In Sitka, where Angling Unlimited operates, you’ll find a maritime climate, meaning it’s heavily influenced by thousands of miles of ocean that moderates the temperatures and brings ample precipitation. It’s rare for the weather to be either very hot or very cold. Those of you arriving from warm summer climates may find it a bit chilly. You can expect temperatures…
DetailsLucky me spent the past week on the Big Island of Hawaii with my wife and two younger kids. I devoted most of the trip to family beach activities – surfing, body surfing, boogie boarding, and snorkeling, which was terrific. On Friday, long term Angling Unlimited friend and client Tryg Winquist invited me to join…
DetailsWhen it comes to favorite salmon spots, I’m fickle. My favorite spot is a temporary thing and it’s the place we’re currently catching. Sitka’s king salmon spots can generally be divided between inside and outside. As a general rule, the outside ocean spots are more consistent on a day in day out basis. I love…
DetailsIn the spirit of Valentine’s Day, the recipe of the month for February is salmon, glazed with a red raspberry sauce. Let’s get started by gathering your ingredients In a small bowl, combine pepper, salt and paprika. Foil a baking sheet. Place salmon on foil and evenly spread seasoning rub over salmon. Next, evenly drizzle…
DetailsSometimes a long fishless winter day is best passed by reading about, you guessed it, fishing. There are a million how-to, where-to, fishing books, many of which are educational, most of which are duller than a butter knife. Of all the more or less instructional books I’ve read, my favorite is “Striper Moon” by Ken…
DetailsSport fishing halibut regulations are set for 2013 for anglers on a guided trip. Bag limit is one per day with a “reverse slot limit” whereby you can keep halibut under 45 inches or over 68 inches. Here are five reasons to like these halibut regulations: 1. You can catch and keep the best eating…
DetailsLast week I spoke four times at the Seattle International Boat Show. The turnout for the first talk on Tuesday was intimate, about a dozen people showed up to hear about Angling Unlimited and fishing in Sitka. The final three talks were all about our method – mooching for salmon and turnout was great –…
DetailsHalibut The North Pacific Fishery Management Council and the International Pacific Halibut Commission have finalized the halibut regulations for 2013. Limit is one halibut per day that is either under 45 inches or over 68 inches. There is no annual limit. This halibut regulation worked well for our customers in 2012 and we expect more exciting halibut…
DetailsKing Salmon June Special – 20% off regular rates on all trips completed by June 12 Massive schools of feeding kings move down the outer coast of Southeast Alaska beginning in late April and early May each year. The run builds to a peak from late May through the end of June offering what is arguably…
DetailsWelcome to the new addition of Angling Unlimited’s blog – a monthly recipe. Our goal is provide recipes for the fish that we catch in Sitka, Alaska. Most of our recipes will include fish such as salmon, halibut, rock fish, ling cod, cod and more. You can subscribe to our newsletter to receive a new…
DetailsThe afternoons are growing just a little longer and the sun will begin to gain altitude at noon. The bookings for the 2013 season are coming in and it appears the economy is growing a bit brighter as well – not exactly the good old days, but improving. A lot of our regulars have…
DetailsFishing for a holiday gift idea? Look no further for the perfect holiday gift for the angler in your family. An Alaskan fishing trip with Angling Unlimited is great for anglers of all skill levels. It’s the gift of anticipation, excitement, wilderness adventure, great fishing, and fun – not to mention plenty of fish to…
Details2012 Season Review: 20 Years In May of 1993, a 19 year old kid from a farm in Minnesota named Chuck McNamee stepped on my boat as a deckhand. He’d never seen the ocean. I’d say he was a bit green, but he worked so damned hard and learned so fast that it didn’t show.…
DetailsFishing in the past few days has been marked by high seas, a bit of rain, and some wind. On Sunday our fleet was confined to the Shark Hole and came in with half limits or so of silvers. But, the silvers were all big with most over 10 pounds and a few in the…
DetailsAs many of our long time fishing guests know, the Shark Hole has been a go to spot for kings and silvers for decades – especially when wind and high seas drive us off the ocean. For reasons we’ll never know, our old reliable produced very little during our king season in 2012 and next…
