Testimonials

My son Mathew, daughter Ali, and I really needed a safe family getaway after a stressful and isolating spring. The testing requirement to enter Alaska was a hoop to jump through but we also found it reassuring that everyone on our flight had the same. That we’d be outside for much of our time was also comforting. Two of us flew from Miami and one from California. We arrived in June, just as Angling Unlimited was finally able to operate.

The fishing was fantastic. We limited out on kings, rockfish, and halibut every day. The sights amazed us – snowcapped mountains down to the sea, endless old-growth forest, and the big North Pacific. We saw whales, otters, bears, deer, sea lions, and all kinds of marine wildlife. Coming from such a long distance, we love how the staff has everything planned with every detail taken care of. 

My son Mathew, now 26, has been coming to Sitka with me since he was 10 years old. This was my daughter Ali’s first trip. She’s not an avid fisher but she loved this adventure. We all agreed that we had one of the best family trips we’ve ever taken together. 

The friendly staff, beautiful scenery, and world-class fishing make this our favorite getaway every year.

…Thank you and the whole outfit…how impressed we were with the entire operation. My friends and I agreed that Captain James was the best guide and Captain we have ever had the pleasure of fishing with anywhere. He worked his tail off to make sure we were able to get the full experience fishing there in Sitka fishing. When we schedule a trip again we will definitely be requesting to fish with him again. Top to bottom, he was a professional that strives for the most we could get out of the trip. Please thank him again for us.

The fishing and experience exceeded my expectations and we would recommend your outfit again in a heartbeat. From being received at the airport, Suite A overlooking the water, a car to drive while in town, and the hostesses taking care of us was perfect. Again, hats off to a well-run operation and great group of people. We look forward to returning in the future! 5 out of 5 stars for sure!

The trip was simply Magnificent!! EVERYTHING turned out Perfect! We loved everything about it. I’m very impressed how you had every detail planned and carried out without a hitch! Our accommodations were perfect and having the car to use made our free time very enjoyable. We loved our captain (Sarah) and would highly recommend her to anyone! We will certainly request her again when we come back. Having the owner (Chuck) as a deckhand also made us feel like we were being treated very special. And to top it off we each brought back 2 boxes of precious fish! We just can’t say enough good things about the whole trip, THANK YOU.

The trip was excellent, there were no problems with the flights and getting picked up at the airport was great. We were lucky the weather was warm and sunny. Fishing was awesome and our crew, Jamie and Mason were friendly and enthusiastic. Could not have asked for a better experience except for when the sea lion stole my fish while reeling in. [We] were astonished anything like that could happen! Never imagined anything like that could happen.

We will definitely tell others about you when they plan a trip to Sitka.

I would rank this year’s fishing trip as the best ever. This was our 13th consecutive year, and 14th overall trip, since we returned in September in the year of the Blob.

We didn’t know until the last minute that we would be able to fish, due to the Covid-19 restrictions of the state of Alaska. The 14-day quarantine, of course, was a non-starter. Then they allowed visitors who had a negative test within 72 hours of arrival…Captain Tom organized testing with StrataClear, and that worked perfectly, with results arriving 24 hours after we submitted the samples.

Angling Unlimited did extremely well in Covid-19 precautions. We were exposed only to our hostess Colleen (who always wore a mask), and Capt. Tom and deckhand Captain Jack.

It seemed like there were only about 30-40% of the usual number of boats fishing. Fishing was the best ever, as we caught limits on everything every day and were done by 12 noon. We even released a number of kings. Unfortunately, we had to release our largest king (because we already had four in the boat). Willie caught it on rock fish gear. We had to release our largest halibut, which I caught in 100 feet of water using rock fish gear. The thing was clearly a monster, as it ran out 500 feet of line. It took forever to gain on it. When I got it beside the boat, Captain Tom estimated its weight at 100 lb. We don’t expect to catch that large a halibut in shallow water. On the second day, we released our first king. It was legal, but small. After a few hours, we had three kings in the boat and wondered whether we should have kept the first. Then we had four kings on the line at the same time—a really fun frenzy of everyone dashing around the boat, following Tom’s instructions of where to go, passing lines underneath or over top of others. We released three of the four, making our catch total four, and our release total also four for the day. On the third day, we also had four kings on the line at the same time. I believe that has happened to us only once in 13 prior fishing trips. The weather was comfortable, a little rain one day and not much wind.

