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Random Quote: If you want to catch fish, you have to drink like a fish...... Duh...or is that think like a fish???
Just curious as to if any of you are planning, or have planned a fishing trip for salmon or halibut in BC or Alaska this upcoming summer? Or if any of you went last year, love to hear some stories/pictures. All the best,
I am interested in any Lodge recommendations in Alaska too. My son and I would like to go next year. I have looked around a little at the Homer site but would love to hear some first hand recommendations
BC is cheaper, and just as good of fishing. But I am bias...however, last year we had a lot of clients that had been to Alaska and said that it was better and more consistant where we are on Vancouver Island. 100% of our clients limited out on halibut last year anyway. But I'm not trying to advertise...just want to hear some great stories...as I'm starting to get deprived of fishing now that the season is over!!
David
Serengeti Fishing Charters (welcome to google it haha)
If this isn't advertising then what is? Seven posts to date and two are on this ad.
You've mentioned that in your personal opinion, your location is better than Ak.. It's understandable that people limit out since there's a two fish a day limit with a possession limit of three fish. You forgot to mention that the halibut average 12-25 lbs. on Vancouver Island. I looked into going last spring and found it a bit disappointing, plus you can't beat the post card views that Alaska offers. But then maybe I'm bias.....
My story is that there's nothing like fishing on the kenai peninsula. Post card views around you when fishing, clamming at negative tides, and being taken back by the view of the mountains at the Homer spit. If I never caught a fish my trips up there it would have still been worth it just by what you saw looking out your window. I almost forgot I got tired of eating fish with all the halibut and salmon we shipped back. Looking back my one regret is that I didn't do more trips like that with my father.
Give a man a fish and he eats for one day, teach a man to fish and he goes to Alaska he'll get sick of eating fish. Don't even get me started about the other seafood.
I just joined 2 days ago? Am I suppose to have thousands of posts?? I could do a whole bunch of one liners like many..but there is no point in that. And clearly you have never been to BC, or if so you weren't paying attention, as it's gorgeous!! Most beautiful place I've been and I've been all over the world hunting and fishing...including Alaska. And I'm assuming you are talking about Alaska where the limits are far less generous than in BC....because if not then you have not done your homework. And I'm not trying to spark a Alaska vs BC debate...just trying to straighten out some facts.
And I am lucky in the father sense, as that is who I do all my fishing with. So every day out on the water (and competing ) with him, I feel very blessed.
I just joined 2 days ago? Am I suppose to have thousands of posts?? I could do a whole bunch of one liners like many..but there is no point in that.
David
I posted my previous coment about you using this site to advertise your business after doing a yahoo search instead of googling you. You've been busy joing and posting on message boards the past two weeks now that your season is over.
Is this how you drum up next years customers? When should we expect the pics to follow? Could you be sure to include a fair mix of halibut and salmon pics. Because at texasfishingforum I recall only seeing salmon photo's.
You can't just give a blank statement of fishing regs between Ak and B.C. since the region of Ak a person fishes greatly impacts catch limits.
Well you were refering to the Kenai, and there it is 2 Chinook's all year. And for salmon other than Chinook's it also varies in BC. But other than Coho (where in places the limit is 6 a day in Alaska), it is pretty much a clean sweep for BC.
And are you asking me to post pictures? Or being sarcastic...it is impossible to tell!
David
PS - Oh, and I actually joined to look for a boat to buy Nice try though!
As someone who has been to Sitka a few time fishing and have fished on my own boat on Vanouver Island every year you have my curiousity. Where on Vancouver Island do you think the fishing even remotely compares to Sitka.l As an example there has been more than one occassion I have been fishing Barkely Sound and at the same time my Brother-law has been fishing Sitka. As a rule he would boat 30-50 Silvers and Kings on a avg day where I would boat 2-3 fish?????????? Not even close. The fishing is so much better in Alaska I have been considering running the boat all the way up next summer. You must be at the North end of the Island as the South end is good and I enjoy it but my expectations are no where near that of Alaska.
I have also fished both Alaska ( elfin cove-inside passage, ect... } & the Vancouver Island area both north & south. If the timing is right Vancouver Island King salmon fishing can be very good, but have never seen it come even remotely close to Alaska, when Halibut fishing. Plenty of fish just no size. Have fished a number of different places in Alaska where I EXPECT to catch a 100lb halibut & know that a much larger fish is possible. My experience is that a 100lb halibut is unlikely in the Vancouver area. Could just be that I was unlucky, but my vote is Alaska. Sitka is exceptional, Lots of great places to fish in Southeast Alaska.
My wife and I spent a couple of days at Brooks Lodge in Katmai National Park. We stayed at Brooks the whole time we were there (Brooks is part of a chain of 3 other lodges, I think, in Katmai, and the other lodges are more remote and concentrate on serious fishing). We stayed at Brooks for 2 nights, caught a ton of sockeyes on the fly. Oh, the reason we stayed at Brooks was to see the bears, which were all over the place. Once you get used to fishing in waist deep water with a 900 pound brown bear fishing nearby, it was a very cool experience.
