Halibut fishing/Ketchikan 1st of June

[macnife]

We are cruising on NCL Pearl May 31-June 7 2009. We are thinking of doing a fishing tour in Ketchikan. We would like to catch Halibut. Are they catchable the beginning of June? I followed another link on this board that showed when the fish were available, and it did show Halibut. I just wanted to get first hand info from someone who has fished at the beginning of June. Family has done a lot of Salmon fishing in Michigan, so they are looking forward to catching Halibut, if possible. Any recommendations on tours that are best for Halibut? Thanks for any information!

[COJOMAY]

I have no experience fishing Halibut in Alaska but you aroused my curiosity. So, like you, I did a bit of checking. Found this site which may help you decide...

http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/halibuttides.htm

[Budget Queen]

I suggest you contact fishing charters and inquire directly.

[COJOMAY]

And, by the way, there's nothing better than fresh Halibut. Way better than salmon in my opinion!

[macnife]

I have no experience fishing Halibut in Alaska but you aroused my curiosity. So, like you, I did a bit of checking. Found this site which may help you decide...

http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/halibuttides.htm

 

Thanks for the link. Great information, but since I know nothing about fishing, not sure what to think!

 

Budget Queen, I have contacted several fishing charters for prices, but in their reply, they did not specify how the fishing was, just prices for the charters. I was hoping to get some insight from people who have fished at that time. I know we will have fun no matter what we catch!

[wolfie11]

The good halibut fishing in Ketchikan is a ways from town. Your shore excursion time may not allow you to do a charter that can get you out to the fish and back in time. The shore excursions sold by the ship that take you fishing don't go out very far, and any halibut you are likely to catch on these excursions are in the 5-15 pound range. In addition, there will probably be a one-halibut limit for charters in SE this summer. If you book a charter, get the details before you put down your money. They may say halibut fishing, but unless you get out to deeper water, you may only catch a little one.

[macnife]

The good halibut fishing in Ketchikan is a ways from town. Your shore excursion time may not allow you to do a charter that can get you out to the fish and back in time. The shore excursions sold by the ship that take you fishing don't go out very far, and any halibut you are likely to catch on these excursions are in the 5-15 pound range. In addition, there will probably be a one-halibut limit for charters in SE this summer. If you book a charter, get the details before you put down your money. They may say halibut fishing, but unless you get out to deeper water, you may only catch a little one.

 

Are the other ports (Juneau, or Skagway) better for the Halibut fishing? We haven't set up our excursions yet, but there are other things in Juneau and Skagway that we would like to do, and Ketchikan seemed the best for a fishing excursion.

[COJOMAY]

The good halibut fishing in Ketchikan is a ways from town. Your shore excursion time may not allow you to do a charter that can get you out to the fish and back in time. The shore excursions sold by the ship that take you fishing don't go out very far, and any halibut you are likely to catch on these excursions are in the 5-15 pound range. In addition, there will probably be a one-halibut limit for charters in SE this summer. If you book a charter, get the details before you put down your money. They may say halibut fishing, but unless you get out to deeper water, you may only catch a little one.

 

Halibut fishing is more dependent on the tides than on depth of water.

[Toyz711]

we did halibut fishing (out of steward) and the captain kept telling us that he had a couple of deep water area for the bigger fish. we stayed with the 40lb range, i knew i would never be able to land anything bigger then that. it's l like pulling up a 100lb rock!!

when i was researching, for our '06 cruise on the NCL star, we found that the halibut charters were all day charters...the beds were further out..salmon fishing were 1/2 day charters.

one of the fishing charters had this to say "Their preferred habitat is along fairly flat sand, rock, or mud bottoms near abrupt dropoffs

or rocky points of land. Peak fishing is in May thru September. Though normally caught on or near the ocean floor at depths below 150 feet, halibut are sometimes caught at shallower depths by anglers trolling or mooching for salmon. "

i just know that we were fishing in very deep waters.

both ketchikan and juneau were the same as far as going out further for halibut, that i found. skagway would be worst, since it's up the channel from juneau..not in open water.

[bottom-dragger]

Halibut fishing is more dependent on the tides than on depth of water.

 

i might debate that. out of tiny-town and other southeast towns, at the first of the season (april for small boaters) the halibut are going to be deep. as the summer progresses, the halibut move into shallower water to take advantage of the salmon carcasses and other bottom feeders. there are some areas that do tend to be hot due some some sort of bottom structure that attracts feed.

 

southeast has less extreme tidal ranges compared to cook inlet. so currents are generally not as high. during mid tide there may be difficulty holding a point without an anchor and keeping your bait on the bottom with a reasonable amount of weight.

[COJOMAY]

i might debate that. out of tiny-town and other southeast towns, at the first of the season (april for small boaters) the halibut are going to be deep. as the summer progresses, the halibut move into shallower water to take advantage of the salmon carcasses and other bottom feeders. there are some areas that do tend to be hot due some some sort of bottom structure that attracts feed.

 

southeast has less extreme tidal ranges compared to cook inlet. so currents are generally not as high. during mid tide there may be difficulty holding a point without an anchor and keeping your bait on the bottom with a reasonable amount of weight.

 

I wasn't talking so much about big vs small fish but the quality of fishing. I was quoting a professional fishing guide who made the following statement on his web site:

While time of year has some influence (June and July are usually best), the major deciding factor for scheduling the very best times is based upon the varying tides that influence the halibut fishing throughout the area. Whenever possible, we try to only fish the high slack tide on our Cook Inlet trips. Generally, halibut fishing around a high tide seems to provide a better bite than fishing around a low tide ... thus we always try to schedule our halibut fishing trips around them.

The amount of tidal swing also can have a large influence on halibut fishing success in Alaska's Cook Inlet, and to a lesser degree in other Peninsula fisheries.

[bottom-dragger]

I wasn't talking so much about big vs small fish but the quality of fishing. I was quoting a professional fishing guide who made the following statement on his web site:

 

as i mentioned, conditions in southeast (ktn) are very different from cook inlet that you reference.