I have been very blessed in that I've had the opportunity to fish a large part of the western hemisphere. With that being said, I have never stepped foot in Alaska. Does anyone have experience/recommendations on a good outfit up in that part of the world? I was thinking halibut, but I'm open to suggestions.

Horizon West Guides in Sitka. Sitka is rated #1 salmon fishing destination in the world, Horizon West has a small fleet of guide boats that usually do 1/2 day salmon fishing and 1/2 day halibut fishing, but when you're paying you can do whatever obv... You can usually limit on both in a day so it's best to split it up like we do. You'll also catch rock bass, possibly ling cod, lots of other "trash fish". Our deckhand even tried to get us a salmon shark when we saw one feeding on a school but it never took.

3 days fishing each person ends up with 2 50lb boxes of fillets. They pick you up and drop off at the airport, clean and vacuum seal your fish, package it so it will make the trip back to Texas, and cook you breakfast and lunch. You also are done by 3-4 so you have time to explore the town and the wilderness around there. The river has a good salmon run and is walking distance from the lodge so some people bring a fly rod to have more fun after the boat. Just watch out for bears, for real, there are about 5 that roam the outskirts of town!

Go eat at Ludvig's Bistro when you get there, very good Mediterranean seafood, especially if they have oysters on the half shell in. One of our party used to own a oyster farm and he said they were the best he had ever had.

My uncle takes a group of 12-30 every year, my dad just retired and is literally there right now with them and will be going almost every year, and I can't wait to start going every year very soon.

Eric

Laner, I've fished out of Sitka, Homer, Seward, Ninilchik, and Excursion Inlet last year and on several rivers. All were good. I would highly recommend
http://www.kenairiverbend.com
This resort is located on the Kenai in Soldotna on the peninsula south of Anchorge.
Only drawback to Sitka is halibut fishing is done in the Pacific which means maybe fishing in 8-20 ft seas and 400+ ft deep. The first place our capt stopped was 450 ft deep. The second place was 650 ft deep. Believe me when I say that reeling anything up from 650 ft will wear your butt out. And reeling up a 30-50 lb halibut is like reeling up a piece of plywood flat side up.
The deepest place we fished out of Ninilchik was 200 ft deep but we caught halibut up to 135 lbs in 95 FOW. A lot more fun.
Fishing the rivers for Salmon is more fun than trolling in the bays in my opinion.
Kenai Riverbend Resort will make a fishing pkg to do anything you want. And as many days as you want. They are very accommodating to the clients and very customer service oriented. On a day when the wind was too bad to fish out of Ninilchik for halibut, they re-booked all the clients on the river for salmon if they wanted to change.
Need to decide if you want to fish for kings or silvers. King salmon in late June early July and silvers in mid August to mid Sept.
Too much to talk about on here, call me.

Ditto on the recommendation for Ninilchik!! The halibut are so much shallower there. Easy fishing and many larger fish. You'll have a blast.
Tight lines!
1Fisher77316

Might talk to Craig when get gets back or should I say if he gets back. I talked to him yesterday and the cannery where he stays has a grizzly bear that is wrecking the place at night, he said he went to try to kill it the other night. He most likely took a knife.

Anyways he said this year has been better than the last ten years. He will be back in 30 days or so.

Btw, Doc Warner's rents Lunds, no guide needed.

An acquaintance of mine just posted this pic about 30 minutes ago. Looks like they had a great 2 days of fishing. I've never been but it is definitely on my bucket list.

I suggest you quit making me jealous, Richard...

I lived in Alaska at Elmendorf, Air Force Base from 1980-1986.

We had a fish camp in Soldotna on the Kenai.

My Favorite Salmon to fish for was the Silvers. Hands down my favorite.

Halibut is right up there with them.
Some of those Halibut are so big they have to shoot them in the head with a 410 shotgun before you bring them in the boat.
We fished out of Homer.

You can stop by Portage Glacier.

You will have a blast. I know it is a lot more crowded then when I was up there and a lot of different restrictions on the fishing with regards to limits and stuff.

If you can find somewhere to fish for Grayling I highly recommend.

We used this thing called a Spin N Glo with cured salmon eggs back in the day to fish for the salmon.
It's a Top with wings.

Take Mosquito repellent and don't go walking around in the woods unless someone with you is packing because the Bears up there don't play.

Some good memories up there.

Yes FYI halibut in Sitka is a physical challenge, best tricep workout I've ever had. I like the challenge though too but it's personal preference. Our last trip we were fishing a hole 825 ft deep, one of the things you can do is vertically jig a massive jig that's about 10 inches long. It's really cool to feel it that far down hit the rocky bottom and pull it back up with 800 feet of line out and then feel a "THUMP" of a totally different sort!

Did get 3 shooters though! (Like previously stated, anything over 50lbs gets shot before gaffing)

Eric

Just got back from a week long trip in Kodiak on Sunday. We went with Port Lions Lodge and caught a ton of fish, halibut, salmon, and rock fish mainly. The guy who runs the lodge is from Burleson, and he takes really good care of his clients. He has some openings in August that he may give you a deal on. Shoot me a PM if you need anymore info or check out his Facebook page.

We have gone the last two years and have my ticket for next year. I've fished out of Homer. Awesome trip. Warning once you go...you willl be wanting to go back every year. Give me a call if you want more details on lodging and logistics. Kirby Hicks 469-853-1778

All of this information is extremely helpful guys, thanks for taking the time to share it with me. The downside is now I have the fever to get up there real bad!

Don't put it off! Soldotna is a great suggestion and a great place to stay. You are not very far away from fishing any species. For the most part you can do your salmon fishing on your own, unless you want a really big King (season ends July 31), then you will need a boat to get to them on the Kenai. The Bings is close by and offers great sockeye fishing. Take plenty of pictures for us!

We are intrigued by this post and are considering a trip next summer. Question to you guys. We are older (78)and certainly not what we once were physically. Is it to rigorous for most our age, especially the wife? We were thinking of a 6 day trip with 3 days of fishing.