Renting your own skiff to fish with

[pipedreams62]

Hi- I was wondering if anyone has rented their own skiff and fished by themselves in one of the cruise ship ports. Thanks

 

J.M.

[sondrad]

DH and I have family in Sitka. Are you going there? Our family could probably make some recommendations.

[pipedreams62]

DH and I have family in Sitka. Are you going there? Our family could probably make some recommendations.

 

 

I would appreciate any recommendations,for skiff rental or Halibut fishing with an experienced old salt captain.

 

Thanks

 

J.M.

[wolfie11]

If you are serious about fishing, better to go out with a charter captain. You would spend most of your time just trying to find the fish, whereas an experienced local would know right where to go. Also, Alaskan waters are very cold, with extreme tides and weather conditions that can change in a matter of a couple of hours. With an open skiff you would need to be an experienced sailor to get to where the fish are.

[GlacierLady]

Seward has Miller's Landing where you can rent a skiff and go out on your own.

 

Alaska Saltwater Lodge has a couple of charter boats. I recommend them for fishing and wildlife cruises or get the best by doing both in a combo trip.

[bearbait]

http://www.cloverpassresort.com/rates.html

 

Look down at the bottom left of the page. They rent skiffs. Take a taxi or rent a car and drive out there. I usually recommend them to friends that are coming up and want to do the boat driving themselves.

 

For a cruise ship passanger it's more than do able but will require some preplanning.. Clover Pass is good people.

[Miss Bigglesworth]

I would like to bump this back up in regards to the clover pass resort skiff rentals. i did a quick search but not alot came up.

 

We are not really fishermen/women, but were thinking about renting a skiff to boat around for the day in Ketchikan. our main goal would be to see wildlife, take nice pictures and was thinking that a boat would allow us to navigate close to the shore and go where we want (truth be told kayaking would be more our style, but it does not seem like you could get far enough away in the limited amount of time we have in this port).

 

So is there enough places to 'go' to keep occupied on a boat for a 6ish hour period (port is from 7am-3pm)? could we 'beach' the boat at various points if we decide to stretch our legs and go hiking for a few minutes inland? or is this a foolish idea entirely?

[mytime53]

Tides in Alaska are immense compared to most places you are probably used to. Even locals can get accidentally stranded. If you find a boat to rent, I would suggest that you not get out of sight of it. If you get distracted and are gone for more than a few minutes, you could be swimming to get to your boat, or find it beached for hours.

 

 

So is there enough places to 'go' to keep occupied on a boat for a 6ish hour period (port is from 7am-3pm)? could we 'beach' the boat at various points if we decide to stretch our legs and go hiking for a few minutes inland? or is this a foolish idea entirely?

[AkSusan]

My advice would be make sure this is something you know how to do. Out in a skiff in the ocean.

 

Even my boss who lives in Juneau and has extensive experience on the water got caught in a Humpback bubble feed in his 16 foot skiff and to say the least, that scared the heck out of him. But since he has knowledge and the experience of being on the water, he survived without any harm. But 16 foot skiff, whale underneath and surfacing could of had a horrible outcome.

 

Susan in Anchorage :)

[bottom-dragger]

We are not really fishermen/women, but were thinking about renting a skiff to boat around for the day in Ketchikan. our main goal would be to see wildlife, take nice pictures and was thinking that a boat would allow us to navigate close to the shore and go where we want (truth be told kayaking would be more our style, but it does not seem like you could get far enough away in the limited amount of time we have in this port).

 

So is there enough places to 'go' to keep occupied on a boat for a 6ish hour period (port is from 7am-3pm)? could we 'beach' the boat at various points if we decide to stretch our legs and go hiking for a few minutes inland? or is this a foolish idea entirely?

 

getting close to shore in waters you don't know is why the renter is going to ask you for a deposit on the prop (what! it only had two blades when i got it!!)

 

the tide will be falling the entire time you are in ktn. so, if you beach your boat and are unable to physically pick it up and carry it to deep water, you're not floating off until well after your ship has cut the dock lines.

 

also, for going to shore, is your footwear suitable for stepping into 6"+ water?

 

with your limited time available, depending on the weather and water, you're going to be running flat out most of the time to get away from the influence of ktn.

 

i wouldn't recommend it to any of my friends.

[Miss Bigglesworth]

thanks for the replies. i'll knock it off my list.

 

just trying to come up with something fun to do at that port stop.

[mytime53]

I'm reminded of the year we spent in Yakutat. We had taken a new outboard motor with us, assuming we could buy a skiff. Even better, we were loaned a boat to use for the duration of our entire stay. After returning from our first day of exploring, we mentioned to someone that we had really enjoyed our little jaunt. We were looked at with aghast expressions. Come to find out, we were out at middle tide...if you didn't know where you were going, it was really only safe at low tide or high tide...when the HUGE rocks were either submerged really deep, or showing. We had angels on our shoulders that day!