Halibut Fishing in Ketchikan Alaska

Halibut fishing in Ketchikan, Alaska is taking a turn to the worst. The Alaska Fish and Game is currently requiring costlier fishing licenses for charter fisherman, simply allowing halibut under 37 inches. This is not best for regular fisherman or for that charter operators.
The new regulations are limiting admission to charter boats which are targeting halibut. If charter fishermen didn’t fish in 2004 or 2005 season, you’re not qualified to receive a permit. There are permits available; however, it will not be well worth the price. So now Private Charters Cairns is possible to only keep a fish that’s around 22.7 pounds, which can be about one every day! The unfortunate thing is a halibut only yields about 40% of it’s total weight in fish meat. This will have a huge impact on the visitors/tourists arriving at Alaska to fish. Charter fishermen will likely be instructed to request higher halibut fishing charter prices and fewer availability in the busier parts of the fishing season. Also, it could mean less fish to be shipped back home as well as the disappointment when you have to to push out a bigger fish. Halibut fishing charters will need to change their pictures of enormous halibut for the brochures as well as perhaps show the top ones being released.
There will likely be many people breaking these silly rules or more likely, finding ways around them. I have been a large fan of catch and release. Halibut charter fishermen should start to think about a catch-and-release fishing trip, as opposed to actually allowing their customers to look at fish home. Perhaps anglers is going to be expected to fish for bottom fish like big yellow eye (Red Snapper), Lingcod, and rockfish. Ketchikan, Alaska is well-known for his or her salmon, so that’s always a choice too.
Renting a spead boat in Ketchikan, Alaska is usually an option for people that are looking to fish by themselves. I think it’s actually a much bigger challenging to fish “on your own” and it can be quite a good option for charter fishermen to begin renting their boats out instead of depending on clients to book a halibut fishing trip.
I love halibut fishing in Ketchikan. But if I was choosing a cruise to Ketchikan, Alaska and wanted to go halibut charter fishing excursion in the summertime of 2011 and beyond, I would seriously reconsider my approach. One halibut every day limit with skyrocketing prices for a single trip could deter me among others from going in any way, particularly if I was on a cruiseship. One negative aspect about going on the halibut charter fishing while with a cruise is having limited the shorter time for the cruiseship at port, it’s more productive to fish salmon.
Only time will inform if the new regulations for halibut sizes will probably be beneficial for your tourism industry in Ketchikan, Alaska. I’m anxious to view what statistics will probably be posted following the 2011 tour season.