I booked this charter for a 4-hour fishing trip this past week. It was great. But before I get into the details of the trip, I wanted to share a few details about the process of booking the trip.
I was on a Celebrity cruise ship from Seward to Vancouver. I did not book a ‘shore excursion’ for Ketchikan. However, the night before we arrived, my two boys (ages 20 and 17) said they wanted to go fishing. I checked with the “shore excursion” desk on the cruise ship, but they said they were sold out for fishing trips. The desk clerk told me to disembark and check with a few fishing tour operators who have kiosks on the pier. So I did. I went to the Visitor’s Center and met Tina with Ketchikan Carter Boats. She was adorable and accommodating. She made a few calls and was able to get a guide (Kevin) to take us. It was just the three of us and the guide. We initially booked the charter as a “salmon fishing trip,” — but Kevin said that he had taken a few other groups out that morning, and they did not have any success with salmon. So I told him to take us wherever he thought we might catch some fish — knowing that the boys would be happier if they found something. So Kevin took us rock fishing, and we caught 12-15 rockfish (coppers). We released all — but we found a few nice size ones. After an hour or so of rock fishing, I asked Kevin to take us to the salmon runs. We trolled for less than 5 minutes and hooked a 26″ king salmon. We released it. We ended up catching two more salmon, including one Coho (a keeper — we gave it to Kevin to eat). Kevin was a nice young man (30’s). He has lots of knowledge of the Alaskan wilderness and had lots of stories to tell us. I would recommend this outfit if you want to go fishing while in Ketchikan.