These trips will give groups of up to five people the opportunity to get out on a fishing boat and catch salmon. Depending on maritime conditions and weather, you will spend a day on Cape Edgecumbe, around Biorka Island, or Eastern Channel, trolling for salmon.
The day will begin at 6:30 AM at Crescent Harbor Dock. Your fishing captain will help you aboard. After a safety talk, along with a basic summary of how the fishing gear works, you will untie and head out to the open ocean. On the run out, you’ll learn how to read radar, depth finders, communicate on the radio, and watch birds and whales in order to better understand where the fish might be. You’ll also learn to tie up gear—hoochies, and other favorite salmon “bugs”—along with attaching flashers.
Once on the fishing grounds, your captain or deckhand will teach you how to “run the gurdies,” putting out lines and bringing them back in. Once your lines are in the water, you will spend the next four or five hours learning to read depth charts, identify schools of fish, run the gear, and strip the gear. When the fish come up, you will learn how to land salmon, bleed salmon, and pressure-clean them, making sure they’re ready for market. Depending on the species of salmon, you will also learn how to ice fish in the hold. This is a cold job! See how long you last.
Depending on the fishing, you will return at around three in the afternoon to Crescent Harbor, just beneath our home. Guests will return, shower and clean up. That evening a local chef will come back to teach you the best way to prepare your catch. We’ll sit down to a wild foods dinner, with food from our garden, Sitka spruce sea salt, and salmonberry sea salt ice cream.
Have a specific question? Get in touch!
