Fishing in Sitka AK

Alaska is amazing. The scenery is beautiful and wild life is everywhere. Our trip is already half over and we have seen a black bear, brown bear, harbor seals, sea otters, eagles, a variety of fish, and much more. The hikes are fun. Some hikes are tougher then others but after you completed a hike your legs are burning and you wipe the sweat from your face and realized what am amazing task you accomplished. Its a great feeling, just ask Josh about Upper Dewy in Skagway.

Today Kelly and I went on a charter with Real Affair Charters. Our captins name was Gary and out deckhand was Darious. They were really nice guys that knew where the fish were. We started off the day samon fishing. We put two lines in the water and started trolling slowly. In about 10 mins one of the rods hand a fish on it. I picked up the rod and started to fight the fish. After a 5 minute fight the fish came to the boat. It was a 30 pound King Samon. It was fortunate to bring the fish to the boat because instead of hooking the fish in the mouth i hooked it in the butt. I dont care where you hook a fish, as long as you get it into the boat it counts. Awesome. Get way top start off a long day of fishing. Kelly was next up to catch a King. Before you knew it another rod went down. Kelly ran to the rode, hooked the fish, and started to bring it in. After a decent fight Kelly landed her 2nd saltwater fish, a nice 20 pound King Samon. We were with a couple from Florida and they too caught two King Samon, not as big as Kelly's and I. We also caught to Cohos (A smaller type of samon).

After we caught our share of King Samon we were off to Halibut fishing. Their was a short boat right and before you knew it we were at the secrete Halibut spot. We drop the anchor and put the lines in the water. As we were fishing we looked off to the starbourd side and saw a school of humpback whales about 150 yards from the boat. As we were looking at the humpback whales, one of the lines went down. I picked up the rod and began to fight the fish. I had a long way to fight because we were fishing in 330 feet of water. When you bring up something from that deep you just hope it is what you want. Before you knew it we were dragging a halibut into the boat. I caught a 22 pound Halibut. I was happy and extremely satisfied because that is all that I wanted to catch. After we put the fish in the box and settled down Kellys rod went down. I told her to relax because she had a long way to go. Kelly faught the fish real well. She looked like a pro. But when Kelly brought her line to the boat we were expecting a halibut but, we were wrong. She had a double header, on the bottom hook she caught a nice 4-41/2 ft dog shark and on the top hook she caught a really pretty orange fish (i think it was a canari fish but she will explain it in her blogg). From then withing in 1 hr and 30 min Kelly and the Florida couple caught four more halibut, ranging from 15 to 22 pounds. Out arms were burning and we were ready to catch some rock fish.

We drove 1 mile and we were at the secret rock fish spot. These guys have a lot of secret spots. We dropped our lines and prepaired to catch some fish. Once we dropped our lines we had to "jig" it off the bottom. Within minutes everyone was catching fish ranging from Yellow eye, black rock fish, and black and yellow stip fish. It was crazy. I switched rods with Kelly and let her take part in the action. She was useing the big rods that we used for Halibut, so it was hard to feel if a fish hit the line. Now everyone was catching fish but me. I took my time and concentrated on catching a fish. All of a sudden something big hit my line. I hooked it and the fish began to take line. I asked for the belt because I knew it was big. After a long fight, tireing fight I brought the fish to the boat.............It was a huge Halibut. Once the fish saw the boat, it shook real hard and dove back to the bottom. Kelly grabbed my back and captin grabbed my arm because the fish almost pulled me in. As i was hanging over the boat i continued to fight the fish. I brought the fish to the boat a second time. Excited, nervous (because i did not want to lose it) , and anxious to get the fish into the boat. As the fish came close to the boat, it decided to go for another run. This time i was prepaired. The fish ran back down to the bottom. I had to bring the damn thing up from the bottom again. My arms were burning and m,y back was hurting. As i was reeling i had kelly cheering my on "Come on Alex, Its not that hard!" Nice words of encouragement. Finally after a 20 minute fight with this King Fatty Halibut, we finally got it in the boat. I turned around and gave everyone hi-fives. I also gave the captin and the deckhand a hug. Its a guy fish thing because they hugged me backIt was a little bigger then the other Halibut.lol..... It was a 59 inches and weighed ..........103 pounds. YYYYEEEAAAHHHH!!!!!!!! It was awesome. The biggest fish i every caught. That was the highlight of my trip.

We finished the trip by looking at some seals and otters. It was a nice finish.

Catching the fish is all fun and games. But, when you have to talk to the manager about delivering the fish its another story. Thats when you smile and hand the manager your mom and dads credit card and say "Yeah that will be fine. Put it on this!"$$$$$$. Thanks Mom and Dad for making this trip possible. It is everything and more that I wanted to experience.

I cant stop smiling. I came to Alskas to see the wonderful scenery, look at the wildlife, and catch a huge Halibut. I did it!!!!