When we were discussing summer plans last year, one thing our then-15-year-old really wanted to try was fishing in Alaska. Partly because of that, we planned a cruise to Alaska; this was a natural way to see the state, since at least in Southeast Alaska, most of the towns aren’t actually connected by roads anyway. Here we’ll talk about our planning and this experience.

Planning

Because of differing interests of siblings, we decided to split up in Ketchikan. Jennifer actually grew up fishing, so she took John on this excursion, while James and I did some other activities.

On the schedule, the cruise ship arrived early at the port, roughly 7am, and left around 2pm. This was plenty of time for a charter fishing expedition, which was just short of 4 hours.

When we started researching, we found that many of the charter fishing companies would only charter a whole boat (which started at a capacity of 4-6 people). For two people, this felt slightly overkill. However, Baranof Fishing Excursions (not a sponsored link, just a happy customer) did do shared charters. Jennifer and John ended up sharing the boat with a group of 3, which worked well.

She did call up the company and chatted with them for a few minutes before committing. She learned a bit about the fish they normally catch and how they spend the day. She asked a few questions about how they caught the salmon (trolling vs individual lines), since the latter feels more like “real fishing.” The companies do have a service to vacuum pack and ship the fish back home to you after you return from your trip. Which is kind of necessary on a cruise since it’s not realistic to bring a crate of fish back with you on a tight cruise ship.

The Fishing Trip

After meeting their fishing boat contact near the cruise ship, they walked to the nearby docks and fishing boat. There were some formalities to start the day – filling out the paperwork for their fishing licenses and king salmon stamps, and going over some safety info. They were also given rubber boots to wear on the boat. If you want overalls or other protective clothing, you can also borrow some of that.

They met the captain as well as the other group of 3 whom they were sharing the boat with. The group was asked which type of fishing they wanted to do at first, and fortunately all of us decided on halibut. In that region, the main fish are halibut, salmon, and cod. They caught some of each.

It took about a half hour for the boat to travel from the docks to the main fishing area. Since the fishing was quite good there that day, they basically spent the whole time there. Sometimes when the fishing availability is more mixed, the boat will move between areas.

The halibut are a deep-swimming bottom fish, while the salmon swim more shallowly. The limit for halibut aboard a charter is 1 per person, so after the two of them caught their limit of halibut, John switched to salmon fishing while Jennifer continued to fish for cod. The other folks had some trouble catching their limit in halibut, they kept accidentally catching some sharks, which are not good for eating.

The limit for salmon was quite a bit higher – 6 each for pink and silver (per person). For king salmon, the limit is 1 (if you purchased a stamp before heading out), but they’re quite elusive. The captain said that they’re typically only caught every 50 hours of fishing. That particular day, they caught the limit for pink salmon, but the silver salmon, which Jennifer preferred, had left the area a few days before. The pink salmon were fun to catch, but not as great for eating as the others.

John really liked how quickly he was able to catch fish, as they were quite plentiful. He was trying to see if he could catch another fish before the captain had removed the previous one from another line. A few times, the fish were so abundant that 2 or 3 of the folks had caught fish and were waiting for the captain to help net and store the fish. Typically the halibut can wait, but if you don’t net the salmon right away, they will escape the hook. They lost several fish due to this problem! Also, when fishing for both salmon and halibut, you need to be careful that the lines don’t tangle.

They also caught 3 cod (one pacific and 2 black) while halibut fishing. But one of them jumped out of Jennifer’s hands as John was photographing it. Fish stories are always true…

The entire trip was 4 hours, including the ride to the fishing area and back.

On the ride back, they filled out paperwork for shipping the fish catch back to our house. We were able to pick a future date after we got home. The shipping service wasn’t inexpensive (and for the pink salmon, whether it was “worth it” was debatable, oh well). But given the cruise, it simply wasn’t practical, or allowed, to take the fish back in the cabin. We got a few snapshots at the end of our collection of fish.

One other thing – we did make use of the ship’s laundry service, since fish smell isn’t the ideal thing to be among the clothing in the suitcase.

Afterwards, there were still a few minutes to walk around Ketchikan before re-boarding the cruise ship. They were back in time for a late lunch aboard the ship, overlooking the Ketchikan harbor.

All in all, it was a great way for Jennifer and John to spend the port time in Ketchikan during the cruise.

More From Our Blog

Keep reading our travel blog for more adventures in Alaska: