Ketchikan Salmon Fishing Excursion - need recs

DH really wants to do salmon fishing on one of our port days on our upcoming Alaska cruise (Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway) and since there are some really great excursions for Juneau and Skagway that *I* really want to do, I'm trying to find a great charter for Ketchikan ;)

Any recommendations for outside charters or should we just book the HAL excursion?

Thanks!

if you don't get any responses, use SEARCH THIS FORUM with the word 'fishing' or 'charter' and you'll find a bunch of threads that provide vendor names.

You may be already to late to book an independent charter but I am very familiar with these people and can recommend them.

http://www.alaskastrikezone.com

My husband had a great time with Go Fish in Ketchikan in July 2012. They have a website.

Thanks both for the recommendations! We are going to look into both :)

Honestly, I had my heart set on the Misty Fjords floatplane, but, well, you know…….:(

Not sure I could enjoy myself with this happening so recently. It would be in the back of my mind the entire time and since we are leaving our minor children home with family, we are going to stay grounded.

DH (an avid angler) REALLY wants to fish somewhere :)

We just returned from our Alaska Cruise. In Ketchikan my husband and son went on a 6 hour fishing excursion with Baranof Fishing Excursions. You can arrange it ahead of time, they were great to work with. They matched my husband and son with another man and son it worked out great, except for catching just rock fish but that wasn't their fault, the weather changed and the fish weren't running.

Hope this helps. Please feel free to ask me any other questions.

My son and husband went out with Jerry of AAA Sportfishing two years ago. They each caught a king salmon and the other 3 gentlemen also caught Salmon. Jerry was easy to contact and very friendly. Jerry even took the salmon to be cleaned and had it sent home for us. He was great and the guys had an awesome time.

My husband and brothers have gone out with Captain Jerry of AAA Sportfishing twice. They would definitely use him again.

My husband and brothers have gone out with Captain Jerry of AAA Sportfishing twice. They would definitely use him again.

They were booked for our day in Ketchikan but Baranof had availability :)

We were there last week and went fishing with Captain Ryan McRobert from Best Weigh Guide Service. ketchikan-fishing.com 907-305-0358

We only reeled in one king salmon, but it was too small too keep. From what we heard on the docks, there weren't many fish biting that day.

Even though we didn't get any fish to keep, I would book with Ryan again. He's very friendly, has lots of knowledge of the area, and keeps in touch with the other captains. He had snacks and drinks for us and his boat had an enclosed cabin and a bathroom. He even kept us out 1/2 an hour longer just to try to get some fish.

We only had 4 hours, so we couldn't go out too far. If we had more time, we could have gone out further and tried for some halibut. Also, when fishing for salmon, Ryan set up the rods/reels and we trolled (not sure if that's the proper fishing terminology). We only grabbed the rods when there was a bite.

Hope this information helps. Have fun and good luck!

We did Baranof on the 14th. We did the excursion where you catch fish and then they cook it for you at a campsite. Had a great time and the meal was wonderful! Highly recommend!