Ketchikan Fishing

[tjbarney]

I was wondering if anyone has gone salmon/halibut fishing while in Ketchikan? Who did you go with, how much did they charge, and how was the trip? Also did you have your catch processed and shipped home, if so, how much did this cost (I know it depends on how much you catch) and did they do a good job? Thanks in advance for the help! :D Oh, and we are going to be there the very end of May, 08.

[sea_u_onboard]

We used Northern Lights while in Ketchikan. We chartered the entire boat (4 of us) for $600. Normally they take 6 - but I don't know how they would have fit 6 on the boat, and since you have to pull up all the lines when you have one on I think it would have driven us crazy if it wasn't our fish :) . It rained the entire time but we still had a great time.

 

We had Ken get the fish processed through Cedars Lodge. I was a little disappointed on how they processed the order - but they made it right. I don't remember exactly how much it cost us to get it processed but less then $200 and we had lots of fish.

 

All in all it was worth the money.

[tapia]

I used Ken from Northern Lights too and LOVED it. (I'm not even a fisherman) It also rained the whole time, but we caught fish!

 

Cheryl, can I ask you how they processed your order? I wasn't too happy with mine either.......

[sea_u_onboard]

Cheryl, can I ask you how they processed your order? I wasn't too happy with mine either.......

Where to begin....

 

First - there is a lot of bones, which I'm not used to. Second - and just as important - they shipped it in a syrofoam cooler but with no ice. When I called they said as long as the fish was still cold it would be OK. Fortunately for us my son was home that day and drug it in the house from the 109 degree day we had in Texas. Maybe in Alaska it's ok to leave a package of this type on the porch all day but here it's not. It was fine - but I can only imagine what some people find.

 

They had to ship a second batch - as they had messed up the order and hadn't smoked any of the King (only the pink) and we had asked that it be half smoked/half frozen. Still no ice - even after complaining. I only had to pay the difference between smoked and frozen - no shipping - so at least I had that going for me.

 

Now that I have the smoked I'm glad I didn't get it 50/50. This is wierd smoked to me. First I was told I have to keep it frozen and then once thawed I needed to use it within 2 weeks. I thought smoked salmon didn't even need to be refrigerated. I guess I'm wrong.

 

I've never had smoked salmon like this. It's like a brick and I still haven't come up with a good way to prepare it. I steamed it the last time and that was the best it's come out so far. Maybe I just don't know what I'm doing. Very tasty but too salty for me - my DH likes it that way.

 

The frozen is very good - but like I said - lots of bones. I run my hand through it before I cook it and find all that I can.

[Toyz711]

the smaller fish will have more bones...less area to cut a fillet from.

smoked fish should just be eaten the way it is. you don't cook it anymore.

smoked fish is more of a snack..just pick it up and eat. when i got some halibut smoked, it was sent in a vacuum pack. didn't need any ice for shipping. the frozen halibut was sent with those ice packs...arrive still frozen.

[sea_u_onboard]

Not sure what quailifies as small when talking about King Salmon but they were 20 to 25 pounds.

 

DH wanted the salmon heated as it did come frozen and we had to thaw it and told to keep it refrigerated. It was also vacuum packed - I thought it was a little strange and asked them about it. :confused:

[sea_u_onboard]

I used Ken from Northern Lights too and LOVED it. (I'm not even a fisherman) It also rained the whole time, but we caught fish!

Let me just add that we did enjoy the fishing but one of the things that I didn't enjoy was sitting on the wet cushions left behind by the morning group.

[tjbarney]

Thanks for the info so far! Let me say that my dh and I are by no means 'fisherman' either. We just love salmon and we like to fish sometimes. Thought it would be a nice experiance. :)

[rotomu]

I'm a fisherman, caught plenty of big and small salmon. If there are bones, they just did not fillet with care. There should be VERY few bones if they took any amount of time filleting the fish.

[sea_u_onboard]

I'm a fisherman, caught plenty of big and small salmon. If there are bones, they just did not fillet with care. There should be VERY few bones if they took any amount of time filleting the fish.

That's what I thought. It became clear to me that they aren't very well run (when they got a simple order messed up). For all I know we didn't get all our fish.

 

FYI - The other thing I didn't particularly like was that Ken didn't weigh our fish - so I have no idea what actually went to the processor. We did get a lot of fish though.

[Toyz711]

fishing for halibut in seward a few years ago, we caught 4 @ between 30 and 40 lbs. our boat captain cleaned and filleted the fish, what we took over to the cannery was just the meat of the fish. in seward we could walk over to the cannery and make our own arrangments.

[tapia]

The only thing I didn't like was that the morning group had an issue and we were then picked up late. They also left behind very wet seat cushing / such.

 

I'd say go in the morning if you can! Also, better fishing (supposedly).