FAQS (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
When are you going to finish this page?
Working on it now! So please pardon grammatical errors and editorial hubris...
What is the catch limit for halibut this year?
NOTE: We are NOT limited to one halibut per day UNDER 37 inches (about 22 pounds)! Almost all other lodges in SE Alaska (All Sitka, Ketchikan, Juneau, Petersburg, etc. lodges) are located too far away from area 3A). We have licenses to fish in Area 3A, where you may keep TWO halibut per day of ANY size. Our fishermen have limited out almost every single day this year!
We still fish in area 2C as well. In area 2C, we can catch fish all day, but we can keep only one halibut under 37 inches, per guest, per day. Most guests catch and keep a halibut and a king salmon, some cohos and rock fish every day. At the end of a 4 or 5 day trip, most of our guests go home with 100-150 pounds of fillets. That is a lot of fish! While you may go to other destinations Like Homer & Seward and keep 2 halibut per day...usually they are smaller and you will not be catching any salmon on the same day. I have ADF&G statistics to prove this. See below.
To clarify, we can fish in either area 2C or area 3A (but not both in the same day). If you want to keep halibut over 37 inches and keep 2 halibut per day, you must fish in area 3A. This entails an additional 30-90 minutes of travel time per day. Some days the weather prevents us from fishing in this area. If the weather is unsettled, we will fish in the more protected waters of area 2C. You might say that we have the best of both worlds (areas)!
Why does your area have the highest average weight on landed halibut in Alaska?
See our Catch Rates! Page for a complete discourse on this important subject!
The table below (from Alaska Department of Fish & Game) shows that the “Glacier Bay” area has a mean weight of 45.3 pounds, in comparison Homer “The Halibut capital of the World” has an average weight of 15.4, the reason our average halibut weight is three times the average in Homer is simply because we don't have the intense fishing pressure that Homer, Seward, Sitka , etc., have. Homer had 58,222 angler days in 2006, Sitka had 42,681 angler days and if you combine Pelican-569 angler days, Elfin Cove-5471 angler days, and Gustavus-4420 angler days (the Glacier Bay area) we had only 10,460 angler days. When you have too many fishermen catching too many halibut the average size has to go down.
Other areas in Alaska are too far away from the ocean to have anything but little halibut (Hains/Skagway).
Why can’t I catch a halibut and king salmon on the same day if I go to Seward or Homer (“the halibut Capital of the World”)?
It’s legal, but not likely:
In 2006 there were 2,162 king salmon landed in Homer, but it took 58,222 “Angler days” to catch those fish. That works out to one king salmon for every 27 days of fishing effort. (58,222 / 2,162 = 26.9)
In 2006 there were 1,057 king salmon landed in Seward; it took 42,681 “Angler days” to catch those fish. That works out to one king salmon for every 40 days of fishing effort.
In 2006 there were 367 king salmon landed in Pelican; it took 569 “Angler days” to catch those fish. That works out to one king salmon for every 1.5 days of fishing effort.
Will you guarantee me a one-hundred pound halibut?
No, but I can refer you to a someone at a competing lodge who will tell you anything you want to hear. His guarantee works like this:
1. He tells you anything to get you to book a trip.
2. You fall for his bison excrement
3. You don't catch the one hundred pounder
4. Either you forget the guarantee, or he says "Sorry" if you remember...
5. You will probably be disappointed even If you do catch a one hundred pound halibut...I suspect that wasn't the only "guarantee" he made, and that you will probably still be disappointed because he misrepresented many things to go to his lodge.
Please don't choose based on empty promises. I don't expect anyone to take my word for anything. I will back up my statements with evidence from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) and I can put you in touch with satisfied guests who will vouch for my veracity.
Please see charts and tables on our “The Intelligent Fisherman” web-page.
Where do we fly into from the “Lower 48”?
Juneau; on Alaska Airlines. They have a monopoly!
Why are your prices so high?
We have “invested over $100,000 to purchase charter halibut licenses that allow our guests to fish in an area where they can keep two halibut of any size!
