I am looking at taking a trip this may with JDock fishing out of Seward, Alaska. Has anybody done this? If so would you recommend it?
OT Alaska fishing
- Thread starter Mobile Bay
- Start date
I’ve only done fly fishing in the interior, and it was wonderful, but I was alone for three days without a gun, which is among the dumbest things I’ve ever done
My man! I’m going at the end of July. I’m not fishing in Seward but have researched that group back when I was planning. Hope you have a blast and catch a ton.
They should know what they're doing. Stayed in Seward for a day and loved the town. It's probably my favorite town in Alaska other than Fairbanks. Seward is a big fishing community.......personal and commercial. So is Valdez. If I had to live anywhere in Alaska......Seward would be my pick. Has that small town Mississippi feel. But cost of living I'm sure is a lot more than in Mississippi.
They don't call them Tundra Wookies for nothin'
Been out of Valdez twice, Whittier twice, and Seward once. Valdez is my favorite place, I would retire there in a heartbeat. The guy we used out of Seward sucked (it was some guy my in-laws booked). It wasn't an outfitter or anything like JDock. Their website looks legit, so I wouldn't worry. The halibut fishing gets better as the summer progresses and the water gets warmer. Make sure they do halibut AND rockfish so you get more bang for your buck. If you waited until July you could get lingcod too. If you need recommendations for Whittier or Valdez let me know, I got a buddy that works a boat out of Whitter.
Yeah, that's a bold move to say the least. Had some units here TDY last summer and they decided they wanted to go camping in Denali, so I gave them some bear spray so they at least had something if things went sideways.
Valdez Outfitters. When you book for halibut it's pretty much a combo trip because you get rockfish too. And if the season is open, lingcod. They will move around and find the fish. I don't know if he is still there, but try and get Captain Louie. Try and stay at the Best Western next to the harbor, there is a restaurant attached to it that's pretty good. Everything is within walking distance in the town. VO doesn't clean the fish, but there are guys at the cleaning stations next to the harbor that will clean them for a fee per pound/fish. Then you can take the filets across the street to Fish Central and they vacuum seal/flash freeze. It's ready by the next day.
The only thing is it can get rough going out, especially around Orca Bay. So if you are prone to seasickness bring Dramamine.
Appreciate it. That’s who I was planning to book with. I’ll ask for that captain. Planning to go after silver salmon. Going to do halibut out of homer.
If you're going to Seward in May, keep an eye on the Kenai River King Salmon run. If they're running, try to get a day or two in on the river. Swinging a streamer for a 40+ lb kings would be tits. The river is closed to trout fishing for the spawn in May though, supposed to be world class in the fall for Rainbows and Dolly Varden.
My timing is based around a down time at work. I am not even worried about how much meat I bring back since my freezer still has 30ish pounds of tuna in it from last fall.
If I was going to go out of Homer I would go in mid to late August and also book a trip to floss reds on the Kenai. Stayed just east of Soldotna. The guide let us fish for rainbows and dolly’s on the float back to the ramp. Caught the biggest Dolly of my life on that trip.
ETA: A guy on Louie’s boat won the Valdez Halibut Derby a year or two ago. The captains switch boats each season I believe, so you may need to call and see which one he is on.
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Thats one of the many things I was never able to do. 3, even 4 years isn’t enough time to do it all up here.
This reminds me, I need to lay out some rockfish to thaw for dinner. Still got a ton of it.
I flew into Anchorage and stayed in the city for about 3 days before venturing out. That allowed me to rest from the jet lag and time to receive my 12 ga. shotgun from Fedex. Yep.....mailed my own firearm separately to Alaska as the commercial airlines were skiddish on carrying firearms in their luggage holds. Shotgun came straight to me at my hotel on day 3. Then, when we left Alaska back to Memphis, I just dropped off the same gun and packaging at the local post office. Gun arrived back in Memphis a few days after we got back. Worked like a charm. Glad I had protection from the wild life up there......and not just the 4 legged ones! Went to the local Walmart and the local citizens all looked like Grizzly Adams!
Summer is tourist/road work season so be prepared for delays on the drive to the peninsula from Anchorage.
ETA: Are you going to be flossing reds or going after kings on Kenai?
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Yeah, summer is when the….um….”indigenous” people come to the cities and panhandle for money from the tourist.
ETA: Odd that the airlines were skittish about flying guns. I have flown all over with them and never had any problems.
Yup, I’ll be one of those tourists. Flossing reds. Might be a little early for the pinks but may catch some of their run. I hear they are a blast to catch but not exactly delicious.
IMO reds are the best eating, but everyone is different. If you get on a good spot, it's more catching than fishing. There were 4 of us when I went and we limited out in less than 30 minutes, and thats including throwing a bunch back that the color wasn't right on. AK fish and game issues emergency orders raising or lowering limits all summer based on fish counts, so the normal limit is 3 but could be raised to 6, which is what happened to us.
I don't know that much about Homer, never went further south than Soldotna, but if you need recommendations for a charter I can ask a friend of mine who is in the business.
Here are pics of the reds trip and my first trip to Valdez, which was the best halibut trip out of all of them. The halibut in the middle was 87#
Awesome! And yes, please let me know who your contacts recommend in Homer for halibut
He said Big Dans is good. If they are booked up for the dates you want, I think Homer Charter Fishing would be my next choice. You need to book as soon as possible cause the schedule for these charters fills up fast, not just in Homer but everywhere. Whoever you go with, be sure to pay attention to the refund policy, in case you have to cancel or the seas are too rough and the captain calls it off. Every charter I've been on except 1 ran a combo of bait and jigging. The bait rods get put in a rod holder and all you have to do is watch and reel when one is on. It's pretty much catfishing. Halibut rods are pretty stiff and stubby, so it looks like it would take a whale to bend it, but when they hit, they HIT. It's wild seeing that rod bend double. Jigging is a whole 'nother animal, and everyone thinks a 30#-40# halibut ain't big until you are hauling it up from 110 ft deep. Do that 4-5 times and it will wear you out.
I never went for silvers, one of the many things I never got around to doing, but I talked to captains about it. They call it mooching, which is pretty much drifting with bait or maybe jigs.
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