Alaska Fishing Lodge or DYI?
By: Joe Byers
I have fished the Petersburg, Alaska area for salmon and halibut for 20 years, relying on Island Point Lodge for housing, meals, and gear. A week’s stay at the lodge including boat, tackle, bait, gas, and great hospitality was about $2500. I could rent a boat for about $400 per day and stay at a hotel in Petersburg. Would it make sense to fish on my own without a guide for about half the price? Two friends and I teamed up for this adventure, and if you’ve ever dreamed of “going it alone,” our findings may surprise you.
Ed Beachley, left, and I had a great first day at Island Point Lodge the summer before the pandemic. Ed's big fish was 86 pounds and I limited out.
After l limited out on halibut the first afternoon of our trip in July of 2019, I handed my rod to Ed Beachley, who hadn’t gotten a bite. “Why don’t you try my rod and bait set up,” I said to my friend. “It has worked well for me.”
The heavy halibut rod had barely touched his fingers when the tip plummeted, and he held on for dear life. For the next 15 minutes he did his best to raise the fish from the bottom, but when the 90-pound flatfish saw the boat, it ripped line from the reel again. After another arm-busting tussle, the fish came within harpooning distance, and we speared it with a solid thrust. Pulling the giant fish into the bottom of the small skiff was a struggle, but we were all smiles when the it was finally aboard.
During that trip we landed eight halibut and a dozen king salmon, and we fished on our own without a guide. If we could do that well, did we really need a lodge for support? Could we do it completely on our own for less?
June 6, 2022- Petersburg Alaska
Putting our experience in gear, we tackled Alaska fishing completely on our own
Ed Beachley, Bernie Lesky, and I landed in Petersburg, Alaska at noon on June 6th, a month earlier than our previous trip. We rented a boat from Jensen’s Boat Rentals, and what a Cadillac it was! It had a fully enclosed cabin with seating for four and all the electronic bells and whistles. Lesky was a very experienced captain, so we quickly got underway, planning to catch herring in the bay on the way.
Normally, the Petersburg harbor teams with herring, yet we couldn’t catch any. We ended up relying on frozen herring and our John Beath baits, that were so successful on the previous trip. A passenger on the plane told us that the fishing at buoy nine was hot, so we anchored up and fished there, even though the water was only 30 feet deep. With no bites, we wondered if that information was bogus and the source was telling friends, “I bet those fools are still fishing at buoy nine.”
Twenty minutes later, we finally reached the location that had produced in previous years. Using our best baits and making a couple of small moves, we finally caught one 22-pound fish- not much to show for eight hours of fishing.
Day Two of Four
Jensen's Boat Rental was amazing. A terrific boat and specific fishing information highlighted on charts.
Instead of renting the boat for just a half a day Monday afternoon, we rented a car Tuesday morning to fish for salmon 20 miles south of town, and would go back to the boat that afternoon. When we arrived at the Blind Slough, normally, a very productive fishing spot, one car was parked in the lot. Three of us fished for four hours casting lures and flies without a single strike. King salmon were in the lower pools but were not biting in fresh water.
After the first day on the boat was disappointing, we headed to new waters north of Petersburg following suggestions from Jensen and using some of his charts on the boat. The scenery was spectacular and the weather clear, but we only caught a few sculpins and a very small halibut less than 4 pounds, which we released.
The Blind Slough had fish, but there were no fishermen because the salmon would not bite in fresh water.
Still having poor success on the big water, we returned to the dock early, and rented a car again to fish for salmon that evening and the next morning. Both of those outings garnered no fish, so we went back to our source, plus conferred with a native fisherman we met earlier on the plane. He also had been fishing with no luck and offered us several packs of frozen squid, halibut bait normally only available to commercial fishermen.
Hook-Up At Last
Bernie was the first to land a keeper, but we only caught one the first day.
With a much clearer understanding of where to fish, we headed across Frederick Sound toward several channel markers that would help us find fish, we hoped. After a half hour at full speed on glassy water, we passed a buoy where seals were playing pig pile and anchored in 65 feet of water.
