Family Trip

[Yell Co AR Hunter]

We had a great trip to Alaska. Weather was perfect never even had to pull out the rain gear. We saw as much as we could in 7 days. Ended up putting 1.600 miles on the rental car. One thing I learned is you will not run out of light before you get dead tired. Fished the Kasilof river for Salmon. Not successful unless you count my wife getting spooled out on a big King. Fished out of Seward for halibut with some success. Got to see moose, dall sheep, brown bear, black bear, and even a pack of wolves.
I do have one question about the halibut fishing trip. On this trip there were 4 members from my family and 2 other people. The captain stated the person that set the hook was the person that the fish belonged to. I did not really have an issue with that. I caught the first two bites I got. First was a skate and second was my over. The next four halibut caught were by my party. as we caught our fish we were not allowed to set a hook. The other two people were now running between 6 poles and missing every fish. This went on for several hours till the trip was almost over. Is this the way it is done? I may not know the edicate of fishing, but seems like if you pay for 4 poles you should be able to fish four poles. It was just a long day watching those two other folks reeling to soon to set the hook. So tell me if this is normal.

 

[AKaviator]

That's a little unusual but I get the strategy.

The Captain is right that the law is; the fish belongs to the person that sets the hook. That's a little mute because you don't "set" a circle hook, which I'm sure you were using. So if you grab the rod first or were holding it, it belongs to you.
After you catch your "over" fish, some captains will keep your rod fishing from a rod holder and let anyone who hasn't caught a "keeper" to dash to which ever rod is being hit. He/she is trying to get all aboard their "keeper".
It would not have been out of line for you to insist on fishing your rod. Even if you caught both of your keepers (over and under) since there are other species that you can legally be fishing for. The rub is, if you have the rod in your hand when the fish strikes and it happens to be a 250 pounder, you're obligated to release it, whereas if the rod was in a holder and that fish hits, a person that needs a keeper could have caught it.
It's hard to watch a giant being released when other folks are struggling to catch any keeper. I've seen it happen.

You paid full price to fish however, the same as all others on the boat. It should be your choice to keep fishing or not, not the captains..

 

[Ikeepitcold]

Sounds like you had a great trip even though the fishing wasn’t the best.

 

[Yell Co AR Hunter]

Thanks AK, That helps understand a little. The captain did catch a 200 pounder the day before our trip. It was still a enjoyable trip. Just felt like we could have got our two fish each. We did end up bringing home around 35 pounds of halibut and took a mess to a local restaurant which fried it up for our dinner. Man was that fresh halibut some good table fare.
I took my spotting scope as well as my glasses. It was fun glassing the mountain sides looking for game. It was a real treat to glass the wolf pack and listen to the howls. I was able to watch them for around 10 minutes on a point. We saw all most all the game late during the night. Still wish I could have seen a caribou. It was the middle of the day every time we were in areas I would assume they would be. I was able to glass up a few fox and rabbits in those areas. It was a dream of mine to get to Alaska. Now to work on a plan to get back and do some hunting.

 

[buckbull]

Every charter I have been on (besides those large boats where 50 people are fishing all at once) we have drawn straws to determine order and when its your turn you grab the pole once something bites. The one charter gave you 2 chances before moving on to the next guy. Luckily most of my charters have been with family and its pretty casual on who grabs the rod, usually try to get the kids to do most of the reeling in. Its the guys not fighting the fish job to keep the other lines from tangling. The guy i have done sailfish trips with has everyone reel in the lines to keep them from getting tangled.

 

[mallardsx2]

Apparently he didn't have the "goose hunting of fishing" mentality like the guides I have went with. lol