Seward Alaska

[MAITOI]

I am going to Alaska on Aug 3 and plan on fishing for Halibut in Homer and Silver Salmon in Seward. I fished on the Silver Fox charter in Homer 2 years ago and will probably book with them this year. I have not been to Seward and am looking for any input or experiences with Seward charter boats.

[Down Deep]

Post deleted by Paul Waldowski

[Captain B.R.K]

Why Seward of all places? If you are open to new ideas and suggestions, I would definately give the Kenai River a chance for kings, potentially world record size kings!

There are quite a few guide services out of Soldotna that you could try that will be able to put you on fish. I haven't been to Alaska in some years, but know that Kenai would be a great place to try.

[MAITOI]

I was considering that option but thought the run for kings would be over in August.

[Down Deep]

Captian BRK

We are going to Soldotna and fishing the Kenai and Kisilof. We are also doing a day or two on the ocean for halibut. I was giving Maitoi a resource for AK info.

Thanks for looking out for me.

[MAITOI]

Down Deep

Thanks for the HSOforum. Just spent an hour looking it over. Too many options not enough time. Do you have any recommendations for a day trip out of Soldotna?

[fishermann222]

silvers out of sewerd would be a good time in aug. The kenai gets WAY too much fishing pressure. Sure there are some huge kings in there in july, but who wants to fish bumper boats, literally.

[AkDan]

If you think the kasilof is any better you're in for a sore boat ride. I've ran the kasilof a few years in my cat trying to back bounce along side all the guides, no way I'll go back, what a rat race!!!

Aug 3rd for silvers is early in any of the fresh water rivers for silvers. The kings are over (and I believe but don't quote me the Kenai is over for kings by then). There should still be kings that late in the salt we call them feeder kings. I've yet to run a charter boat that late in the year but I do know they do pick them up in the salt all year long just not as regularly.

How long do you plan on being here? What's your finances? And what's your desires?

From a charter boat captians opinion if you want silvers the first week of august the salt is where it's going to be at no question and it's going to be HOT beyond belief!

DO NOT go out with saltwater safari's out of seward. I'm not sure if Goodhand charters is out of seward or not but I'd highly recommend them if they are. I run out of sitka.

If you do have time you MIGHT find a few fish in the lower end of the little susitna, deshka (need a boat or someone with one) a few fish in the mouths of willow and little willow. THe chums and pinks will be around and are a hoot to catch. The chums are a blast no doubt!!! If you can contact a charter to float the willow river off the parks for early coho's and the chums. Don't keep the chums, but don't turn away from fishing them.

Another road system coho fishery I would look into for early coho's would be down by homer. The anchor, possibly the kasilof for early coho's, homers spit (homers lagoon is the offical name), Ninilchik or Deep creek all may hold fish this early. The pennisula is usually the first fresh water areas to show fish of any numbers before the valley or even some of the coastal towns only accessable via planes/boats. Just a short lull in the freshwater time and you've hit it about spot on. Could be good could be bad but definatly early for the coho's.

lastly if you want almost untouched fishing, try cordova, use the rental forest service cabins (30 bucks a day) and pound fish, it only gets better come september!! Big fish and lots of'm with little to no pressure!!!!

[traveler]

Hey Arnie, off again om another adventure??? Boy, I can't wait to retire:) Seward is my favorite town in AK. Gorgeous scenery, walk up to glacier, and silvers like crazy! Fishing should be quite good by Aug 3rd, we've fshed it in late July there with good luck. As long as you're fishing Homer for butts, I'd dkip the "combo" trips you'll see offered from Seward and just concentrate on silvers. Less expensive, more fun:) Try to use a six pak rather than one of the 15-ish passenger boats. Crackerjack charters is the cream of the crop in Seward, although a little pricey. Also check out Pro-fish-n-sea, AK sunrise, both good guys. BTW the Kenai is closed to kings July 31, and it's too early to target silvers there, although the river might still have plenty of reds, which are my favorite for the canner. Where else do you plan on fishing?

[traveler]

Something else in Seward you might be interested in, Saltwater safari, and probably others, run trips for salmon sharks. Big fish, if you didn't get enough of them down south:) I see one of the other posters recommended against SS, but you'll get that with almost any charter. They've been there a long time and I haven't heard of many bad comments about them. Another outfit I've heard good things about is Aurora, but no first hand info. The Fish House is the main place in Seward, kind of a clearing house for charters, athough we've always tried to deal directly with individual operators there.

[MAITOI]

Terry, Thanks for all the great info. Just what I was looking for. I will only have about 4 days for fishing so I think I will stay with my original plan of Butts in Homer and Silver in Seward. After watching Jason Davis in Alaska on KSTP the other night I'm getting pumped. Only a little over 4 months away. Now I have to concentrate on the Wis opener and Gull Lake for the Mn opener.

[eskay]

I was out with Pro Fish n Sea last year, and they're a first class operation. Nice boats, great skippers, and gorgeous scenery.

[traveler]

No problem Arnie. You'll have a blast, those silvers on light tackle are just wild in the salt. Those salmon sharks interest me tho', they get em' over 400 lbs! We're setting up a trip for next year and I think I'll take the stand up gear and have a go at them. eskay, did you by chance get to fish with Steve Zernia? He was running the only PF&S boat when we fished them a few years back. Are they running 6 packs or party boats?

[setterguy]

I was up there 5 years ago (typing it makes me want to get back soon) we went Halibut fishing on a smaller boat, Taylor maid charters. The name of the boat was NOBLE ONE. Kind of a rough grough guy, but he did put us on a lot of fish. We didn't get into any monsters (all between 40-70lbs) but we had consistent action all day. He was very reasonable and we had a great time. Hope this helps. BTW I am very jealous.

[globug]

On the plus side, every other charter I have gone out on in Alaska (all out of Homer) has been fantastic, even on the larger 12-15 person halibut boats.

A good source of fishing information is the Alaska Department of Fish and Game HSOforum, they have an archive of past years fishing reports and information that might be helpful or at least interesting to anyone planning a trip.

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[Glockwinger]

Maitoi,

We went up to Alaska a few years back and had a great time!

Also, we went out on the Ocean at Homer with Midnight Sun Charters, Captain Brian Noller. Great captain and recently married a Minnesota Gal (we went to the wedding in Brainerd!) Have fun, it was the greatest trip my wife and I have taken to date.

[traveler]

Globug, curious as to what went wrong on your charter? I've had a couple AK charters go bad over the years too. Did you catch any sharks?

[MAITOI]

Terry, Do you know if there are any businesses in Seward that smoke your fish? I can't seem to find any on the internet. The last time I fished in Ninilchik there was a place close to Afishunt but that is a ways from Seward. Maybe Soldotna?