Farewell Captain Jaime & Welcome Baby Lauren Chute

Farewell Captain Jaime!

After 7 years of working in Sitka, 3 as a deckhand and 4 as a captain, Jaime Teal has decided to trade in the helm to pursue a career in environmental business in his native state of Colorado. Jaime first heard about Sitka from his friend and our former skipper Bo Breuner, who spent 7 years working for AU. Jaime began as a deckhand for Captain Mark Diaz at Horizon West (our friendly neighbors on the dock) before taking the helm at AU in 2018.

While deckhanding Jaime spent the winters working in ski towns and traveling abroad. During the captain years, he spent the winters doing avalanche mitigation and working as a first responder with the Breckenridge Ski patrol.

As Jaime tells it, “I was born and raised in Colorado, but Sitka is where I grew up. I’ve fostered some of the most important relationships in my life in Sitka and it’s going to be extremely tough not to call this home for part of the year anymore. There’s nowhere in the world quite like Southeast Alaska.”

We at AU will miss Jaime as well. Like all our captains, he fished hard and effectively. Between the loud music and Jaime’s distinctive voice, you could always tell when his boat Larus was nearby. Echoes of fun always boomed across the water from Larus. We thank Jaime for all his hard work and service to AU. It was a fun ride.

We’ll leave the last words to that distinctive voice: “I want to thank everybody I fished with for the endless stories I’ll be able to recount for years to come. I’d like to thank everyone at AU and HW, especially Chuck and Tom for letting me captain for them.”

Welcome to the AU Family, Baby Lauren Chute!

There’s a new member of the Angling Unlimited family. Lauren Kay Chute was born on October 9, 2021, at 3:38 am in Sitka, AK to Spencer and Alli Chute. She weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and measured 19 inches long. She shares her birthday with her grandfather – Spencer’s dad. Lauren had her first boat ride at 1-week old.

Lauren’s parents, Captain Spencer and Alli met on the job at AU in 2015. Spencer was (and is) a captain and Alli was a hostess. The dating didn’t begin that summer, but Spencer was smitten enough to drive from Alaska to Minnesota to take Alli on their first date. An engagement followed and they began living year-round in Sitka in 2017. They were married in September of 2018. Spencer, Allie, their Labrador Kota, and Lauren now live in Sitka full-time where Spencer spends the summers doing an excellent job of captaining for AU and works as a hunting guide in the offseason. Alli works as a registered nurse in the local Emergency Department.