Your Itinerary
Sitka – Easy Access by Commercial Nonstop or OneStop Jet From Seattle
- Nonstop flights from Seattle on Alaska Airlines.
- We greet you at the airport regardless of your time of arrival with a smiling face and an AU sign.
- We help you collect your luggage.
- Our lodge is a short 10-minute ride from the airport.
- Upon arrival, we layout your trip itinerary, daily schedule, orient you to your home away from home, and provide your fishing license, rain gear, and boots.
- Groups of four will get a car for their exclusive use. Groups of less than four will share a car with other groups of less than four.
Your Trip
Lodging – Your Home Away from Home
Settle in just a short mile from our docks, AU’s lodge buildings are designed for comfort, quiet, and an easy rhythm to your days on the water.
- Big-view scenery – with otters, eagles, sea lions, and the occasional whale passing by.
- Fully stocked kitchens for easy breakfasts, après-fishing snacks, and relaxed dinners.
- Indoor and outdoor dining sets – perfect for swapping stories (or perhaps a game of cribbage)
- Privacy throughout – your suite is exclusive to your group
- Transportation included including a dedicated car for groups of 4 or more; a shared car for smaller groups
Last-night accommodations depend on our incoming/outgoing schedule. You’ll either be in our suites or a nearby hotel – confirmed when you book. No surprises.
For hotel stays we use Aspen Suites.
Tackle
- AU furnishes you with the finest quality tackle from Shimano and G.Loomis, specifically designed for our style of fishing.
- Left-handed reels and Canadian-style single-action reels available on request.
- Have a favorite rod or reel? Feel free to bring it along.
- If you have some light tackle or fly tackle you’d like to try, we’re happy to see it. It’s your trip.
- Electric reels provided for deep-drop blackcod, slope rockfish, and halibut fishing.
- All terminal tackle, bait, hook, line, and sinker provided by AU.
Departure
- On the day you’re homeward bound, we pick you up a couple hours before your flight time and take you to the airport.
- Your fish will be boxed and ready for shipping on the airlines.
- Our processor will be waiting at the airport with your boxed fish and assist your check-in for your flight home. You don’t have to lift a finger or your heavy box of fish.
- All you do is check in with Alaska Air and relax until flight time.
Fishing Days
Typical Day of Fishing
- Wake-up knock at 4 AM
- Enjoy Breakfast: For our guests in AU lodging, you’ll find all the fixings for you to prepare breakfast in your suite – eggs, bacon, cereals, bread, butter, milk, coffee, etc. For our guests staying in facilities not operated by AU that have a kitchen including hotels, we’ll put the breakfast items in your unit for you to prepare. For those staying in hotel rooms reserved by AU without a kitchen, we prepare a breakfast cooler that will be waiting for you aboard your boat each morning.
- Vans to the dock depart at 4:50 AM
- Board your boat and head for the fishing grounds at 5 AM
- Full Day of fishing with return to the dock between 2 and 3 PM
- Van returns you to your lodging and we go to work on processing your catch
- Note – By mid-August dawn comes later. Wake-up 5 AM, pickup 5:45 AM, boat departure from dock 6 AM
A Great Day of Fishing in June!
What to Bring
Packing List
- Sunscreen
- Hat and good sunglasses. (Despite Southeast Alaska’s reputation for rain, the sun can be quite powerful.)
- Bring ample clothes for dressing in layers and a good pair of gloves.
- Note – Fleece clothes keep you warm when you’re very active. Insulating clothes like down or synthetic fill work better for standing out in a cool rain with a fishing rod in hand.
- AU provides raingear and boots
- Pack your clothes in carry-on bags so you can use your checked baggage allowance for your boxed fish on your return flight. Alaska Airlines – Go to alaskaair.com for their baggage allowances and changes.
Sea Sickness (Please don’t ignore this)
Nothing ruins your time on the water more than a case of mal de mar, better known as seasickness. Unless you are 100% certain, like beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you aren’t the slightest bit prone, we suggest you visit your family doctor and get medication. Our experience is that over-the-counter seasickness medications are of marginal value.
The best of the over-the-counter medication is Gravol. AU has many guests who experience success with it. A little dry mouth and some drowsiness are the only side effects reported. You can buy 30 pills on Amazon for about $15.
Prescription medications deliver the best results. Scopolamine is marketed as the Transderm Patch and has been around for decades. It works quite well for many of our guests. You need a prescription, so consult your doctor.
Another prescription option is “the Coast Guard Cocktail” – 25 mg of promethazine paired with 25 mg of ephedrine. The ephedrine has become extremely hard to get. Replacing ephedrine with Sudafed seems to work well for some people.
New to the market, Tradipitant is the first FDA approved for seasickness in 4 decades. We have no experience with it at AU, but we’ll run a few trials of our own this summer. We’re hoping it provides another excellent option for helping you enjoy time on the water – even those rough days.