I am a 75-year old retired physician, and Willie and Alex are the same age. Each of us must make our own decision about exposure risks. Personally, I rated the risk as low, and we were particularly glad for the fishing trip after months of staying at home.

DJ is an excellent captain and artist. We had a wonderful time! In addition, Ellie was an awesome hostess. She took good care of us when not on the water!

The whole Angling Unlimited team (Jenny, DJ, Ellie, you, and other hostesses) were outstanding!

We are grateful for our trip that Angling Unlimited made special! It was very special to get the opportunity to go fishing with Jack and his grandfather Ken on our last day! They are special people.

We cannot speak highly enough of our incredibly positive and [enjoyable] experience. This was the trip of a lifetime for my mother, myself, and my daughter, Amanda.

The accommodations were lovely. Staff incredibly friendly and helpful. Everything about the lodging was perfect. On-time pick up/departure, etc.

Fishing was SPECTACULAR! Our Captain and Deckhand were simply the best and I sincerely appreciate the special attention paid to Jerilyn by both James and Micah. They were both highly professional, friendly, funny, knowledgeable, and just downright cute! I was super impressed with the absolute attention to detail, always communicating the “plan” to us, and always being super attentive and supportive…

Fish processing was amazing! Cleaning, packing, freezing, labeling, boxing, splitting between the party, and meeting us at the airport. Super impressive.

We have never done an “all inclusive” trip before. Speaking for all of us, I can say that Angling Unlimited has my business, support, and I am telling everyone if they ever wanted to do this, go with AU!

My review of Angling Unlimited would be if my expectations were a 10 on the high side of a 1-10 scale I would give Angling Unlimited a 20. Outstanding and first class!! From the correspondence, assistance with flights, being picked up at the airport, the convenience of a car and comfortable clean room with all you need. To having an honorary wake up call, brought to the dock, outstanding Captain, boat ride, fishing, treats and sandwich, feeling that the Captain is always working hard and caring that your fishing, safety, and that your getting a full day of fun on the water, always being taken care of by staff members, something I am usually doing for others. All well well done! Even the messages taped on the fridge were helpful.

I know I will forget a few names. Captain DJ is terrific, he works very hard and keeps into it… What is impressive is how everyone seems to know their responsibilities and what to do job-wise. they have been directed and trained well. Besides that they are polite, courteous, smart, down to earth, and hard working.

Thank you for everything, you have a great business and great employees. I loved being on the water, catching fish, the atmosphere, the staff, and the town.

Everything was top notch from the boat, crew, and accommodations as well as the positive attitude of everyone in your organization to ensure we had a great time. I spent 37 years in the financial service industry and can be somewhat critical of customer expectations. I must say, you have an outstanding service model. Quite frankly, I can’t think of anything that needs improvement. My hats off to the entire staff and can’t wait until next year. This is coming from someone who has not been an avid fisherman over the years but my experience with Angling Unlimited has changed my perspective. Thanks for a great trip.

I could have not asked for a better Captain or deck crew. All extremely helpful and looked after all our needs. I also want to thank the entire staff at Angling Unlimited. I have been on several hunting and fishing adventures but have never experienced such great service from ALL. The accommodations were excellent…Memories live forever and great memories from all the staff again at Angling Unlimited. My best wishes to Captain Sara, deck hands Jack and Colleen, and last but not least Ebby for taking such good care of us at our apartment and one last wish to your entire staff. Thank you ALL for a GREAT and MEMORABLE trip.

We had a great time again this year. Capt DJ and Leo were great to work with and made the trip very fun for us. DJ is a very skilled captain and did a fantastic job of getting on fish when things would slow down in other area’s. Leo did a great job of keeping all our gear fishing and handling all the fish we caught. He also makes a pretty mean sandwich. We are looking forward to next season.

Last year I wrote a short novel about how profoundly amazing the trip was. I won’t this year because this trip is now “a thing” for us and it will just build and build.

Spencer remains the perfect captain for our fishing and bonding experience. And WOW! What an awesome addition Connor was to our time on the water. He is so knowledgeable, so attentive and aware. He is a great teacher, a pleasant companion, and someone we are all glad to have shared time.

We have only one bucket list addition (Kings all around) but couldn’t be happier with our catch or our time with you. It was fun to see familiar faces this time around!

Thanks so much and please extend our gratitude to everyone on the Angling Unlimited team. Everyone we meet makes us wish we were there longer!