Salmon Fishing

[Granny137]

DH wants to do some salmon fishing while we are on our Princess cruise in Alaska. Are the excursions offered by the cruise line the best or should he make another contact while on shore? Any opinions on choices here?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[texastravelers]

We ate lunch with a guy that had booked the Princess trip out of Ketchikan, and he seemed quite pleased.

[TeeBuccs]

We had a very successful and fun-filled fishing excursion in Sitka back in June. Managed to catch 6 king salmon - yummy!

 

I did notice that the cruise ships use the independent boats and captains that do not have other charters already booked. We booked our trip through the cruise line, but at the pier they just had locals lined up waiting to take us out. Our captain explained he usually books charters on days when the ships aren't in port so that he can take advantage of always being busy.

[bfwraw]

We're sailing to Alaska on the Oosterdam on 9/9. My DH and I are considering taking the fishing excursion in Sitka. Our concern is that they mention the captains using downriggers and the passengers having to rotate the rods. Did you do this and if so, do you get much time to actually fish? We're thinking of a half-day trip which has only 3 hours actual fishing time. We did contact one charter privately and they said the same thing about having to book through the ship, but that you can request a certain charter. Congratulations on your catch!! Do you remember the name of your boat?

[CStorm]

Just a word on salmon fishing. We went last week in Ketchikan and kings were gone. I don't know about other areas. We caught some pinks and one coho/silver. We didn't have them sent home b/c they're not that great. If you want kings, make sure they are still in season wherever you decide to fish. We took an independent excursion from the recommendations on this board. Ken with Northern Lights Fishing

[southerngal05]

Just a word on salmon fishing. We went last week in Ketchikan and kings were gone. I don't know about other areas. We caught some pinks and one coho/silver. We didn't have them sent home b/c they're not that great. If you want kings, make sure they are still in season wherever you decide to fish. We took an independent excursion from the recommendations on this board. Ken with Northern Lights Fishing

 

How was your fishing experience overall with Northern Lights? Did everyone have the opportunity to catch something?

[wheretocruise]

My husband went out fishing in Ketchikan. Ken at Northern Lights was teaching in school in September so he hooked him up with a coop. My husband caught three silver (I think) salmon and others on the boat caught some too. All together, I beleive they caught 8-9 fish total between 4 people fishing. This was in September when fishing slows down.

 

We are going again in May 2007. I emailed Ken and he indicated this is a very slow month. Kings are out but very few. DH will be trying in a few ports as this is how I got him to agree to the 13 night Alaska trip. :)

[MamaQuack]

We booked our own directly thru Sitka charters. It was me, hubby and the kid (15) and I did not want to share! Hubby and I have fished a lot in the Bahamas but never in Alaska. We wanted our son to have the thrill of catching something 'big'. We booked a 6 hours salmon fishing and within 2 hours had boated 12 nice silvers and 6 pinks (hey, our cats love them!!!) We loved it. We were on Swell Times with the amazing Cap Mike who I highly recommend. We told him we had enough. He wanted to stay out and try to get us a king but we were not greedy and very, very happy with what we had. There were boats all around us who were clearly catching nothing. He took us to a floating cleaning station where we met Earl, the local sea lion - what a hoot. It was worth every penny and now we have a freezer full!!!

 

We've been to Alaska 4 times and it always seems to rain in Ketchikan so that is why we picked Sitka for fishing. Glad we did because when we hit Ketchikan on July 31 the rain was coming in sideways!

[novamatt]

Hello All:

 

We were on the Oosterdam and booked the 1/2 day fishing through the cruise ship in Sitka last week on 8/9. Since its a tender port, they gather all the fisherman early and got us off the ship first. You go to the Dock and they assign boats. First by families and then parining up groups. We ended up on the only boat with 6 people. It was three groups of 2, but we each got our own pull. We travelled out about 10 miles into Sitka Sound. It was pretty rough and my wife was a little queezt but stay composed.

 

Our captain had siad it was already getting late in the season, but that poeple were still catching some King Salmon. Our boat ended up with 3 King Salmon, one silver, a bunch of rock fish and some baby flounders. Overall it was successful since I caught one of the kings.

 

We were back in port at 11AM. Fished for close to three hours. The captain was very happy that we got three King's. So September might be slower. I would reccomend it, but might get concerned of the late part of the season.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Matt

[cruisinlady]

Hi. My DH and I are booked with True Alaskan Charters next week for a combo salmon/halibut fishing trip in Ketchikan. Prices were comparable to other independent charters and since we wanted to get the best of both types of fishing we were happy to find this combo trip. I know the king salmon are all but good for this season, I'll be happy to catch a nice sized halibut. I do get sea sick and will be using the patch for most of our 2 week land/cruise tour. Between the buses, airplane, train, and boats I'll definitely be putting the patch to the test. Hopefully, we'll be shipping our catch home. Also, my DH and I will be the only people on this charter. Should have plenty of room to fish without bumping elbows with a lot of people. From what I've read on these boards, the charters booked thru the cruise ships are overcrowded. Not my idea of a good time. I want some one on one fishing time.