Fish On!!!
Southeast Alaska saltwater fishing is world class! The magnificent marine habitats, untouched wilderness ecosystems, and pristine oceans and coastlines, enable fishery stocks to thrive in sustainable numbers. There’s plenty of salmon to catch in and around the Ketchikan area, record numbers recently in fact! Along with the 5 species of salmon, king, coho, sockeye, chum, and pink, there’s the feisty flatfish halibut, colorful and delicious yelloweye rockfish, and the lean n mean, predatory machine, the voracious ling cod. There’s about half dozen other excellent eating rockfish species (black, yellow tail, silver gray, quill back, red stripe, and dusky) that are great fun for kids to catch, delicious tablefare, and round out the fish box nicely.
(CAC does Freshwater Fishing too!)
Regulated By State And Fed’s
All fisheries are highly regulated and managed by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, (ADF&G), except for halibut, which is managed by the (Fed’s) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Each fishery and included species requires certain limits in order to preserve available fish abundance from year to year. In addition to the world class wild stocks of salmon, hundreds of hatcheries throughout the State provide millions of salmon fry, fingerlings and smolts to rivers, lakes, and ocean bays. Tens of thousands do make it back years later and enhance the numbers to be sought after by commercial and sport fishermen. Intensive management and strict regulations in its various forms by ADF&G enables a prosperous and long term viability of our fantastic fishery resource. For more information on 2014 regulations and limits for Southeast Alaska visit our “Frequently Asked Questions” (FAQ) page.
New Technique Catches Everything
Well, not really new anymore. Since hosting an innovative and proficient, professional lure manufacturer in 1990, and learning his special form of delivery and presentation, Captain Rob has mastered and fine tuned his techniques over the decades and is now sharing this knowledge and effective saltwater fishing method with every guest…much to their delight and success! Here in the Ketchikan area, with Captain Rob and Classic Alaska Charters, you’ll learn to appreciate these new techniques of locating, attracting, and catching all saltwater species of fish found in Southeast Alaska. Although we do have all the heavy gear for hunting big fish deep, we generally introduce folks to our medium to light tackle rods and reels to work productive pinnacles and littoral zones. With the lighter gear were able to work a variety tackle without the fatigue thereby reserving your strength for the enjoyment of fighting your big fish rather than using all your energy for cranking up 2 lb weights from 400′ deep like other charter operators only know how to do. Our style of saltwater fishing allows women and kids to join in the fun too without making it feel like work. Everyone loves how CAC does it! For those who are accustomed to trolling and watching rods for that bite…well, we do that too, but try to remain in pursuit of big fish rather than wait for them to come to us. When you experience the medium & light tackle techniques we encourage, you’ll understand why we’re different than all the others…, and you’ll be glad you took the time to learn OUR way of catching the big ones.
Great Expectations
Regardless of what you’ve heard about with the huge 300lb Halibut and giant 80lb King Salmon, and other monster fish stories, while many are true, they are few, and a small percentage of the overall experience of most fishermen saltwater fishing in Alaska. Halibut over 200 lbs we’ve landed of course, but most are under 100 lbs with an average of 15-60 lbs. Ling Cod season is open in our area and sizes range from 15-60 lbs. Also, Yelloweye from 6-20 lbs are frequently caught. We netted and kept a 54 lb King Salmon a few years back, have landed several others in the 50 lb class, and more in the 40 lb range. Most Kings caught aboard the Saltery C are in the 20-40 lb pound class, Cohos 10-20 lbs, Chums 12-25 lbs, Pinks 3-10lbs. The best advice on expectations of your fish catch is to have some fair goals, but most importantly it’s really about having a great time with friends and family! You’ll definitely fish as much or as little as you like, and catch a lot of dandy fish, praying for great weather and wildlife sightings helps add to the adventure and usually works! With the pressure off, and expectations fair, that’s when the magic happens…
Take Fish Home? Absolutely!
Fishing with Classic Alaska Charters, folks can reasonably expect to head home with about 40-50 pounds of filleted and packaged fish per person to enjoy for months to come. Your daily catch is processed, vacuum packed, labeled with the date and species, and then placed in the 15 cu ft freezer topside. At the end of your trip the wax fish boxes are assigned to each person and filled to the rim with beautifully packaged, frozen solid, wild Alaska seafood fillets. Doesn’t get any better than that folks! You can take the full fish boxes on the plane as checked baggage or CAC can make arrangements for you to have boxes shipped to your door via Fed-Ex at an additional charge. For more info check the FAQ page.