When comparing prices, lease make sure you are comparing "apples to apples"...what is included and what is NOT included? Are you being transported by a float plane to your destination? Is the price included in the package?How many fishermen per boat? It would be a lot cheaper for us if we put 5, 6 or more fishermen on a boat. To give you the best opportunity to catch fish we limit our boats to 4. Compare boats too. Our boats are 30 plus feet in length and are relatively new costing ~ $250,000 each...compared to much smaller and older boats that cost less than $75,000.
All other things being equal...our location. “Closest to the Fish” means farthest from the customer, Costco, Home Depot and a reliable supply of labor. That means that we have to transport you and your fish (ore additional expense ~$400) and all of our food on a seaplane (add $.60 - 1.00 for every pound).
Gasoline costs $1.25 more per gallon than it does in Sitka, Juneau, Homer, etc.
Electric rates are 3-4 times higher ($.86/kwh) in Pelican than Sitka, Juneau, Homer, etc.
Some “Lodges” do not really own a lodge, but house you in a hotel, give you a voucher for a meal at a restaurant, and many times don’t even own the boat you are fishing on...they subcontract virtually every part of their ”service” to a third party. When you don’t have the cost of owning anything you can price your trips rather cheaply. More often than not, a “bargain” price means a vastly inferior experience all the way around.
Be very careful that in order to save $50-100 a day for your trip of a lifetime, or your annual Alaskan fishing trip... that you don’t end up very disappointed.
Why are your prices so low? What aren't your prices as high as the other "high-end" lodges?
Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that because our package price is sometimes hundreds of dollars less than other “High-End” lodges, that we are in any way inferior. (Well, we don’t have Calvin Klein bedroom furniture and we don’t have gourmet cooking lessons, or water color painting lessons by nearly famous chefs and artists). I suppose some lodges want to appeal to some clients who judge a service by its price and not its performance. If it costs more it MUST be better?! This is a marketing strategy for them. Our business grew 22% in 2009, and doubled in 2010... this was during the “Great Recession” when most fishing lodges in Alaska were down 30-50% in each of those years (and they were discounting very heavily to fill their calendar too).
Hmmmm...maybe I just don’t charge enough? I know my accountant is wondering what the heck I am doing!
I think we are simply the best service, at the best price. We are striving to be Highliners!
What is a “Highliner”?
Simply put, a “Highliner” is the very best fisherman. The term is used in the commercial fishing industry widely, but is not so well know in the sports fishing industry. Bill Poole, of San Diego, was a Highliner in the southern California sports fishing industry.
Do you ever give discounts?
We very rarely give discounts beyond our group discount rates. If other companies deeply discount, it is because their price is too high in the first place, or they are desperate to fill in their schedule. Sometimes you do get what you pay for. Please see our Rates Page
When is the best time to fish?
Unlike many other destinations, our “window of opportunity” to catch king salmon is 4 MONTHS long. Most other fishing lodges have a window of 2-3 weeks because they are fishing only on local stocks of fish returning to their native stream near that particular lodge, while we fish on mixed stocks returning to every stream from the Taku River in Northern South East Alaska and the Sacramento River in California.
Unlike many other destinations, our “window of opportunity” to catch halibut is 4 MONTHS long. Most other fishing lodges face diminishing returns as the season progresses, because there are too many fisherman taking fish out of their local waters. That is why the average weight of halibut is so low at some of those destinations. That is why you must endure a sometimes grueling boat ride far off-shore to fish in 400 to 600 feet of water using 5 pounds of lead to reach the bottom. Please Google: “Local Depletion Halibut”.
Also see: “What is the catch limit for halibut this year?” below.
How many people on a boat?
We don’t put more than 4 guests on a boat unless you have a group of 5 or 6 and you’d like to fish together.
Do you troll or mooch for salmon?
Do you drift or anchor for bottom fish?
Do you jig or use bait for halibut?
Why does it always have to be about you?
Because, it’s my lodge and I built the website! When you are at the Highliner Lodge it will be all about you, I promise!
What happens if I can't make my trip to the lodge?
You can carry over any deposit or payments made indefinitely towards a future trip for you or anyone whom you choose.