Prince Of Wales Sport Fishing - Craig, Alaska Fishing Reports

A saltwater angling adventure in Southeast Alaska is perhaps is one of the most dynamic experiences one can enjoy in the outdoors. Five species of salmon, halibut, ling cod, and over 30 species of rockfish make the west side of Prince of Wales Island a very special place for wetting a line, but the experience doesn’t stop there. The fishing alone isn’t what makes this place so special, it’s the scenery, marine wildlife, the North Pacific’s rugged coastline, and the ever-changing tide and currents that swirl around hundreds of islands that really make Prince of Wales Island an exciting place to fish. Sharing this dynamic experience with close friends and family is what life in the outdoors is all about!

A picture is worth a thousand words! I can describe this experience a hundred different ways, but nothing highlights the saltwater experience better than a photo.  These photos and more are available on the Prince of Wales Sportfishing Photo Gallery page.

We’re hosting all of our Southeast Alaska fishing videos over on The Outdoor Line video page. Check’em out when you get a chance!

Preseason scouting turned up this mid-30’s Chinook for Jim “Bucket” Heins. A better king salmon run than 2008??? You bet it was!

The sweetest lady on Planet Earth, Diana Rumley, bags her first Chinook ever. After a 30 minute battle-royale she landed this 42 pound Chinook!

From the sweetest lady ever to salmon slayer extraordinaire. Tim Linderman with a mid-30’s King on one of those mornings at Cape Ulitka.

You’ve heard that women catch more fish. Well, they do! Bob Say snaps a few photos of Danielle’s 37 pound beauty over on Capt. Kims boat.

A double on a king and silver, both in the upper teens, made this rodeo-bite a memorable experience for all of us! Lots of fun with Al and Julie again this year.

Mac’n Cheese, Top Ramen, and king salmon with a side of halibut. Food for college! I just found this pic from 2008 and couldn’t resist.

Tim “Slice and Dice” Koentopp prepares to slice and dice a thousand pounds of halibut. If you’re into halibut check out these great halibut fishing vids, “Al Sloka’s Halibut” & “Pipe Jig Hammers Halibut”

Those big halibut aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Deb Adams lifts this great-eating chicken halibut for a quick photo off St. Johns Island. We catch plenty of these halibut throughout the summer!

The Marshall gang shows us how to have some fun back at the pier. Chris Miles, owner of Cookin’ on Wood in Phoenix, Arizona (and a POW Sportfishing pro-staffer) whips up a mean mess of grub every night on the dock.

Just another day in paradise! Robert Aguilera lands another fat coho while a humpback whale breaches in the background.

“Quck, everybody grab a fish for a picture before the rain hits!” The Hine gang from Bakersfield with a very quick dock shot before heading for cover. Yes, it rains in Southeast Alaska!

Pete Rathwell with our biggest silver of the summer on the last trip of the summer. A 17 pound brute from Black Rock near Warren Island.

Rick shows some variety with a yelloweye rockfish from an offshore ocean pinnacle.

Ling cod numbers continue to build off the coast providing some pretty wide-open action in 2009. Here’s Robert with a keeper-sized ling caught on a pipe jig. A couple of ling cod videos worth checking out, “No Mas!” & “Ling bites it’s own tail”

A massive school of baitfish slides under the Polar Bear with a wide open coho bite following shortly thereafter.

Capt. Troy hauls a nice halibut aboard the Makai for the Preddy gang from Texas.

A little silver chaos for the Beaudry gang over on Capt. Kims boat. These guys brought 30 pounds of Kobe beef for our evening barbecues on the pier!

One bite of burrito, one chug of salsa! Nothing like a little hair of the dog in the morning.

It wouldn’t be a Southeast Alaskan experience without the humpback whales. A few photos from Rob Endsley’s collection.

From Capt. Rob Endsley, Nicole Huggins, and the great people we work with in Craig, Alaska we sincerely hope you’ll join Prince of Wales Sportfishing for another great summer of fishing and adventure in 2010!

Tags: Alaska, alaskan, blog, Charters, chinook, cod, coho, Craig, endsley, fish, Fishing, Halibut, humpback, island, king, line, ling, lodge, outdoor, photos, pictures, prince, report, rob, Salmon, saltwater, silver, southeast, videos, wales, whale, whales.

2009 Cancellations:

August 22-26, 8 Seats-Polar Bear/Capt. Rob Endsley, Sea Hunt/Capt. Kim McCarthy  

July 4-8, 4 Seats-Sea Hunt/Capt. Kim McCarthy

Call Rob Endsley at 888-943-4746 or email rendsley@earthlink.net for info on these great fishing dates and package specials.

After two years of below-average king salmon fishing in the Craig area it’s hard not to get excited about the upcoming season.  Reports like “it’s wide open” and “quite a few king salmon around” have been few and far between during the pre-season for, well, too long.  With a Chinook Abundance Index of 1.33 and a relaxing of regulations to allow the harvest of 3 kings by non-resident anglers it appears as though we’re headed into a great summer for salmon fishing!

Bon with a 46 pound Craig, Alaska king salmon from 2008! We're hoping to see more king salmon like this in 2009.

Improved ocean conditions don’t just help the king salmon, silver and pink salmon numbers are also benefitting from a cooler ocean and more plentiful bait, with those runs expected to be up considerably this summer in Southeast Alaska.  It’ll be bid-ness as usual for silver salmon this summer, with a 6 fish per day limit.  It sounds like a good time to be dropping a herring over the side in Craig!

Sunny skies and silver salmon!

No more tears!

Other good news is the addition of a trophy ling cod to the non-resident bag limit.  The 30″ to 35″ slot limit will be retained, but now if you happen to catch a gator over 55″ you can keep it as part of your one ling limit.  No more tears as that giant ling swims back into the depths!

The only bit of somewhat bad news is the reduction in the halibut limit from two per day to one per day.  What this amounts to is the elimination of a halibut under 32″ from the bag limit and about 6 pounds of halibut fillets, or even less if you keep a small chicken halibut.  The bummer about this deal is that is doesn’t put more fish in the ocean, it simply re-allocates them over to the commercial sector.  For more information on this log onto www.charterhalibuttaskforce.com and snoop around the website.  A lawsuit is pending on this issue.

Tags: Alaska, blog, Charters, Craig, fishing report, Halibut, king salmon, limits, ling cod, prince of wales, reports, Rob Endsley, saltwater, silver salmon, southeast.