Using herring and squid, we quickly found that the halibut taste of the day was squid. Within ten minutes, I had a 15-pounder fighting my line, and Bernie gaffed it and brought it aboard. Ed was next to hook up, and his rod and large Beath squid baits paid off with a 36-pound fish that would be the largest of the trip. Fifteen minutes later, I limited out with another 20-pounder.
With three fish in the first hour, we had high hopes of limiting the boat with six fish, but halibut did what halibut do… stop biting. For the next six hours we fished the same baits in the same way but only caught few sculpins.
Final Day
By the fourth day, we had located fish and learned how to catch them.
One of the advantages of fishing at a lodge is the ability to learn from other anglers. Although they don’t usually tell their secret spots, they usually are free with advice about depths to fish, what bait to use, how to present it, and other useful nuances of catching fish.
We had a few guests at the Scandia House Hotel talk about charters they had taken, and our third day compared well with their experiences. With that success under our belts, we were on the water an hour early the following morning, despite falling rain and the prospect of heavy seas on our journey home.
John Beath's gear proved to be productive and accounted for our two largest fish.
In huge bodies of water finding the exact spot fished previously can be challenging, even with the latest electronics. The fishing was as uneventful as the previous afternoon, and by noon, the water grew so rough that we retreated into a glacial bay for some sightseeing and calmer water. On the way, we had a whale breach several times and did our best to capture pictures from afar.
After an hour, the small storm passed, and we returned and anchored. Suddenly, fish began to bite, and I landed a teen-pounder, followed by Ed with a twenty-something. Despite using the same squid as the day before, herring was the choice today. I had repeated bites, but I couldn’t catch the culprits, despite having two hooks on the line. Eventually, I caught another, and we ended the day with four fish. The rain began to fall, and a storm approached. We fought fog and waves from two-to-four feet on the way home.
Jensen’s boat really shined in these conditions, as we used the “breadcrumbs” on our chartplotter to retrace our route back to the dock, keenly alert for crab pots and a large log that we had passed the past two days.
Breakdown: Lodge VS DYI
We ended the four-and-a-half-day trip with eight halibut and 61 pounds of fillets. Our approximate expenses were:
Unguided fishing lodges in the Petersburg area charge between $2500 and $3000, including tip, per person for six-and-a-half-days of fishing with virtually all expenses included. You begin each day with a hot breakfast, pack a lunch for the day and return from a full day of fishing with a hot, tasty dinner and tons of fish-talk about what worked and what didn’t. They provide bait and advice about where to fish but can’t show you the spot without having a guide’s license. Most importantly, they clean, package, and freeze your fish for the way home, a significant savings. If, for example, you hit the jackpot and land a 100-pound halibut, the cost at an in-town processor would be $350 for that one fish. At a lodge, it is included.
Our cost averaged $1808, partially because we didn’t catch many fish. I expected each person to catch around 100 pounds of halibut and salmon. Had that happened, our fish processing cost would have increased from to $1200, which would have increased the cost per person over $2,000, about the same cost per day as a full-service fishing lodge. The cost of our four-and-a-half-day trip averaged $402 per day, whereas the daily cost of the Island Point Lodge trip of six-and-a-half-days would have been $385 per day.
Dream Trip Fulfilled
Looking back, our trip was a great adventure and landed 62 pounds of the best fillets Alaska has to offer.
Every Alaskan angler dreams of having a great boat that can withstand storms and heavy seas and take you where the big ones bite. Our time was our own, and we could have anchored up and slept on the boat if we wished. Freedom also has the mantle of responsibility, and each decision made was one we were responsible for. If we picked the wrong bait or anchor spot, halibut told us whether we were right or wrong. Incidentals like bait, ice, snacks, hooks, and the like become necessities that can impact the trip and catch.
Finally, given today’s inflating economy look for prices of fishing destinations to rise, and the ability to go-it-alone might not mitigate the expense. Everything in Alaska already costs more, and rising prices and shortages are expected to only get worse. If an Alaskan fishing adventure is on your horizon, don’t hesitate to lock it in at today’s prices. Dare to dream of Alaska, but dare not hesitate.
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