Yesterday was my first cruise ship fishing charter of 2015. The trip went great with my Minnesota folks. These early May fishing trips are tricky. A captain is fully aware that the possibility of no King Salmon and resorting to rockfish is a reality. However when you "Forget the rest, and fish with the best!" Luckily our trip was a success with 2 nice King Salmon. Possibly Captain Tonys last charter on the Valhalla. The Valhalla is a beautiful boat that is currently about to be sold, wont know until the MONEY is in my hands though. I have owned the Valhalla for 3 years. I have charter fished, commercial crabbed, and commercial dove for sea cucumber off of the Valhalla. It has been an awesome, comfortable, stable boat to fish from. Also got the little glasply up and running for some of that economic bombing around in the little boat business.
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Thank god for friends. A couple friends have helped the last couple days. Been working very long hours trying to clean the Aurora Sportfishing boatyard. While doing this I decided to get the Allstar up and running this year. Allstar has been a Ketchikan charter fishing boat for about 15 years. It has had several sets of engines, including the set that was just pulled out yesterday and repurposed as boat anchors. The Allstar has been getting some much needed attention and is in need of 2 new Kodiak 350's like "Black Flag." I have expressed my love for hot water pressure washers, again "They are amazing." Cleaned the Allstar all day yesterday and today starting at 3 am the Valhalla went on the grid so it too can be pressure washed and cleaned up. Working with the tide to go on the grid is no big deal just means I am the only person awake in Ketchikan at 3 am. Need these boats looking good and working good so we can show these Ketchikan tourist what fishing is all about. Tide is going out and time to get to work.
Typically Ketchikan fishing charters don't start until early May. Today was my second charter of 2015. We have caught some nice Dungeness crab and some nice bottomfish too. Today catching that 29 inch King Salmon was awesome. The second I realized my guy had hooked I was pumped. Once it was on deck of the Valhalla I felt even better. Another beautiful day in paradise. Thank you again to the people who have booked me this summer, it is great to be filling my calendar.
Took me a couple days to post but I fished my first charter last Sunday. Three guys that work at Vigor Shipyard, here in Ketchikan, were dying to go fishing. After explaining to them this definitely wasn't peak season, we chose to set crab pots and do some bottomfishing. They caught 2 Yelloweye (Red Snapper), 2 Pacific Cod, 2 quillback, and about 15 Dungeness crab. not bad for the end of March. Winter Fishing in Ketchikan is typically pretty slow, but that wasn't bad for 4 hours on a Sunday afternoon. The guys had so much fun and asked when can we go again. We are planning on going again this Sunday. Thank you to Butch for booking 3 days in July, and Yvonne for 3 days in June. Looking forward to Ketchikan's busy summer charterfishing season. Here are a couple pictures of the shipyard boys, and Captain Ross after we went out again yesterday for some crab of our own.
Today I got back on the Never Enough to pull the engine and reduction gear. I am purchasing a new reduction gear to match the 430 hp cummins diesel that I recently installed. We use the boomtruck for reaching into the boat and pulling the engine. It is good to be doing these things now rather than June 1. I have ran the Valhalla the last few years while working on the Never Enough. In 2015 the Never Enough will be the fish catching machine while the Valhalla either gets sold or really gone through also. The view from my house on these beautiful sunny calm days brings the thought of catching that big hungry King Salmon. That King Salmon that we know is swimming around right off the beach, is incentive enough to get these boats ready. In the picture of the boomtruck you can barely see the Coast Guard's new fast boat out there playing on such an awesome day!
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CAPT TONY
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December 2016
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