My first of seven guided trips in Alaska was a deep sea charter for halibut, king salmon and rockfish out of Homer, which is a fishing town; both commercial and sport fishing. Homer looks, sounds and smells like a fishing town and is the self-proclaimed halibut capital of the world.
Snowgoose II
I charted the Snowgoose II from D&G Charters for a captain’s choice fishing day (all day any species) and was happy to be fishing with an all female crew, especially as my adult daughter was supposed to join me for this trip.
Captain Shannon and first mate (she’s also a captain) Ciara were both extremely knowledgeable, professional and patient with the four passengers, me and a family from Minnesota, both explaining the nuances of deep sea halibut fishing, as well as the eeenvironemnt and ecosystem we were fishing in.
Fishing
Rigs set up. chum prepared. Bait ready. And before we knew it we had fish on! and then more fish on! And then even more fish!
Capt. Shannon put us on plenty of fish. Ciara managed the deck and the chaos and got all the fish safely in the boat. We all limited out on halibut, two each. We also all limited out on rockfish and we landed three king salmon, including the one I caught at the very end of the day.
Besides the exceptional fishing, the scenery and marine wildlife was amazing. We saw humpback whales, sea otters and plenty of puffins.
On the way back, Ciara cleaned all the fish and Homer Fish Processing was waiting on the dock to handle the packaging, freezing and shipping.
Back in Homer I met up with the family from Minnesota and we had beers and halibut for dinner. We also talked about how great the day was and how exceptional the captain and mate were — in fact, based on what we saw from the other boats, we out-fished them in size, quantity and species of fish. No other boat got kings that day and we landed three!
Way to go ladies!
Alec Rosen, Adventurer and Raconteur
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