January 23rd 2012: According to the Ketchikan Daily News, it looks like the 2012 charter halibut regulations are going to be a reverse slot limit where a guided angler can keep 1 halibut a day up to 45 inches or over 68 inches. Although this is still not our ideal situation, it is definitely better than last years regulations so we are thankful for that.

January 20th 2012: We are happy to announce the addition of the Outlaw to our charter business in Ketchikan. This is a 36 foot aluminum charter boat that can accommodate some of the larger groups in comfort that we have had to turn away in the past. 2012 is going to be a really good fishing year, were expecting a large run of King Salmon and the halibut fishing is always great.

January 9th 2012: Just got back from a 2 week Oregon vacation where we saw the mysterious glowing orb in the sky (I believe its called the “Sun”). We returned to classic Ketchikan winter weather conditions including rain, sleet, wind and the forecast of snow. We wont be doing in Halibut or Salmon fishing for a couple months.

December 13th 2011: Rain, snow and lots of cold! We are dreaming of big King Salmon, monster Halibut and sunny weather!!!!

November 15 2011: Were getting ready to pull the boat out of the water for the winter in the next few days and put it under shrink wrap to protect it. I tried winter King Salmon fishing the other day and although it was fun, it was very cold and a bit rough. We didn’t catch any Kings, just a few incidental rock-fish when we trolled too close to the bottom. We will continue chasing them another day!

Mid August Sometime:My son Reuben caught this Silver all by himself, it was awesome!

 

September 25th 2011: The Metler group came in on the ferry and fished with me for the morning, it was really fun getting into the Silvers with them! Everyone caught fish and everyone had a good time.

September 11th-12th 2011: The fall silvers are in with good numbers and you we have been averaging between 8 and 12 in a 4 hour trip. The Ingraham’s from Texas fished with me for a couple of days and were not only excellent fishermen but alot of fun to have on the boat. They caught some beautiful silvers while they were visiting:

August 26th 2011: The Nitsch group joined me off of the Statendam to try for Silvers and were a real kick-in-the-pants to have aboard. They both caught fish, but as everyone knows, Women usually catch more!

August 10th and 11th 2011: Uncle Erwin from Oregon joined us for some excellent Ketchikan fishing! We were fortunate enough to get into a big group of feeding chums/silvers and then we even stumbled across some hungry halibut!

July 18th 2011: For the 2nd year in a row I was able to spend a couple of weeks at a remote fishing lodge providing charters for them, this was one of the happy groups:

July 11th – 14th 2011: My group of Texans (well 1/2 were Texans anyway) came and fished with me for several days and we had LOTS of fun! We caught some nice fish and enjoyed the most beautiful weather Ketchikan has to offer (sunny and in the 70?s most days).

July 10th 2011: I was able to take some of our family from Oregon out fishing and Toby caught his first King Salmon ever! Not bad considering he got off the airplane and was fishing within about an hour!

June 24th: Pastor John caught this beauty just before dark in our Herring Cove fishery, it was really exciting!

June 25th 2011: Calvin had a good day with us King salmon fishing in June!

 June 28th 2011: Today I fished with Mathew and Jeff and we had a great trip catching King’s. We landed a couple of Kings and everyone had a great time.

 

10-9-11 Update: After this last post below in July, our season didn’t stop, it just became so hectic that I wasn’t able to continue updating the site frequently. I will attempt to put up some pictures and information from the trips I can remember and my deepest apologies to the groups that I forget or leave out. Suffice it to say that 2011 was an excellent year where I caught more fish and had more groups than I had hoped for. Thanks to everyone who came to Ketchikan and chose to fish with us!

 

July 5th Nite Bite: We have had an impressive number of salmon show up right in front of downtown Ketchikan the last few nights and have had lots of fun catching both Kings and Silvers! Tonight my friend Rod and his companions came out with me and we had a really fun couple of hours with several Kings and a handful of Cohos. This is what Ketchikan salmon fishing is all about! Here is the big one Rod caught:

 

July 4th A.M. : The halibut fishing has really picked up here finally, we caught 5 legal slot-limit halibut today (under 37 inches) and 1 large halibut that we had to release (over a hundred pounds). The guests had a great time and it was really nice to see the Ketchikan halibut fishing getting better.

