VOL . 37 • ISS . 02
Tips For Fishing Success In Alaska !
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Team Fish Sniffer 2017 hammered big halibut , lingcod and silver salmon during an epic trip to Captain Steve ’ s Fishing Lodge . As long as the weather is decent , Alaskan saltwater fishing is consistently good , but Team Fish Sniffer got lucky and found themselves in the middle of exceptional action .
^Cousins Tackle jig sticks , Accurate reels brimming with heavy braid and jumbo swimtail jigs . When this gear comes out , the excitement level goes through the roof , because huge vicious lingcod are the target . When you fish with Capt . Steve you fish with some of the best gear available .
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Your catch is brought back to the lodge and immediately cleaned , vacuum packed and frozen . It ’ s fun to hang around the cleaning station , talk fishing and watch the Captains and crews go to work with their fillet knives . In this photo deckhand Hunter Smith shows off big fish tote of salmon fillets . The fish that produced these fillets were caught in less than 20 minutes during a wide open bite .
^A 40 pound halibut glides to the boat after chomping a silver salmon head . Halibut like this are the staple of saltwater fishing in Alaska . Halibut fill fish boxes with top quality world famous ALASKAN HALIBUT fillets . On the surface halibut fishing seems simple , but in reality it is physically demanding and requires technique
FRESHWATER
Jan 18 - Feb 2 , 2018
Alaskan Saltwater Fishing : How It ’ s Done At Captain Steve ’ s Fishing Lodge On The Kenai Peninsula …
Iast summer I spent five action packed days fishing Alaska ’ s Kenai Peninsula with Captain Steve Smith of Captain Steve ’ s Fishing Lodge and a diverse group of five Fish Sniffer readers that included three motorcycle enthusiasts , a Vietnam Veteran and a real estate broker .
We fished both inside the Cook Inlet and beyond the inlet in the Gulf of Alaska . We enjoyed red hot fishing for lingcod to 50 pounds , big yelloweye rockfish to 15 pounds , silver salmon to 14 pounds and we got limits of halibut
FISH SNIFFER HOW – TO by Cal Kellogg daily that ranged from about 40 pounds to 100 pounds !
With lings grabbing jigs , silvers savaging bait on the surface and multiple soul testing fights with big halibut I could easily devote thousands of words to describing the Fish Sniffer ’ s epic 2017 adventure to Captain Steve ’ s , but I ’ m not going to do that .
Instead of telling you about the fish we caught , I ’ m going to utilize this week ’ s How To column to inform folks that are prepping for a trip to the Kenai Peninsula what to expect .
I know a lot of Fish Sniffer readers dream of taking a trip to Captain Steve ’ s Lodge and when it comes to fishing in Alaska or anywhere else for that matter , knowledge is power !
The Boats
Steve fishes from big 26-foot-long aluminum cabin boats . On the trailer the boats look pretty big . When you turn the corner outside the Cook Inlet and head into the Gulf of Alaska , they seem a whole lot smaller ! presents
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With no harbor or ports nearby , Steve launches his boat every day and it ’ s quite an experience .
In the morning , everybody boards a van with their raingear on ready to fish . Steve ’ s boat is attached to the van . After a short drive to the beach everyone hops out of the van and boards the boat via a set of portable metal stairs .
As that happens the boat and trailer is taken off the van and the trailer is attached to a huge logging tractor . The next thing you know , the tractor is pulling the boat , with you in it out across a big gravel and sand flat to the edge of the water . The tractor spins around , backs into the Cook Inlet and Steve motors off the trailer …. And so , the adventure begins !
At the end of the day , Steve radios the folks that run the tractors , they back the trailer back into the water and Steve drives the boat on . If the wind has come up and there are rollers coming onto the beach , he basically surfs the boat onto the trailer … It ’ s quite a spectacle and a fun ride to be sure !
Halibut Fishing
Challenging , physically demanding , frustrating and technical are all terms that describe Alaskan halibut fishing Capt . Steve style .
Before I ’ d visited Alaska , I imagined halibut fishing to be a relaxed pursuit . Something akin to sturgeon fishing . You know , plunk out your bait into a mild current , wait out the bite and crank that big fish in except in the place of a husky sturgeon there would be one of those “ barn ” door halibut looking at me with his “ googly ” eye ... Eyes ? Hmmmm .
At this point I ’ ve probably caught well
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