Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Homer Halibut Charters ?

Enjoy. not at all my favorite month to fish the Talkeetna but it does provide decent trout at that time.

I'll be in Cold Bay all of May.

Who are you fishing with out of Talkeetna?

Whatchu doing in Cold bay, Jeff?

We booked with captain Shane of Driftwood charters last August and had a great multi fish catch with him.

That’s the type of grocery shopping that I would never tire of. Nice haul crittr….that bottom king is a fat football of a fish. 👍

working for Rich Guthrie.

Definitely one of - if not THE - nicest boats in the fleet.




Was down looking for feeders the last few days and talked to one of my charter buddies (Arctic Addiction) and he said summer ‘22 is essentially full, ‘23 is filling, and they are putting spots in the book for ‘24.

R.I.P. JB.

Yeah charters are booming. Apparently people want to travel and fish.

Halibut Charter permits have gone up 3x in the last 5 years

Well, what do you expect when the Commercials have a lock on the allocation / "management" board?

That won't change until a better balance of user interest (fat chance) is achieved. I'd like to see a definitive quota set (my preference would be 50-50 Commercial/ other - and then a further split of charter/private, with the private free of the size restrictions, (at least) but then I'd like to see pigs fly, too.

There's talk going around of a "halibut stamp" coming out that the money would go towards buying up quota from the commercials.
Sounds like a great idea, until the quota gets bought up and then the feds just reissue quota again because the big money operations pay off the politicians.

A quota poison pill... who woulda thunk it?

And the quotas bought up by the commercials or charters?

I'd think 50% Commercial, ironclad- no other hinking allowed, 25% charter, 25% private would be equitable, under any over-all limit. Any un-used quota, any source, could only help the resource.

There's a bunch of people who like to eat halibut throughout the US of A. Most of those can't charter a boat and go out fun fishing and bring a few home to eat. They depend on others to catch their fish for them so they can eat. My guess is halibut was historically a commercial only fisheries that the sports are trying to privatize for themselves.

IIRC, Alaska's rules are for "best use". Both commercially, commerce, and for us "eaters", that ain't Commercial fishermen take mostly out of Washington state..

State rules says "subsistence first , personal use second, commercial third.. That ain't the way it is currently.

Some friends up here once bought fresh crab off a boat in Homer, to treat their east coast relatives on their trip back. .It was cheaper, commercially, in Boston....

Just saying...

(They might have been took.... )

No- halibut catching was historically subsistence, then personal use/commercial. Google Native halibut hooks. Pretty neat ! As I understand it, they crafted them for size they wanted to catch. A 300# er out of a Kayak could have been interesting!

I can't - or don't want to- afford local commercial in-store halibut prices. Which are often higher than OUTSIDE. If I charter, it's with the mind-set that it's a boat ride. Any halibut taken home is a bonus. But it is fresh, not brought in dead, thrown in an ice hold, transported thousands of miles under questionable handling, and sold by retail people who know fuq-all...

That way, I don't home go dis-appointed..

If you can't afford store prices of $16/ lb and up, for somewhat questionable product, it's beyond your "so they can eat" stipulation.

Go out and kill a deer with your $1500 dollar gun/scope gear. Each.

No offense intended

But I got me a Rubber Ducky (Achilles inflatable) and 30 hp Everscrewed that I intend to go out and make meat with off Deep Creek or Ninilchik this spring.. The rules I am supposed to follow are ridiculous.

Dead wrong. It was a subsistance fish long before it was commercially feasible to haul it all the way back to Seattle to market. Sportfishing was big at an early time.

Quite literally, AK cods were not marketable until they wiped out Grand Banks cod and had to find new sources. That was '90s! Lingcod from AK were not marketable until other white fish got scarce, despite the incredible quality.

I think your wrong besides the substance fisheries, but don't let facts get in the way of a good story.
https://fishingbooker.com/blog/history-of-halibut-fishing-in-alaska/

It's worth the drive up to Ninilchick just to see the skidder launch the boats.

It’s a complicated program that is super expensive. I opposed it.

Basically charter rqe can buy no more than 1% a year, max 10%. It will eliminate GAF once it gets about 8% as 10% is the max total of the two.

It’s going to drive Ifq prices sky high. Glad I own some.

I can tell you own a commercial fishing business.