July 3rd P.M.: I took my niece, nephew and brother-in-law out this evening for a quick nite-bite by the cruise ship docks and was extremely happy to get into some great King Salmon and Silver fishing! We caught two nice Kings and 4 good silvers in about an hour, it was awesome! If only salmon fishing was always this easy. Here is my niece and then my brother in law.

June 28th – July 2nd: The Kings have thinned out substantially now, we are still picking up 1 or 2 a day but they are no longer our primary target. The Pink Salmon began to show up and our early run of 5 pound Coho’s are here for now (there is no telling for how long, they usually stay around for a week or two then disappear again). This is one of the rare time frames during the summer fishing season near Ketchikan where you just have no idea what kind of salmon is going to bite next.

June 27th: The Glenn’s and Kuckelburg’s joined me this morning for a beautiful sunshine filled day salmon fishing in Ketchikan. We had a fabulous trip landing 3 Kings and 4 Pinks (yes the pinks have finally arrived!) and everyone had a good time. We are drawing near the end of the King Salmon fishing in Ketchikan and will soon be inundated with Pink Salmon everywhere you look. I expect an excellent summer of Pink salmon fishing and hopefully the Silvers will arrive sooner than later also (so far I have only caught 1 on charter).

June 26th: The Watson’s joined me this morning from southern California and although we fished and fished and fished we only found one little silver for our almost 5 hours of effort. Unfortunately that’s the way it goes sometimes and the Californians were awesome about having fun anyway and keeping a good attitude!

June 25th PM: Corrie and Ani (a couple of locals) wanted to catch a King so we slipped out this evening for the Nite-Bite and although they both had a fish on, we only got one to the boat. Corrie hooked this King in Herring Cove on a whole herring in about 40 feet of water!

June 25th: This morning Izi and Calvin joined me for some really fun King Salmon fishing in Herring Cove. We got 3 fish in the boat and had a really pleasant morning on the water. Here is one of their fish:

June 24th PM: This evening I took a group of locals out for the King Salmon nite bite and we had a fabulous night! We ended up with 5 King Salmon in the boat and lost a couple of others that were fought and then lost. Overall we had a great evening and enjoyed seeing a black-bear on the beach eating grass.

June 24th: Today Brendan and Brian joined me for a very fun day fishing and they had a gentleman’s bet going for who would catch the 1st fish, the biggest fish and the most fish. Unfortunately for Brendan, Brian caught this beauty and won all 3 categories! It was a pretty slow morning fishing and we glad to see this King Salmon.

June 20th: Fished with the Scott’s today and we had a great morning! We hit a 24 pound King right out of the shoot and then were fortunate enough to score 3 more! Overall it was an excellent morning and we lucky enough to find a group of Kings in an area where we were the only boat so we didn’t have any competition. If only every day Salmon Fishing in Ketchikan was this easy!

June 16th: Today I had the Wood group from Wyoming and we had lots of fun along with some epic fishing. We fished the afternoon and ended up with 2 legal halibut, a limit of Dungeness Crab and then finished off the night with 7 nice King Salmon. It was definitely Ketchikan Fishing at its finest and the Woods were able to fish until they were tired!

June 15th: Mike and Grace from Georgia fished with us today and although it wasn’t hot and heavy, we did get this nice fish and had another good one on.

June 13th and 14th 2011: I cant remember exactly when we caught it, but at some point while fishing with Jim and David we came across a truly unique and beautiful (in its own rite) King Salmon. This fish was so special that I decided it needed its own entry and a place of honor among the fish caught in 2o11. We caught many King salmon this year and most were bigger than this one, but none were more special.

June 14th: These guys make it look easy now! David had the biggest king of the 3 day trip tonight with a whopper weighing in at 29.7 pounds. Overall we had a very good trip with lots of hook-ups and some good fights out of our Ketchikan King Salmon.

June 13th: We got our revenge!

