the meat. I did find several worms in some of the fillets we brought back. We didn't have any big halibut with a 74 and a 92 pounder being our largest. The next time we go back up we will go in August or Sept. for the silvers.
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All of the bottom fish get worms in the meat right along the gut lining. Pretty rare that the worms ever extend more then about 1 inch up into the meat from where the gut sack is. So with a big halibut you will lose a few pounds of meat. For the cod you might have to chuck half the fish cause they are all one long gut sack. [
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The chickens, (halibut less then 30 lbs) are the best for grilling, roasting, or pan frying. The halibut 30 lbs - 70 lbs are hard to tell the difference in the fillets and will eat well any way you cook them. The big mamas (and pretty much all halibut over 100 lbs are female) are still great eating, but you need to chunk the fish up into 1-2 inch pieces all the way down the fillet. The biggest problem with the great big fillets is that they are thick so the cooking takes a lot of time if left in big pieces, and your seasoning can't get into the center of the big old filet. By slicing them down they will cook just like the smaller fish filets and your seasoning will get well incorporated into the meat.
I have butchered a few thousand halibut in my time, and learned some pretty good tricks along the way.
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[#484848]Good fish Chuck. [/#484848]
[#484848]Do they have facilities for you to fly your own float plane directly to the lodge or do you need to ferry from Juneau?[/#484848]
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we had a small 6 seat'er plane fly to the cannery that is their, and land on a dirt road and then had a 10 minute boat ride to the lodge. we were hoping for the pontoon plane and land on the water, oh well.
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glad you like the shirt, I might have to get a new one, that one has some blood stains now.
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