Fishing for beginners

[Northwestcoug]

Book an Alaska trip. You will have the time of your life.

I’ve been mulling that over. What areas should I look at?

[Jeff Lebowski]

I’ve been mulling that over. What areas should I look at?

This is where we go:

https://docwarners.com/

It is by Juneau and it located in one of the best salmon and halibut spots in Alaska. The camp is a two-hour boat ride from Juneau and you stay in fairly nice cabins and eat breakfast and dinner in a big lodge. They provide the boat, poles, bait, rain gear, etc. You pack a lunch and head out in the morning and troll for salmon and bottom fish for halibut. We typically bring back 300+ lbs of filets with 2-3 people. Lots of whales, sea lions, porpoises, sea otters, bald eagles. Every day you see tour boats from Juneau that come out to see the whales, but you are fishing right in the middle of them.

It is actually owned by a family from Utah. So the staff is mainly college kids from BYU, UVU, and USU. Thankfully, haven't seen any UU kids there.

You have to book well in advance. If you go on the second week of August 2021, my sons and I will be there.

[Pelado]

This is where we go:

https://docwarners.com/

It is by Juneau and it located in one of the best salmon and halibut spots in Alaska. The camp is a two-hour boat ride from Juneau and you stay in fairly nice cabins and eat breakfast and dinner in a big lodge. They provide the boat, poles, bait, rain gear, etc. You pack a lunch and head out in the morning and troll for salmon and bottom fish for halibut. We typically bring back 300+ lbs of filets with 2-3 people. Lots of whales, sea lions, porpoises, sea otters, bald eagles. Every day you see tour boats from Juneau that come out to see the whales, but you are fishing right in the middle of them.

It is actually owned by a family from Utah. So the staff is mainly college kids from BYU, UVU, and USU. Thankfully, haven't seen any UU kids there.

You have to book well in advance. If you go on the second week of August 2021, my sons and I will be there.

[Scott R Nelson]

Book an Alaska trip. You will have the time of your life.

I could even possibly get interested in fishing in Alaska. My cousin used to live there and told stories of catching these huge salmon.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Sadly, some of the guests are ute fans. They like to yuck it up about the winning streak. I am going to wear my Texas hat next year. Ute fans are a lot less chatty when I wear that hat.

[Northwestcoug]

This is where we go:

https://docwarners.com/

It is by Juneau and it located in one of the best salmon and halibut spots in Alaska. The camp is a two-hour boat ride from Juneau and you stay in fairly nice cabins and eat breakfast and dinner in a big lodge. They provide the boat, poles, bait, rain gear, etc. You pack a lunch and head out in the morning and troll for salmon and bottom fish for halibut. We typically bring back 300+ lbs of filets with 2-3 people. Lots of whales, sea lions, porpoises, sea otters, bald eagles. Every day you see tour boats from Juneau that come out to see the whales, but you are fishing right in the middle of them.

It is actually owned by a family from Utah. So the staff is mainly college kids from BYU, UVU, and USU. Thankfully, haven't seen any UU kids there.

You have to book well in advance. If you go on the second week of August 2021, my sons and I will be there.

Hey, my second week of August 2021 looks pretty open!

That looks great. Thanks for the info.

[Paperback Writer]

This is where we go:

https://docwarners.com/

It is by Juneau and it located in one of the best salmon and halibut spots in Alaska. The camp is a two-hour boat ride from Juneau and you stay in fairly nice cabins and eat breakfast and dinner in a big lodge. They provide the boat, poles, bait, rain gear, etc. You pack a lunch and head out in the morning and troll for salmon and bottom fish for halibut. We typically bring back 300+ lbs of filets with 2-3 people. Lots of whales, sea lions, porpoises, sea otters, bald eagles. Every day you see tour boats from Juneau that come out to see the whales, but you are fishing right in the middle of them.

It is actually owned by a family from Utah. So the staff is mainly college kids from BYU, UVU, and USU. Thankfully, haven't seen any UU kids there.

You have to book well in advance. If you go on the second week of August 2021, my sons and I will be there.

How easy is it to hire a guide, at least for the first day or so? On an Alaskan cruise, my spouse and I chose an excursion to Salmon fish out of Sitka for a half-day. Had a blast and was glad we had a fishing guide since deep sea fishing was very different from the typical stream, lake fishing I do in the Rockies.

[Jeff Lebowski]

How easy is it to hire a guide, at least for the first day or so? On an Alaskan cruise, my spouse and I chose an excursion to Salmon fish out of Sitka for a half-day. Had a blast and was glad we had a fishing guide since deep sea fishing was very different from the typical stream, lake fishing I do in the Rockies.

The rules on that are kind of weird. I think the permits, etc. that they have don't allow for guides - as in someone on your boat with you. However, they do a very thorough training session on the Sunday night you arrive and they have a guy who is like a pro at a golf shop. You can pull him aside for individual training and questions while at the camp and you can call him on the radio any time. He can even come to you in his boat to help you with gear, answer questions, show you how to use the downriggers, etc. One of the benefits of a no-guide approach is that the limits are different. For example, you can keep 1 halibut per day with a guide, but you can keep 2 halibut per day without a guide. Also, you can keep 6 salmon per species, per person.

I promise you that you will quickly figure it out. By day two, people seem to have the hang of things and they get along just fine.

[Non Sequitur]

I got a pontoon boat this spring and want to learn to fish for kokanee. How hard is it from a pontoon boat? Do I need a separate trolling motor and down-riggers?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Fishing for beginners

I got a pontoon boat this spring and want to learn to fish for kokanee. How hard is it from a pontoon boat? Do I need a separate trolling motor and down-riggers?

