Fishing off the docks in Ketchikan

[karatemom2]

On our many visits to Ketchikan we have always seen people fishing off of the bridge and docks by Creek Street and wanted to join in. This year we rented fishing poles and tackle and spent a few hours catching salmon from the dock which was great fun!

 

I wanted to share the information here for anyone who might be interested. The rental station for the fishing poles is at Dolly's House on Creek Street. The charge is $30 per pole plus $20 for a fishing license. Kids 16 and under do not require a license. It was a pretty small investment for the amount of fun we had. We caught around a dozen salmon between the four of us in just a couple of hours. If you are looking for a fun and cost effective activity I would highly recommend this option.

[DragonOfTheSeas]

On our many visits to Ketchikan we have always seen people fishing off of the bridge and docks by Creek Street and wanted to join in. This year we rented fishing poles and tackle and spent a few hours catching salmon from the dock which was great fun!

 

I wanted to share the information here for anyone who might be interested. The rental station for the fishing poles is at Dolly's House on Creek Street. The charge is $30 per pole plus $20 for a fishing license. Kids 16 and under do not require a license. It was a pretty small investment for the amount of fun we had. We caught around a dozen salmon between the four of us in just a couple of hours. If you are looking for a fun and cost effective activity I would highly recommend this option.

 

Did you catch and release?

[karatemom2]

Yes we released them.

[dolittle]

In 2001 I had my own fishing rod (pack kind) and and the license was only 10 dollars . The man at the shack sold me 2 lures (5 dollars) and told me what to do .I caught over 35 salmon (catch and release). The metal bridge in town was the best spot there were some locals and some ships crew also fishing . Best day ever fishing D.W. was at the Lumberjack show at the end of the day I was one of the last people to board dirty,smelly,wet and bloody (mine I sliped on a rock) . As I walked up the gang plank the worker scaning my card says ''have a good day'' ''best ever ''I said .

[DragonOfTheSeas]

We ate at the little restaurant that is next to the bridge. We watched the people fishing for salmon. We were nearer the end of the season-- in Ketchikan on Sept 2--but, they were still catching them.

 

We had a good time watching the fishermen from the restaurant and from the bridge. The fish looked to be about 24+ inches long.

 

One person said he was going to ship his fish home. [he was not from our ship] It sounded like a complicated process to ship them.

[edvanp]

On our many visits to Ketchikan we have always seen people fishing off of the bridge and docks by Creek Street and wanted to join in. This year we rented fishing poles and tackle and spent a few hours catching salmon from the dock which was great fun!

 

I wanted to share the information here for anyone who might be interested. The rental station for the fishing poles is at Dolly's House on Creek Street. The charge is $30 per pole plus $20 for a fishing license. Kids 16 and under do not require a license. It was a pretty small investment for the amount of fun we had. We caught around a dozen salmon between the four of us in just a couple of hours. If you are looking for a fun and cost effective activity I would highly recommend this option.

 

Thanks for this information! I'll be there in a few weeks and this is the only stop I haven't planned anything yet. This sounds like a good option if the weather cooperates!

[wmjivey]

Dang I need to find room in the bag for the rod and reel, $20 for some fun is a bargain in my book!!

 

John

[karatemom2]

Dang I need to find room in the bag for the rod and reel, $20 for some fun is a bargain in my book!!

 

John

 

Next year we are going to bring a couple of our own rods. Since we're not flying we figure we can carry on a couple of inexpensive light rods. We saw a fellow passenger who brought a bike along! So if he can manage a bike we are bringing a couple of fishing poles!

[wmjivey]

I am thinking of replacing one of the bottles booze I was smuggling with a pack rod and some barbless lures.

 

John

[kadey]

Anyone have info on a place in town that will correctly ship home any fish that you catch?

[wmjivey]

Did you have bait or lures to fish with, and what did the people around were using?

 

John

[dolittle]

The only thing I used was one pink and one red lead head jig. What he told me was that they are not feeding this time (Sept)of year so you just wiggle the jig in it's face to get it mad enough to bite ,and boy did it work some would go past and come back to bite it. Good luck

[wmjivey]

Thanks that helps, I will be there in 2 weeks OMG, time is going fast. I just hate to rent when I have so much stuff at home.

 

John

[tygermark]

Thanks that helps, I will be there in 2 weeks OMG, time is going fast. I just hate to rent when I have so much stuff at home.

 

John

 

John, what ship are you on? I never travel without rigs.

 

I am bringing 4pc Browning rods, reels, tackle, pliers. You can pick up pack rods at any major fish/hunt/camp store, you can get them online, express shipping.

[wmjivey]

John, what ship are you on? I never travel without rigs.

 

I am bringing 4pc Browning rods, reels, tackle, pliers. You can pick up pack rods at any major fish/hunt/camp store, you can get them online, express shipping.