Those lodges in Katmai are pretty pricey, but it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for us. If I went back, I might look at a less tourist-y place than Brooks, which does get crowded with bear-watchers.
But seeing the bears congregate at the waterfalls, catching salmon in mid-air, cubs wrestling with each other, was quite a sight!
I have some good photos of that trip, but can't figure out how to post...
One other thing about Brooks Lodge - even though it's in the middle of nowhere, it is very comfortable. Good dry cabins with private baths, INCREDIBLE food...
If you've ever seen TV footage of bears gathered at a waterfall to fish for salmon, chances are, it was filmed at Brooks...
Yeah, North end of the Island here. And like I said, I'm not trying to do the whole Alaska vs. NVI thing here, but I will defend it vigorously haha. We are out of Port Hardy and Winter Harbour, and this past summer had at least a dozen clients who had been to Alaska say it was better fishing with us (aka north island). You just have to know where to go, and many, many don't. We are in to 20+ Kings daily, with the odd slow day thrown in there. 2 years ago, we would only keep anything over 25lbs-30lbs.
However, I will agree with you about the halibut. We have tonnes, but usually not any monsters, unlike Alaska anyway. Even when we catch a monster, we usually try to encourage our clients to release them for conservation purposes, as they are the large breeding females, and the chickens taste better anyway. Anywhere on the inside south of Hardy is horrid fishing...but we are north, north island haha.
I have fished both in Kodiak and in British Columbia. The styles were vastly different. The canadian lodge was very nice great food well run( Rivers Inlet) but the fishing is very slow trolling with cut bait spinning which tends to be boring. I did convince the guide to take us across the river to catch Halibit which was a 10+ mile run in a small boat. Alaska was wading in 18" of water and casting. Tremendous amount of Eagles and a couple of scares from Bears. Electricity at night for about 4 hours only very small intimate lodge nice owner Karluk. Alaska was more money more remote
River's lodges do use cut plug...however we find (and we arent that far south of rivers) that trolling with anchovy works a lot better...and definitely isnt quite as boring. That is one negative to Rivers is all the hali's are at the mouth of the inlet...so it's a ways to go get the hali's.
I am biased as I live in Alaska. I am not in the charter or tourismindustry so I have no dog in the fight. I have been on charters where we caught few fish. I have been on charters where my arms were dead the next day from non stop action. It will boil down to who and where you fish. Fish in Alaska do not jump in the boat. Technique has a lot to do with catching. With that said with just a little knowledge you can catch a lot of fish. I finally finished my first salt waterboat boat on July 29th. I went out 6 times with my family with nothing more than a chart with some likely locations marked. Final score for the season was 1 Ling, 3 rock fish, 18 silvers, 12 halibut. The last Butt was 144 lbs caught on the last trip. I fished in Prince William Sound (Whittier) twice,Kachemak Bay (Homer) once, and Resurrection Bay (Seward) 3 times.I actually caught the larger halibut in Resurrection Bay within 20 miles of the marina which is not the norm. While the catch rate may seem small I would submit there are not many places where a first time saltwater fisherman with limited knowledge of the area can catch fish on every outing and catch some decent ones at that. I also findthe area some of the most beautiful in the world.
Now as far as lodges or charters you need to get a little more specific. There are a number of nice B&B's at Seward andHomer as well as all over the Kenai Peninsula (SP). You can get a 1/2 day or day trip from any of the marina's. Most trips will start with halibut and when you limit will finish up with salmon. You can alsotake an overnight combo trip which will allow you to catch a limit on the first night, sleep until after midnight and then catch your limit for the second day. Remember it never really gets completely dark so this is an easy thing to do. There are some packaging requirements, so ensure you know the regs. These options are on the road system and allows you to fly into Anchorage and drive where you want to go.
If you are looking for an out of the way adventure there are some great fly in lodges that are only accessible by small plane. They are all inclusive and may be a bit spendy for some. They are what I consider a trip ina lifetime although plenty may do them every year. I plan on doing one for my 50th birthday with my son.
There are also options to rent a boat from PWS (Whittier) for a day and doing it your way. These are usually 18' - 21' aluminum skiffs. You can also rent fishing equipment as well.
If someone truly wants some biased info from someone that just likes to fish but is not real experienced or knowledgeable let me know. If you want me to brag about my Tolman skiff that is aone of a kind, 24' fish catching machine I can do that as well. If you want to argue and convince me that I am full of sh!t that is way to easy and has already been done. No sport there.
This is actually an interesting thread, I take the boat up to SE every few years and fish the NVI every year. We fish out of Elfin Cove and there are more springs and Coho up north. We have had days where 30 to 40 Springs were caught and released. Coho and Halibut are far more abundant in Alaska. That said I still prefer to fish the NVI, Hardy is easy to get to and the scenery along the mainland from Fife Passage to Shearwater is the best the coast has to offer. If you hit NVI at the right the fishing for springs is as good as up north with most fish over 30lbs. The guides mostly fish a little north of Slingsby inlet so your always fishing with 5 to 10 boats around you which isn't the case up north. This year was a little slow in both areas lets hope for a better summer next year
Salmon/Halibut Fishing 
