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.
We just came off another great week of fishing here in Craig, Alaska with daily coho limits and wide open action on both halibut and ling cod. King salmon fishing is starting to fizzle, but there are still a few kings around here and there. Yesterday we got into a completely stupid coho bite on the Polar Bear…one of those scenes you just never forget. Every pass we made past a particular kelp patty was producing one to three hookups and then a massive school moved in with silver salmon finning all over the surface and crashing bait in every direction. The guys were dropping their baits over the side and watching the silvers zip in and grab them right next to the boat. On the last circus bite one big coho was twisting around in the kicker motor, two more were literally ripping monofilament across the surface as they slashed and jumped wildly around the boat, and the fourth fish (a king) was screaming line off the Tekota until it finally stopped around 200 feet. As I quickly tried to uncoil a 14 pound coho from the kicker motor propellor Stu exclaims, “Mikes got a king!” Mikes 26 pound king jumped from the water and landed with a Ka-Wooosh! I quickly gaffed the fish next the prop, cut the line, grabbed the two other ‘hos and off we went to get Mikes king. Three big ‘hos on the deck and a king in the bag. That would be the definition of coho chaos!
Halibut action has been absolutely wide open right now for chicken halibut from 15 to 35 pounds right now and there are bigger flatties around if guests want to put in the time. The ling cod fishing has also been very, very good and we’ve limited the last two groups on keeper ling cod, releasing plenty of bigger ones. Both the lings and the halibut are stacked in the areas the trollers are working and the action on heavy scampi tail jigs is fast, very fast.
Mike Hammes and his 26 pound king salmon
Stu Heatons 82 pound halibut, winner of the Ram group halibut jackpot
Stu also took the Ram king salmon jackpot with this 29 pounder. The jackpot money all went to our fish cutter Tim “Slice and Dice” Koentop, who’s wife Nan is fighting cancer right now. Our prayers are with them!
Rod Tople with a big ocean fresh 14 pound silver salmon
Always a good time with the Marshall group. They also were kind enough to donate their group jackpot to Tim’s family. Thank you so much guys and we look forward to seeing you again next summer!
Fishing in SE Alaska is about more than filling up the freezer. The wildlife and scenery our guests enjoy here is second to none and whale shows like this one occur almost daily. This big humpback was slapping it’s tail repeatedly on the surface on the way in a few days ago and we were able to grab some great pics.
Look closely and you’ll see the bubble ring around this feeding humpback whale. This whale was bubble feeding along the same kelp line we were hammering the coho on yesterday and on several occasions we had to move because the bubbles were getting a little too close for comfort.
Capt. Rob Endsley
www.princeofwalessportfishing.com
Tags: Alaska, Charters, chinook, coho, Craig, Fishing, Halibut, herring, humpback, island, king salmon, ling cod, ocean, prince of wales, report, Salmon, saltwater, silver, southeast, whales.
I’ve been sitting here for the last ten minutes trying to come up with something snappy for a title and it just isn’t coming to me. All I could come up with is “Craig, Alaska Report”, which will work just fine. Two months of sleep deprivation and long days on the ocean have pretty much eliminated all the fluff. Fish, eat, sleep…in that order!
In this business people always ask “how’s the fishing?” My response lately has been “pretty good”, which translates to not slow, not white hot, but somewhere in the middle. “Somewhere in the middle” is darned good by many people standards. Our guests have been in some white hot coho bites this past week and there have been days where we’ve had to scratch around to find them, getting limits on most days and close to it on the other days. There continues to be some enormous king salmon around and if guests want to sacrifice a few silvers to target these fish I’m all for it! Most of the action lately has been occurring on the north end of Noyes Island at places like the “Tree Hole”, Cape Ulitka, St. Joseph Island, and down the outside coast of Noyes. The inside fishery is starting to pick up, as well, and with an afternoon charter today we plan on scoping many of the areas close to town.
Halibut fishing has remained solid and we’ve had halibut to 135 pounds this past week and several more in the 90 pound range. And the “Semi” drift kicks out chicken halibut in short order whenever the need arises. Dad just hand delivered another case of 16 oz. pipe jigs that will be put to good use here shortly now that we’re coming down off these huge tides.
Jim Murphy joined the Bakersfield gang this year for the first time and walked away with their group halibut jackpot with this 92 pounder. After buying drinks for the group with the prize money, however, I’m pretty sure he ended up in the red : )
Frank Reed, Mr. Perma-Grin, with his 135 pound halibut.
Joe, Frank, “Tuna”, and dad with a limit of fat silver salmon, chicken halibut, and a nice king salmon. “Tuna” will be sending us some interesting downloads for our Icom radios. You all thought our scramblers were annoying : )
I’m sure TSA had a field day with this box of pipe jigs
Humpback whales have been in our waters in big numbers and the killer whales have also been making an almost daily appearance.
Capt. Rob Endsley
www.princeofwalessportfishing.com
Tags: Alaska, Charters, chinook, coho, Craig, endsley, Fishing, Halibut, humpback whales, island, ketchikan, killer whales, king salmon, photo, pictures, pipe jigs, prince of wales, report, rob, saltwater, silver salmon, southeast.
King salmon fishing continues to be decent here in Craig and the silver numbers continue to build here. The begginning of last week we were seeing 6 to 10 cohos a day and now the numbers are double that and we’ve had two full boat limits hit our dock the last two days. The two biggest kings to hit our dock this week are a 36 pounder by Paul Becker of Victoria, BC and a 34 pounder by Dan Shaw of Chimacum, WA. I’d post some pics of these great fish, but my camera went kapute a few days ago and erased all the pics off of my disk. Moisture and technology just don’t mix!
The bay we’re fishing is absolutely loaded with bait and with that come the whales. A couple of days ago we had two big humpback whales come up next to the boat as we were landing a king salmon in the ocean. Best part is that Dave Allan got it all on video!
Halibut fishing remains strong for chicken halibut and we’ve been hammering the salmon program so hard all day that none of us have spent much time poking around looking for big halibut. Yesterday we limited the boat on chicken halibut in less than ten minutes and then went back to salmon fishing…fast action! The new pipe jigs dad made up for me this summer have been lights out. Two pounds of copper and lead with a 12/0 Mustad treble and a hoochie skirt over the hook. Ling cod, yelloweye, and halibut can’t leave’em alone!
A couple of pics courtesy of Kevin Kent, who just departed on this mornings float plane out of Craig.
Kevin with a typical 18 pound feeder king
A great batch of fish for mid-June!
Tags: Alaska, Charters, chinook, coho, Craig, craig alaska fishing report, endsley, Fishing, fishing report, Halibut Fishing, ketchikan, king salmon, Prince of Wales Island, silver salmon, Southeast Alaska, sportfishing.