June 12th Evening: Jim and David (from Washington) and I went out for the evening bite and it was more of the same slow fishing we’ve had all day today. We managed to get one king hooked up, but in an epic run of about a hundred and fifty feet, he managed to spit the hooks. Were going again and were going to get our revenge for that fish!

June 12th Day: We fished really hard today but unfortunately, it just wasn’t happening. We had fishermen off the Radiance of the Seas cruise ship and even though we did everything correct during the day, we didn’t hook up or even have a bite. There are rumors of Killer Whales being here early this morning (which usually means fishing will stink after that) but you never really know. This was the last day of the Ketchikan King Salmon Derby so we were fishing among what felt like a hundred other boats and I only saw a handful of fish caught all day!

June 11th: Today we had fished with Ryan and Melanie from California and boy did we put in our time! We fished the morning hard and never saw a bite! Since they were staying in town we decided to eat lunch in town and then try again this evening in hopes for the Night Bite turning on. It took some time, but finally we figured out where the fish were and what they were biting on and ended up boating 5 nice Kings (in the terminal fishery area where the limit is 6 per person). They were happy and so was I after such a slow day today!

June 10th 2011: Cindi from Montana and I went out on a afternoon King Salmon fishing trip and had a great time! We saw lots of eagles, Killer Whales and we even managed to find a couple of beautiful King Salmon. It took us a while to get on them, but at the end of the half-day salmon fishing charter we had 2 Kings in the boat: 22 and 25 pounds! Cindi had a great time and so did I.

June 5th 2011: Fishing was extremely slow today for some reason, we put in our time and did everything right but just weren’t able to connect with a fish for some reason. The Fern’s this afternoon came off the Disney Wonder cruise ship and were extremely fun and great sports even though the fishing was slow. Bob and Katrina from Texas came off the Celebrity Millinium and were a fantastic group that did everything right, unfortunately the fish just didn’t cooperate with our plans. Thanks guys and sorry it didn’t work out today!!!!!

June 4th 2011: Today was my last derby “day off” so Katie and I took our kids and went King Salmon Fishing from 8 am until 8 pm! As usual, Katie out-fished me by catching a fish roughly twice the size of mine, weighing in at just over 20 pounds. We had one other big King Salmon on today, but due to several unfortunate circumstances that happened at the same time, it escaped us.

June 2nd 2011: Fishing has been pretty slow the last few days, but today we had Barbara and Gary from Michigan on the charter and Gary was lucky enough to score this beautiful King Salmon! We were all pretty excited since it was the only fish we saw caught during our 4 hour trip. It hit on a whole herring trolled behind an Abe and Al flasher at about 40 feet deep.

May 22 2011: Today we had a family day on the boat along with some of our friends from Oregon who came on the Disney Wonder Cruise Ship to Alaska. We fished for about 3 hours and the only action we had was passing another charter boat who was fighting a fish. Its been really slow fishing for King Salmon in Ketchikan lately, most of the boats I have talked to have only caught 1 or 2 fish so far out of a number of fishing trips. We are all looking forward to June King Salmon fishing when things really start to heat up!

 

May 20th 2011: This evening I was able to take my son Reuben out for a little late night fishing action from about 8 to 9 pm. It all seemed pretty slow so I was starting to pull the gear when one of the downrigger rods exploded and started peeling off line! After a couple of intense moments trying to fight the fish and net it myself, this was the result:

Reuben was really excited and so was I to see such a nice May King Salmon!

May 20th 2011: Today we ran a halibut trip with a wonderful couple of people from Montana off the Island Princess in Ketchikan. I warned them that it was a little bit early still for halibut fishing but they really wanted to do it so we ran about 15 miles from Ketchikan and anchored on a 300 foot pinnacle that I have had some early season success on in past years. We ended up with 1 legal halibut (under 37 inches according to the new 2011 regulations) that was about 12 or 14 pounds and they had a good time learning how to halibut fish even though the fishing wasn’t too spectacular.

May 16 2011: We had quite the wet trip today with the Volz family from Phoenix but they were great sports! Lots of rain, some seals, bald eagles (of course, they are everywhere!) and some porpoises was what we saw today. We fished for 4 solid hours without a single bite and although that isn’t uncommon in May, it was still a little bit of a bummer. I talked to several other captains that were out today and unfortunately, they had the same report I did: some good wildlife but no fish. Hopefully in the very near future we will start to see some of the bigger numbers of King Salmon working their way in close to town so we can post more pictures!

