Seward Halibut

[fivebucks]

Going to book a butt trip out of Seward in mid July. I am thinking of booking with Saltwater Safaris. The thing keeping me back is that they go up to 20 people on their boats. Has anyone used these guys? Just wondering if that gets crowded. I suppose a 50' boat is smoother than a 35' and they fit more people. Any other charter suggestions?

Thanks!

[brian6715]

I went out of Homer in a similar boat in 2009. I think there was 14 of us on the boat, and it was pretty crowded, but it works out ok. What happens is whoever is fighting a fish gets slowly moved to the back of the boat, and the others are rotated back to the front. It works out ok actually. The good thing is they will put you in a spot where you catch a TON of fish, but don't expect many over 25 lbs. When we were out, if you didn't have a bite within 3 minutes of putting the bait down it was odd. The action was constant! We probably caught around 70 fish, all of them were 20-25 lbs except two that went 45 lbs and another that went 75 lbs.

The good thing is that people will quit after an hour or two, and before you know it it isn't crowded. If you have to, ask for more weight. You have to be on the bottom, and you will be able to tell by how straight up and down your line is if you are or not. We started with 2 lbs of weight, by the end the current (from the tide?) was so strong that I was using 3 lbs of weight.

I would suggest doing something like this for your first trip. It was the coolest fishing trip of my life, and by far the most fun I have had on the water! My next trip will be with a small boat and the idea of going after some monster fish.

[kgpcr4]

DONT DO IT!!! those big boats are a freaking mess! You need to find a 6-pack charter. With big boats like that they typicaly go to a chicken patch and fill up on very small fish.

[jwmiller33]

DONT DO IT!!! those big boats are a freaking mess! You need to find a 6-pack charter. With big boats like that they typicaly go to a chicken patch and fill up on very small fish.

I couldn't agree more with what kgpcr4 said. Those big boats only care about getting their customers to limit out. I can almost guarantee you that you will be constantly catching halibut at the spots these big boats bring you to, but they will all be 5-15lbs.

Last year on our trip, we went out for halibut 2 different times. The first day we went out in the Cook Inlet on one of these bigger boats and drove less than 30 minutes out from port. We constantly had action all day and if you didn't have a bite within 5 minutes, something was wrong (your bait got bit off). We all limited out but the average size fish was probably about 15lbs. We caught 2 that were over 40lbs and you could tell they were rare fish for this charter boat b/c of how excited the captain and deckhand were. Regardless, that trip was a blast.

The second day we went out of Seward with Captain Hill Norvell (do a google search for his name) and we did MUCH MUCH MUCH better. We took a 2.5 hr drive out to sea out of Seward (drove past all of the chicken patches that the 20+ person boats take you to). My first fish of the day was a 105LB halibut. Every fish I caught was much bigger than the ones we were catching on our first trip. My dad also caught a 110 LB halibut and everyone in our group got one over 20LBS.

Do your research on the charter you are going to use and ask what they average size halibut is their customers catch. If you are happy with catching 10-15LB fish and nothing bigger and don't mind fishing with 19 other people, then by all means go with that charter.

As previously mentioned staying on bottom is the key to catching halibut. We used 5LB weights to start off the day on both days of halibut fishing and finished the day using 8 or 10LB weights b/c the tide picks up as the day goes on. FYI, Alaska has some of the biggest and fastest tides in the world.

[fishkid]

last year we went out of seward with aurora charters we went on a boat that fit 5 people plus the captin and did very well. we ended up catching around 15 halibut a piece ranging from 20lbs up to 60lbs. any bigger and they dont taste as good. i'm sure if you charter the boat with just your party you can say hey i want to go out and catch big halibut they will take you to the holes but the chances are less for you to catch a fish. Fishing for butts is just like fishing for anything else the bigger fish are tougher to catch. If they bring to a place where u will catch 20-60 lb fish there is always a chance of catching one of them barn door halibut. I was really pleased with our captain and his efforts. He even let me bust out his personal 9 ft gloomis rod and use light tackle for them which was alot more fun then using them dam broom stick rods that only bed if there is 100lbs of weight on them.

[jwmiller33]

we ended up catching around 15 halibut a piece ranging from 20lbs up to 60lbs. any bigger and they dont taste as good.

we brought 300+lbs of halibut filets back between our group of 8 last yr and threw it all into one freezer and have been taking as we please. haven't been able to tell which pieces are from the 15LBers and which are from the 105 and 110 LBers. I agree, it would make sense that older fish don't taste as good but I haven't been able to tell them apart.

[fishkid]

you wont tell them apart after they have been frozen for a while. from the fish we got the longer they sat in the freezer the more they started to taste not as tasty. maybe its because we eat alot and can tell the difference. when i started eatin salmon up here i could not tell the difference between them but now i can tell the difference between the 5 species so maybe its something you can just taste different if you eat them enough.

[fivebucks]

I'm looking into some 6-pack boats now. Good thing there is a lot of info on the web. I checked with Hill and he does not have room the day we want to fish. I definately don't want a bunch of chickens and catching 40-60's is just fine with me.

[Down Deep]

I've been on both types of charters and I prefer the smaller boats. I recommend that you check with the charter and see if they will take you fishing for lings and rock fish. Both are excellent eating and fun to fish for.

JWMiller The most weight I ever used was 6 pounds on Cook Inlet with a 22 ++ tide and that was a pain in the A-$-$. I can't imagine what cranking 10 pounds up and down must have been like.

[fivebucks]

Tic toc tic toc... Got the butt trip booked with a small 6 pack with Inn and Out Charters. We are flying out next Friday. Has time slowed down? After halibut we're heading out to Bristol Bay and fish the Alagnak River for some kings and reds.

[jwmiller33]

will the kings and reds be running at the same time in the Alagnak?

[fivebucks]

On the Alagnak the kings are entering the river about now and should be there July 20th or so. We will be on the Alagnak July 14-17 and that will be on the tail end of the red run, depending on how this year goes. I would have preferred a week earlier but they were booked. From what I've been told there should still be plenty fresh reds which is what I want to bring home. I don't care if the kings are a little rosy as I don't plan on keeping any of those as long as I can load up on reds. I hope the runs are strong and late.