08-19-2009, 05:40 AM
Just got back yesterday from my 1+week outting to Alaska and felt I should post a report here since I did ask on here for people's suggestions, recommendations and other advice.
We flew into Anchorage and stayed with a friend before catching the train to Seward the next morning. Definitely a nice way to travel with all that great scenery. We spent the day wandering town and visiting the sealife center. A bit pricey, but interesting none the less. The next morning we got serious and met our charter boat at 615am. For you wondering, we booked with Puffin Charters and were assigned to Captain Leslie on the Huntress. The boat handles 12 fishermen plus the captain and deckhand. The captain was knowledgeable and was very safety oriented at all times. The last 2 weeks had been raining hard, but produced some of the best fishing in recent memory they claimed. We happened to get some of the best weather in a month or more and the fishing has slowed way down. We had a beautiful sunrise on the way out to the halibut grounds and astounding scenery. We tried one spot and after 2 cod and a couple hits in 10 minutes the captain felt the conditions weren't right for buts and decided to move. After another couple hours to what she felt would provide the best odds, given the conditions, we quickly realized she had put us on top of them. We managed to land a limit of buts (remember there are 12 fishermen) in just over an hour plus one yellow eye. We then moved on to salmon. We ran most the way back to Seward looking for salmon. The reports we heard were that most captains were having trouble finding much fish of any kind other than rock fish. We finally set up and started drifting for silvers and quickly hooked up 4 or 5 on the first drift. We only managed to land 2-3 of them, amongst which both my wife and I managed to land one each. We then repeated the drift and continued to catch fish for about 1 1/2-2 hours. Most the fish we were catching were black bass, but we all caught and landed at least 1 silver. My wife and I both landed 2 and lost two. That left us 1 each short of a limit. I have no doubt that we would have stayed and limited everyone if we'd had time. However 2 guys from NY had a plane in Anchorage to catch at 9pm (it was 430 when we headed in) and we had to be on our cruise ship no later than 8pm. Upon arriving in Seward we gave the J-Dock processing our info and instructions to them and our charter captain, get some quick pics, and had to run before they got to filleting them. Either way the fish arrived vacuum packed, flash frozen in I.F. 2 business days later in good shape. We broke into them tonight and yes, they were awesome[
].
As for sizes, the halibut were all in the 25-35lb range with my wife tying for the big one. The silvers were estimated to be about 12-15lb a piece. Not sure the sizes on the rockfish. No Ling cod were found which I was a little bummed but hard to complain under the circumstances. I've already decided I must go back, but focus on the priority.... FISHING!!!!
[signature]
We flew into Anchorage and stayed with a friend before catching the train to Seward the next morning. Definitely a nice way to travel with all that great scenery. We spent the day wandering town and visiting the sealife center. A bit pricey, but interesting none the less. The next morning we got serious and met our charter boat at 615am. For you wondering, we booked with Puffin Charters and were assigned to Captain Leslie on the Huntress. The boat handles 12 fishermen plus the captain and deckhand. The captain was knowledgeable and was very safety oriented at all times. The last 2 weeks had been raining hard, but produced some of the best fishing in recent memory they claimed. We happened to get some of the best weather in a month or more and the fishing has slowed way down. We had a beautiful sunrise on the way out to the halibut grounds and astounding scenery. We tried one spot and after 2 cod and a couple hits in 10 minutes the captain felt the conditions weren't right for buts and decided to move. After another couple hours to what she felt would provide the best odds, given the conditions, we quickly realized she had put us on top of them. We managed to land a limit of buts (remember there are 12 fishermen) in just over an hour plus one yellow eye. We then moved on to salmon. We ran most the way back to Seward looking for salmon. The reports we heard were that most captains were having trouble finding much fish of any kind other than rock fish. We finally set up and started drifting for silvers and quickly hooked up 4 or 5 on the first drift. We only managed to land 2-3 of them, amongst which both my wife and I managed to land one each. We then repeated the drift and continued to catch fish for about 1 1/2-2 hours. Most the fish we were catching were black bass, but we all caught and landed at least 1 silver. My wife and I both landed 2 and lost two. That left us 1 each short of a limit. I have no doubt that we would have stayed and limited everyone if we'd had time. However 2 guys from NY had a plane in Anchorage to catch at 9pm (it was 430 when we headed in) and we had to be on our cruise ship no later than 8pm. Upon arriving in Seward we gave the J-Dock processing our info and instructions to them and our charter captain, get some quick pics, and had to run before they got to filleting them. Either way the fish arrived vacuum packed, flash frozen in I.F. 2 business days later in good shape. We broke into them tonight and yes, they were awesome[
]. As for sizes, the halibut were all in the 25-35lb range with my wife tying for the big one. The silvers were estimated to be about 12-15lb a piece. Not sure the sizes on the rockfish. No Ling cod were found which I was a little bummed but hard to complain under the circumstances. I've already decided I must go back, but focus on the priority.... FISHING!!!!
[signature]