Our blog, like our business, stems from a deep love of sport fishing. We’ll inform our readers about the fishing, the techniques, and the fisheries resources that are unique to Alaska. The focus begins with what we do at Angling Unlimited – high quality, light tackle, hands-on, saltwater sportfishing in Alaska. The view extends to locations and species all over North America.
Hiccup? As last reported, the silver run appeared to be building. We had decent numbers of silvers and they came in from a number of different areas. Though limit catches weren’t happening, we liked what we were seeing. Then we had a rain and wind event on Sunday and the catches dropped, partially because it was hard…
DetailsPerhaps Yes! In the last report we wondered whether, perhaps, we were seeing the vanguard of the silver run. The answer appears to be yes. Last Monday we saw catches of up to 20 silvers on our boats, with most boats bringing in decent numbers. We had a patch of rough weather on Tuesday that drove boats…
DetailsAre The Silvers Here Yet? Perhaps! Most of the past week continued the pattern we’ve seen all spring. Very challenging salmon fishing, good fishing for rockfish and halibut. The ocean remained wonderfully calm, as it has much of the season, but the king salmon were evasive. We haven’t seen many coho, which isn’t super unusual. They typically…
DetailsJune ended pretty much as it began with mostly calm weather, not much rain, excellent fishing for rockfish and halibut but slow, spotty king fishing. The component of luck in the king formula remains exceptionally high with a few boats doing okay amidst others that don’t get a bite. This reflects the ongoing low abundance of…
DetailsMonday afternoon, June 18, Captain Ryan Refshaw and the Ravalin party fishing on Skute made one more stop before heading home. Captain Ryan metered the area with the depth sounder and found a big mass of baitfish. He stopped and the lines went in. Not long afterward, Matt Ravalin hooked into a king and thus began…
DetailsI’m temporarily suspending one of my favorite sayings: “Good luck is a bad fisherman’s estimation of a good fisherman’s work”. Hard work and fishing skills, the hallmarks of all our captains, currently require an usually large portion of luck right now. To the point, the kings remain in short supply despite good signs of bait,…
DetailsI’ve often wondered when spin, as in political, advertising, or in this case fishing, becomes lying. We like to remain positive and there’s much to be said for fishing in Southeast Alaska and Sitka that goes beyond the catching. Also, salmon aren’t the only fish in the sea. But, to cut to the chase, the…
DetailsWe opened the season with Hook It and Cook It featuring chef Ludger Szmania and his son chef Lucas Szmania who flew all the way from Munich, Germany. Lucas was a deckhand at AU back in 2012 and has been training in Germany in recent years. We had a full house for the event which…
DetailsWe usually fish for halibut every day after salmon fishing or as a break between periods of salmon fishing. The switch requires a change in mindset and reaction. With salmon you’re looking for a subtle bite, waiting to confirm it, then reeling as fast as you can. With halibut, you’re looking for an obvious pulling…
DetailsOur own Captain Tom was recently interviewed and profiled by prominent travel writer Everett Potter for Forbes.com! Here’s an excerpt: “The sport fishing season in Alaska is upon us and there’s no one better to discuss it with than Captain Tom Ohaus, the founder and co-owner of Angling Unlimited. The Sitka-based outift was started by Ohaus some…
DetailsQuestion (often asked): “What do you do in the offseason?” Answer: We prepare for the next season. Over the course of the winter our boats make trips to the mechanic to fix anything that concerns us and to replace parts we know, based on experience and keeping a good hour log, have the potential…
DetailsAlaska Department of Fish and Game released King Salmon Regulations for 2018. King Salmon Sport Fishing Regulations For Southeast Alaska including Sitka include; Daily Bag Limit: One king salmon greater than 28 inches Annual harvest limits: April 5 through June 30, the annual limit is three king salmon 28 inches or greater in length; From July 1…
DetailsDoes low king abundance equate to bad fishing for kings? In a word – no. We’ve said this before and we’ll say it again, the predictions of abundance are the best thing we have for properly regulating the catch, but they don’t always predict the quality of the fishing. We’ve seen great action in years…
