Bright sun and t-shirt weather visited Sitka last week as clean-up and set-up got underway for AU. Captains Tom and Chuck went to work on boats including an installation of the latest electronics in Ouzel (Captain Tom’s boat) – a Simrad system that features the highly touted CHIRP sounding technology that is rumored to be the next…
DetailsWe’ve recieved final word on the 2012 king salmon regulations. These regulations are driven by the chinook (king) salmon abundance index for Southeast Alaska which came in at 1.52, just slightly lower than 2011. The nonresident bag limit is one king salmon 28 inches or greater in length; except during May 2012 when the bag…
DetailsCaptain Chuck and Captain Phil will be at the Northwest Sportshow in Minneapolis, MN. Dates of the show are March 28- April 1st. We still have a few prime fishing dates in June that we are excited to share with you. Stop in and we can talk about all the details. If Alaska is on…
DetailsThank you to all of you that visited us at the Fargo Sportsmen’s Show. It was great to talk Sitka, Alaska Fishing with everyone. Captain Chuck’s parents Bob and Kay made a surprise visit, as well as several other relatives, friends, and former Angling Unlimited crew. We hope that everyone enjoyed the show. We will…
DetailsHalibut regulations are much improved over 2011 for the coming season. Limit will be one per day with a “reverse slot limit” meaning you can keep halibut that are under 45 inches or over 68 inches. For more details, read the press release from the Southeast Alaska Guides Organization (SEAGO) below. SEAGO continues to fight…
DetailsI visited Sitka on the way to the International Pacific Halibut Commission meeting in Anchorage. It was a bit snowy making it hard to get up and down the hill to my house. On one trip up the hill I got part way, the car ran out of traction, and started back down despite my…
DetailsCaptain Tom took a break from desk work and headed for the Olympic Peninsula to develop his spey casting skills with old friend and expert fly fishing guide JD Love. The results were typical of winter steelhead fishing with a fly. One fish hooked and lost by the trainee (me). One fish hooked and landed…
DetailsMy fishing year is divided between striped bass and salmon. I fish for bass for about from late April to mid-May each year in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts. Then I relocate to Sitka, Alaska to guide for king salmon (Chinook), coho salmon (coho), and halibut all summer. I arrive back in Massachusetts in September for two…
DetailsCaptain Phil Carlson has another big fish story to add to his personal experience library. This time the big fish didn’t get pulled from the ocean outside of Sitka where he is a fishing guide for Angling Unlimited during the summer months. This time Captain Phil was ice fishing on Pokegama Lake in Northern Minnesota. …
DetailsLast night in Anchorage the NPFMC(North Pacific Fishery Management Council) passed a motion that will recommend to the IPHC(International Pacific Halibut Commision) regulations for halibut in 2012. The IPHC will meet in Anchorage in late January to finalize. Without getting into too much confusing detail, this is what the 2012 halibut regulations *might* be for…
DetailsCaptain Tom and several others from our industry will be traveling to Anchorage this week. They will be working together to come up with the best possible outcome for those of us that want to fish for halibut next summer. It’s too early to know what the possible regulations might be, but it is safe…
DetailsOn Nov. 10th I had reconstructive knee surgery. It was a pretty major overhaul, but things seem to be mending well. My ACL was tore 20 years ago, and this summer I think I tore my meniscus. All that was fixed along with a microfracture to attempt to build up some new cartilage on the…
DetailsOctober 18, 1867 marked the formal transfer of Alaska from Russian to American control with a official ceremony in downtown Sitka on Castle Hill. This event finalized the $7.2 million purchase known as “Seward’s Folly” because few people in post Civil War America could see why we paid so much for a frozen wasteland. We now see the…
DetailsIt was on this day, October 18th, 1867 the Russian flag was lowered, and the stars and stripes were raised right here in Sitka on Castle Hill. Alaskans everywhere will be celebrating today, especially in Sitka! For all of us that travel to Alaska to enjoy the most beautiful place on earth, isn’t it great…
DetailsThe marine forecast for Labor Day was daunting to say the least – gale winds, 12 foot seas. Three boats left the dock with expectations for staying on the inside waters – which have been productive. But, to our surprise, the storm hadn’t hit and the boats got around the corner to the ocean where…
