Big Halibut Option
For the 2024 season, Angling Unlimited offers your group the opportunity to keep a large halibut through the Guided Angler Fish (GAF) program. Your GAF-landed halibut can be any size and it does not count toward your daily bag limit of one per person per day. As a bonus, you can keep a GAF halibut on closed Fridays, which begin July 19 and run through the end of the season.
How It Works:
AU leases commercial quotas through an individual quota shareholder or through a broker. The cost of the lease is approximately $400 per GAF permit, which is good for one halibut of any size. This is not cheap, and we need to pass the cost on to interested guests. The supply is not limitless. It can take as long as two weeks to secure additional permits. We at AU will do our best to manage on an “as needed” basis, to assure that all groups can participate if they choose to, however, this will be challenging. Ordering in advance is the only way for you to be sure you can participate.
Your Options:
- To guarantee a GAF permit is reserved for your group, AU collects $400 in advance of your trip. If your GAF permit is not used during your trip, AU refunds your $400 or puts it towards a future AU credit. It’s your choice.
- AU will try to have unreserved GAF permits available. Guests can gamble that a permit is available should they catch a halibut that they’d like to keep. If we do have a permit and a guest chooses to land a large halibut, the cost of $400 is covered at that time. If we don’t have a GAF permit onboard, we cannot keep a GAF halibut.
- You’re not interested in keeping an additional halibut or paying the cost of GAF. If a large halibut comes to the boat, you’re okay with releasing it.
We suggest you talk this over with your group. If you or someone in your party is excited to land a big halibut, Option 1 is your best bet. We’ll secure your GAF halibut and you’ll be billed $400. If you don’t use it, we refund the money or apply it to your 2025 trip. We suggest you do this as far in advance as possible. It takes time for us to lease GAF and we aren’t 100 percent sure there will be a constant supply of GAF.
This is AU’s first year participating in the GAF program. We’ll be learning more about your interest and GAF availability as we move through the season. We can appreciate that this might create a bit of confusion with our guests, so feel free to contact us with any questions.
Dates Available for the 2024 Season
May 18–22, 2024 – Fish May 19-20-21: 2 boats available
May 22–26, 2024 – Fish May 23-24-25: 1 boat + party of 2 available
May 25–29, 2024 – Fish May 26-27-28: 1 boat + party of 1 or 2 available
May 29–June 2, 2024 – Fish May 30-31-June 1: party of 2 available
July 3 to 7, 2024 – Fish July 4-5-6: 2 boats available
July 13 to 17, 2024 – Fish July 14-15-16: party of 2 available
Sept. 5 to 9, 2024 – Fish Sept. 6-7-8: 2 boats available
Sept. 8 to 12, 2024 – Fish Sept. 9-10-11: 1 boat available