DetailsThe silver run continues to baffle. It can seem pretty good some days and pretty slow others. It can actually be good for one boat and bad for another on the same day based on a little luck and timing. Yesterday, the Nordland party fishing with Captain David found silvers in four locations – just…
DetailsSorry for the lapse in communications. It’s that time of the season and a little fatigue got in the way of reporting. The silver fishing has been generally very good with a short lapse in the action last week. Since then the catches have been getting better and better with limits or near limits on…
DetailsAndrew McCoy landed the biggest halibut of our season – a whopping 165 pounds. Current halibut regulations allow for keeping halibut under 45 inches (42 pounds) over 68 inches (160 pounds). Andrew caught the big halibut fishing with Captain David Gross after a morning of salmon fishing that included a 32 pound king landed by…
DetailsFishing for silvers (coho) continues to deliver limits on a daily basis for all our fleet. We’re finding big schools of coho feeding over vast shoals of juvenile needlefish. Yesterday we drifted amid calm water with whales working nearby and silvers biting steadily. A few kings were mixed in with the silver show, but that’s…
DetailsSilver fishing continues to be strong with some days faster than others. The quality of the silvers is impressive with increasing numbers of fish over 10 pounds and pushing into the low teens. The bite varies from day to day and often from hour to hour. The fish are definitely here but so are vast…
DetailsSince Sunday we’ve had one day where kings we easier to find than silvers, one day where silvers were easier to find than kings, and one day of wind and rain where we worked hard but found both kinds. Yesterday it all came together – the sun came out, the seas were kind and the fishing was spectacular…
DetailsThe past two days delivered a welcome resurgence in king fishing along with continued excellent silver fishing. On Friday the kings showed up in good numbers mixed in with the silvers. My group, which included Warren Parker who started fishing with me back in 1989 in Neah Bay, landed 4 kings and released 4 others…
DetailsYesterday delivered a wide-open coho (silver) bite. On my boat we had a 30 silver limit for five anglers by 8:15 in the morning along with one king and countless pink salmon. We followed that with a limit of nice halibut in the 25 to 40 pound range plus Pacific cod and one big blackcod.…
DetailsThe coho (silvers) bite has ranged from good to white hot over the past four or five days. Yesterday saw consistent action in the early morning, a little slowing mid-morning, then a wide open bite to end the day. Limits were the rule and the silvers are getting bigger by the day as they gorge themselves on massive…
DetailsThe salmon fishing was a bit on the hit or miss side again from late last week, but things came around on Sunday with some big kings including fish of 40, 39, and 31 pounds. Silvers weren’t abundant on Sunday but on Monday they came back with limits and near limits on all our boats.…
DetailsWe had two boats out yesterday and both limited on silvers (coho). This is the second day in a row of silver limits which begs the question: Are they here to stay? This wasn’t a fast silver bite – just a steady pace over the course of full morning of salmon fishing. Kings were mixed…
DetailsTuesday delivered a flush of the other salmon. Don and Chris Weathers, fishing with Jack and John Gordon on Captain DJ’s boat brought in a limit of 24 silvers along with a halibut limit and 3 kings. Silvers showed pretty well in the last week of June, then took a hiatus for the first week…
DetailsThe fireworks go off too late in Sitka for most of us to enjoy. It doesn’t get dark until after 11 PM at this time of year, so it’s just about midnight on July 3 when the display gets started. The AU fleet enjoyed a great Independence Day on the water with our own kind…
DetailsOn Wednesday, Rusty Lyons from Waitsburg, Washington landed the biggest king of the Angling Unlimited season – a whopping 47 pounds. He made multiple trips around the boat before bringing his big smiley to the net. The rest of the group on board landed king limits before heading offshore for halibut limits – which was…
DetailsFishing is about patterns. But, what can you when a pattern fails to appers and things go random? Which seems the case in the last few days. Monday and Tuesday were marked by high winds that kept us away from some of the grounds that have been most productive lately. We eventually found fish in a protected…
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