DetailsThe last week has demonstrated just how good late season fishing is in Sitka – lots of silvers, good numbers of kings and plenty of halibut. And, even when the wind blows, we’ve been able to produce limits and near limits in safe, calm, inside waters. On September 1, the wind was up and our…
DetailsWe enjoyed a brief break in the parade of windy and rain on August 29 and 30. The Fergeson/Kohler group of 8, fishing with Captains Phil Carlson and Greg Mohs fished the ocean with great success on silvers, kings, and halibut. Erika Sheffield-Stull even managed to catch two silvers at the same time. She had what…
DetailsI get this call on the raido from Captain David Gross: “Captain Tom, we’ve got a shark on with a very long tail. What kind is it? Should we try to boat it?” I think a minute and thresher shark comes to mind. Brian Gerich and Ed Stapleton, both from southern California are the anglers…
DetailsThe past week offered up a series of weather fronts that brought rough waters to the ocean and rain throughout. Anglers willing to face big seas – and we mean big – were rewarded with catches of kings, silvers and halibut. The Williams party fishing with Catpain Greg Mohs ventured out into 10 to 12…
DetailsThe summer of calm came to an abrupt end during the last week. A series of fronts brought rain, wind, and rough seas. This doesn’t make the fishing easier, but stormy weather brings out another positive aspect of fishing Sitka – we have a lot of protected places that can save a rainy day. Our inside spots haven’t been…
DetailsIt’s mid-August and the king run of 2011 seems a long way from running out of gas. Magdalena Lee fishing with Captain Ben Baumann landed a 38 pounder on Saturday afternoon. A number of fish over 30 pounds were caught on Sunday including a 32 pounder released by Bruce Erikson fishing with your blogger. Bruce’s 8 year…
DetailsAs is typical for Sitka, silver fishing ranges from good to excellent this mid-August with limit or near limit catches on a daily basis. The average size silver isn’t quite as large as normal but we have seen some big fishing including an 18 pounder landed by Dorothy Fountain fishing with Captain Phil Carlson. What is unexpected for mid-August is the shear numbers of king…
DetailsFishing remains absolutely spectacular with great catches of kings, silvers, halibut, lingcod and rockfish. Yesterday, Dale Hutson, fishing with Captain Chuck, landed a 40 pound king. Today (Friday) the Dan Hayes group fishing with Captain Chuck and yours truly had limits of silvers and kings by 10 AM. Captain Chuck’s crew went out for halibut,…
DetailsFor the past week we’ve seen spectacular fishing with limits of silvers many days and kings at levels of abundance normally reserved for mid-June. The comments from the our anglers say it all. Dick Glassburn, who has fished with AU for well over a decade said Sunday’s action was the best he’d ever seen. Not…
DetailsLarry Kauzlarich, fishing with Captain Ryan Refshaw, landed a 48 pound chinook while motor mooching close to shore early on a beutiful calm, sunny Saturday (yesterday) morning. This is the current big king of the year for AU. King fishing continued to be very strong over the past week with a good amount of 30 pound plus kings…
DetailsFirst, sorry for the lapse in blogs. The long season catches up with your aging captain/blogger. The second week of July presented a surprise – after a nice buildup in numbers, the silvers virtually disappeared for three or four days. Boats were lucky to manage 4 or 5 in a day. Thankfully, the kings kept right…
DetailsJuly got off to a rough start weatherwise and a hot start fishingwise. Despite dealing with a bit of wind, rain and waves, the Otto party – Tony, Ryan, and Marty – celebrated July 4 with “limits of everything” – silvers, kings, halibut and rockfish. The silvers appear to be getting pretty well established in our…
DetailsThe weather wasn’t hot for the first day of July – a bit of cool rain came with an east wind that smoothed out the ocean. We found kings again on the inside waters with limits for the Dan Brock party by 6:10 AM and the Jim Waldo party by 7 AM. The ocean also…
DetailsThe calmest June we’ve ever seen ended on a rough note. A nasty south wind kicked up on Thursday making the ocean a confused washboard. The rough conditions brought out the best in Sitka options when a number of our boats limited out at an undisclosed location that was as calm as the proverbial mill…
DetailsDeckhands and captains are running around the boat trying to keep up with fish coming to the side and empty hooks. The continued early run of silvers, chums, and pinks mixed in with a strong run of kings seems to bring a bite on every drop. Normal bait consumption in late June is 4 or…
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