DetailsHigh Altitude View Bad News: A two to three-year episode of warm water and low ocean productivity has resulted in lower numbers of chinook (king) salmon coastwide. Southeast Alaska’s king salmon annual limit is derived in most years by the Abundance Index (AI). The AI is a complex calculation that uses all kinds of…
DetailsObservations on Clothes and Climate on the North Pacific: Packing for your fishing trip to Sitka and wondering what to bring? Here are a few observations and suggestions based on 30 years of guiding on the North Pacific. The temperature tells only part of the story. Yes, 58 or 60 degrees doesn’t sound that cold,…
DetailsFor all of us at Angling Unlimited, May can’t come soon enough. Long bright spring days replace long dark winter nights. The fishing shifts into gear with an exciting combination of king salmon, halibut, lingcod, and rockfish. The captains and crew are fresh and eager to do what we love doing – taking our guests…
DetailsGreek word baros which means pressure. Trauma is the Greek word for “wound”. In our fishing in Alaska, the principle group of fish that barotrauma applies to are rockfish which have a gas filled swim bladder. This gases in the swim bladder are slowly extracted from the blood stream. The purpose of the swim bladder is…
DetailsIn 2013 we enjoyed an unprecedented stretch of warm sunny days during mid-summer in Southeast Alaska. Fishing in t-shirts at 8 AM is not common on the North Pacific, but it was in 2013. We also had a spectacular summer of fishing. The initial meteorological description was the “ridiculously resilient ridge” (RRR), a large…
DetailsThe Halibut regulations for 2018 are set: Daily Limit: One per angler Size: Under 38 inches or over 80 inches No annual limit Halibut fishing has been on a steady upswing for nearly a decade off Sitka. That’s why the recommendation to significantly decrease the harvest for 2018 from the International Pacific Halibut Commission (IPHC)…
DetailsCan a fish make a person laugh? Yes. I’ve seen it countless times, whether it’s casting streamer flies or dropping jigs next to a kelp bed. The laughter breaks out as dozens of black rockfish blast out from their cover, sometimes all the way to the surface, to attack lures or flies. As more and…
Details1.Airfare – Book it early and get a shot at some of the best airfare packages of the year. Some great airline deals that are currently running for May 2018 (prices as of Dec 1st): from MPLS on Delta $674 from New York on Delta $633 from Portland on Delta $380 from Los Angeles on…
DetailsWe know how much the captain means to our anglers. We’re careful about everyone we hire, but we’re most careful about captains for a lot of reasons – safety, quality of the experience, fish production, and care of our equipment. For 2018, we’ll have two new captains and Captain Sarah who will be moving to…
DetailsJames Teal was born in 1991 to Doris and Tom Teal. He grew up in Breckenridge, Colorado, with the outdoors being ingrained in him throughout his childhood. He learned to ski at age 3 and received his first dirt bike on his 6th birthday; those two activities have dominated his free time ever since.…
DetailsJack was born in Roseville, MN to Kurt and Anna Barnick. He caught his first fish, a bluegill, at age 4 and claims he hasn’t really put a rod down since. Jack became interested in Alaska after seeing pictures of the wildlife, the scenery, and, of course, the fishing. Jack claims that venturing to Sitka…
DetailsAlaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) divides rockfish into two categories with separate regulations: pelagic rockfish and demersal shelf rockfish (DSR). Our anglers often ask what the terms mean. Let’s start with pelagic. The term comes from the Greek pélagos, which means open sea. The zone of the ocean considered pelagic includes everything from…
DetailsOur clients spend 10 hours a day with their captain who is responsible for their safety, their catch, and making it all enjoyable. We’ve enjoyed great continuity at the helm over the years, but 2017 marked the last season for Captain Bo Breuner and Captain Eric Meiland (The Viking) Bo first fished with AU as…
DetailsThe 2017 season began with Hook It and Cook It in mid-May and finished nearly four months later on September 10. A run down of various stretches of the season are available by looking through this year’s fishing reports. Here’s the high-level summary of the season and the grades earned: Kings Salmon: D We…
DetailsSilvers in Randomland The silver has gone from an automatic to a bit more work for the past two weeks. The fish are mainly offshore – meaning in deep water on their migratory routes. They aren’t heavily schooled and concentrated over bait. Speaking of which, there isn’t a major baitfish concentration offshore and we’re…
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