Easy. Yes* and yes.

*Actually it depends. You need a motor that will troll at 1.5 mph.

[Non Sequitur]

Easy. Yes* and yes.

*Actually it depends. You need a motor that will troll at 1.5 mph.

Do I need a separate down-rigger for each pole or can I fish multiple poles from the same down-rigger?

[Jeff Lebowski]

Do I need a separate down-rigger for each pole or can I fish multiple poles from the same down-rigger?

I use two downriggers, one one each side, and I fish two poles per downrigger. Four is about the max you would ever want to do anyway, although some folks like to trail a fifth line straight out the back using lead-core line, a weight, or a planer. To fish two poles per downrigger, you use something called a stacker. This is what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You clip this using the wire clip to the cable above your downrigger weight. Then you let out 20-30 feet of line on one pole and hook the line on the clip attached to the downrigger weight and then drop the weight down 10-12 feet while holding the stacker. Then you use one of the two clips on the stacker to connect to cable and you let out 20-30 feet of line on the second pole and attach to the other clip on the stacker. Then you go down to whatever depth you are targeting. If the counter on the downrigger says 45 feet and the stacker is up 10 ft, then you are fishing at 35 and 45 ft. I usually stagger each side so that I cover multiple depths. Right now I am catching fish from 30-50 ft.

I use cannon downriggers and they seem to be the most common but Scotty downriggers work fine too. I have manual downriggers and I like thee fact than they are light, but sometimes I wish i had splurged on electric downriggers.

I recommend that you find some videos on youtube. Google "Utah Kokanee fishing". The Utah DNR does seminars occasionally and they are pretty good. Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LqI-pTwY6k&t=2406s

You can also hire a guide at the marina to show you how to do it. But I figured everything out myself. We usually catch limits.

Kokanee fishing is exploding. I don't even bother going on Saturday anymore - weekdays only. Prime time is May through early August. Be warned that it is incredibly addicting. Kokanee fight like crazy, they have good size, and they are delicious. Have fun.

[Non Sequitur]

I use two downriggers, one one each side, and I fish two poles per downrigger. Four is about the max you would ever want to do anyway, although some folks like to trail a fifth line straight out the back using lead-core line, a weight, or a planer. To fish two poles per downrigger, you use something called a stacker. This is what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You clip this using the wire clip to the cable above your downrigger weight. Then you let out 20-30 feet of line on one pole and hook the line on the clip attached to the downrigger weight and then drop the weight down 10-12 feet while holding the stacker. Then you use one of the two clips on the stacker to connect to cable and you let out 20-30 feet of line on the second pole and attach to the other clip on the stacker. Then you go down to whatever depth you are targeting. If the counter on the downrigger says 45 feet and the stacker is up 10 ft, then you are fishing at 35 and 45 ft. I usually stagger each side so that I cover multiple depths. Right now I am catching fish from 30-50 ft.

I use cannon downriggers and they seem to be the most common but Scotty downriggers work fine too. I have manual downriggers and I like thee fact than they are light, but sometimes I wish i had splurged on electric downriggers.

I recommend that you find some videos on youtube. Google "Utah Kokanee fishing". The Utah DNR does seminars occasionally and they are pretty good. Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LqI-pTwY6k&t=2406s

You can also hire a guide at the marina to show you how to do it. But I figured everything out myself. We usually catch limits.

Kokanee fishing is exploding. I don't even bother going on Saturday anymore - weekdays only. Prime time is May through early August. Be warned that it is incredibly addicting. Kokanee fight like crazy, they have good size, and they are delicious. Have fun.

That's good information. Thanks. I think I'll hire a guy from the marina. I don't have the patience for trial and error.

[SeattleUte]

I use two downriggers, one one each side, and I fish two poles per downrigger. Four is about the max you would ever want to do anyway, although some folks like to trail a fifth line straight out the back using lead-core line, a weight, or a planer. To fish two poles per downrigger, you use something called a stacker. This is what I use:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You clip this using the wire clip to the cable above your downrigger weight. Then you let out 20-30 feet of line on one pole and hook the line on the clip attached to the downrigger weight and then drop the weight down 10-12 feet while holding the stacker. Then you use one of the two clips on the stacker to connect to cable and you let out 20-30 feet of line on the second pole and attach to the other clip on the stacker. Then you go down to whatever depth you are targeting. If the counter on the downrigger says 45 feet and the stacker is up 10 ft, then you are fishing at 35 and 45 ft. I usually stagger each side so that I cover multiple depths. Right now I am catching fish from 30-50 ft.

I use cannon downriggers and they seem to be the most common but Scotty downriggers work fine too. I have manual downriggers and I like thee fact than they are light, but sometimes I wish i had splurged on electric downriggers.

I recommend that you find some videos on youtube. Google "Utah Kokanee fishing". The Utah DNR does seminars occasionally and they are pretty good. Here is one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LqI-pTwY6k&t=2406s

You can also hire a guide at the marina to show you how to do it. But I figured everything out myself. We usually catch limits.

Kokanee fishing is exploding. I don't even bother going on Saturday anymore - weekdays only. Prime time is May through early August. Be warned that it is incredibly addicting. Kokanee fight like crazy, they have good size, and they are delicious. Have fun.

Great post.

[old_gregg]

I don't have the patience for trial and error.

fishing seems like a great choice then