 

I am on the Solstice, I have a pack rod already, last year my youngest spend two weeks canoeing in Canada so I built a rodcase out of PVC to protect and float for him. I just didn't know if casting off the bridge was appreciated, or if they were jigging or bobber with eggs

 

John

[tygermark]

I am on the Solstice, I have a pack rod already, last year my youngest spend two weeks canoeing in Canada so I built a rodcase out of PVC to protect and float for him. I just didn't know if casting off the bridge was appreciated, or if they were jigging or bobber with eggs

 

John

 

I am Sapphire Princess. See you on the water!

 

Almost always there is signage if fishing from a bridge/road/etc is not allowed. Many waters are artificial/single hook, so I always check the regs for the water that I am on, turning the pages to find out if there are special regs pages that do not show up earlier on in the publication. Canadian regs are especially bad about this.

 

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/fishregulations/PDFs/southeast/2013_SEregion.pdf

[karatemom2]

I am on the Solstice, I have a pack rod already, last year my youngest spend two weeks canoeing in Canada so I built a rodcase out of PVC to protect and float for him. I just didn't know if casting off the bridge was appreciated, or if they were jigging or bobber with eggs

 

John

 

People fishing off the bridge were not casting but the salmon were literally thick swimming in under the bridge so it wasn't really necessary. Casting was fine from the docks. There is plenty of room there and you need to cast from that location. Some people also were casting from the rocks just below the bridge as well.

[edvanp]

I am Sapphire Princess. See you on the water!

 

Almost always there is signage if fishing from a bridge/road/etc is not allowed. Many waters are artificial/single hook, so I always check the regs for the water that I am on, turning the pages to find out if there are special regs pages that do not show up earlier on in the publication. Canadian regs are especially bad about this.

 

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/fishregulations/PDFs/southeast/2013_SEregion.pdf

 

I too am on the Sapphire in 2 weeks and am packing a 6 piece rod, reel, a few lures, etc. Do you have any specific place you plan to fish? I was just planning to find a place I could walk/cast spoons, maybe get lucky and catch a fish. Do you know if treble hooks are allowed in salt water or should I just change them out to single hooks? Thanks.

[tygermark]

Do you know if treble hooks are allowed in salt water or should I just change them out to single hooks? Thanks.

 

The plot thickens..............

 

A lot of the water that I fish is artificial only, single hook. I have re-rigged all of my lures with 3x rings and single barbless hooks. There are MULTIPLE advantages to fishing barbless single hook.

 

I am still reading the regs and thinking of spots. Much will depend on time in port, and weather.

 

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static/regulations/fishregulations/PDFs/southeast/2013_SEregion.pdf

 

I am chickenmag at yahoo dot com. We can talk there.

[wmjivey]

Went through my four tackle boxes to see if anything in there would be useable for Coho, no such luck all too small. So its off to the store, looking for #4 pink BlueFox spinner with pink squid skirt single hook, 1/2 oz squid jig and maybe a Wigglewort. Since I am only planning to spend acouple hours while the wife is shopping I do not need a lot.

 

John

[dolittle]

I too am on the Sapphire in 2 weeks and am packing a 6 piece rod, reel, a few lures, etc. Do you have any specific place you plan to fish? I was just planning to find a place I could walk/cast spoons, maybe get lucky and catch a fish. Do you know if treble hooks are allowed in salt water or should I just change them out to single hooks? Thanks.

The metal bridge is best if you are going to jig . The fish have to go this way so they have to go under the bridge it is not wide so it is thick with fish. Below the bridge you can get low to the water ,it is rocky and slipery . It is hard to land a big fish on the bridge so I would walk it down to the water un hook and release . Barb less hooks will work just fine . Good luck

[Elahrairah]

I did it last week while I was there on Westerdam.

 

$40 plus $20 license. I got the feeling I could have haggled, but I jsut wanted to get started fishing. They also gave me a ticket to tour the Dolly house, which I didn't do.

 

I was at the far pier at the end. I got my limit of 6 within 1.5 hours. All pinks.

 

I didn't release them because I wanted a picture of all of them together. I donated them to a local who didn't catch anything while I was there. He was more than pleased, based on how he looked, it is possible this was his next meal.

 

A lot of fun. And much cheaper than taking a boat. I would have taken a boat, but we are only in town 5 hours or so.

[wmjivey]

Thanks for the update, what were you using? I found a pink BlueFox Vibramax spinner that is highly rated, and pink squid skirts I plan to jig with.

 

John

[tryme]

I am getting the info for my husband.

What jigs & baits, etc. does he need to purchase before the trip?

We will be on Sapphire Princess leaving Vancouver on the 7th.

[wmjivey]

I am not a salmon fisherman, I looked online for acouple of days and did find Bluefox Vibramx spinners in size 4 or 5 do the trick, in pools they recommended some type jig looking like squid. Wigglewart lures also had a lot of press. They also mentioned of using single hooks verse treble due to regs, I do not know if this is true but I am replacing the hooks with single ones in case.

 

John