 

May 12th 2011: Our charter was really great today, thanks Williams’ from New Zealand! As expected, the fishing was a little slow but we managed to find one nice King Salmon towards the end of the trip. We were also fortunate to see numerous bald-eagles and several Humpback whales putting on a show for us. Here is the catch of the day:

May 10th 2011: I was able to sneak out tonight by myself and fish that last hour of light in the evening near Ketchikan Creek for King Salmon. I marked some really good fish on the fish-finder but wasn’t able to entice a strike during my short trip. The good news is that everything is working great and there is lots more salmon fishing in my immediate future! Thursday is our first charter and I anticipate a really great season catching lots of salmon and halibut in Ketchikan.

 

May 5th 2011: We successfully got the boat in the water today and I was happy that both engines fired right up with no problems. The new ICOM VHF radio works fabulously and the boat is 98% ready for Ketchikan King Salmon fishing! Today is rods, reels and downriggers and tomorrow is fishing! On another encouraging note, I have recently learned of 2 different 50+ pound King Salmon that have been caught within 20 miles of town! Its time to go salmon fishing!

 

May 1st 2011: A huge southeast storm has blown in bringing sustained winds of 25 to 35 knots with gusts to 45 knots and non-stop rain. It feels like its time to go fishing! Unfortunately, there will be no King Salmon fishing in Ketchikan in the next few days and I don’t expect any halibut fishing here in Ketchikan either. The best we can hope for is that this storm will lay down by the end of the week and we can get out and start putting some King Salmon blood on the decks.

 

April 20th 2011: The weather is noticeably changing from the dark rain and cold of winter to the slightly less cold and rainy spring time. Were getting patches of nice weather now and the reports of people catching King Salmon are beginning to be more frequent. The newly reconditioned props for the boat are back and ready to put on and we should be in the water salmon fishing in the next 2 days! I fully expect to have King Salmon blood on the deck within the next week!

 

April 18th 2011: Blue skies and calm waters in Ketchikan Alaska, combined with the recent herring spawn mean that the King Salmon are close by! A friend of a friend caught 3 yesterday, all over 20 lbs. at a spot about 15 miles from town! Its almost time for charter fishing for King Salmon, we’re all getting excited! All the local marine fish species have started feeding on the vast schools of herring that have arrived which only means 1 thing: its time to go fishing!

 

April 13th 2011: Today we got several major boat-chores done including removing several old boat systems that are not being used (old windlass, cb radio, etc.) and just doing some general boat maintenance. The weather has been horrid the last few days with lots of rain showers and winds gusting from 15-35 knots off and on. This afternoon I was relieved to see the clouds leave and the sun poke through, the oceans calmed and the fish started calling to me. The herring have been in close to town spawning which means there are also King Salmon starting to come in and feed on those herring, so we are hoping to be salmon fishing in Ketchikan very very soon. This is also a great time of year to halibut fish in Ketchikan as you can often find some good sized halibut in close to town.

 

April 12th 2011: We are currently doing all the last minute boat chores before we splash the Parker and start trolling for King Salmon in Ketchikan Alaska. This is an exciting time of year because I get to see the season coming together: were getting days booked, ordering supplies and getting ready for a great summer fishing for King Salmon, Silver Salmon and Pink Salmon. One of the big projects I’m working on right now is swapping the Cannon downriggers off the boat and putting on some Penn downriggers. I think it will be a good switch but we wont know for sure until we’ve trolled with them for 3 or 4 weeks and caught a few hundred pounds of salmon!

 

April 10th 2011: My wife Katie was gracious enough to help me touch up the copper paint on the bottom of the charter boat so we will be ready to get out and go salmon fishing very soon! As always, it was a sticky disgusting job and I was glad to have her help. I’m hoping that all the boat projects will be wrapped up here in the next 2 weeks and we will be in the water trolling for Salmon by the end of this month!