What's the best time to fish?
For us there are 4 criteria:
- Best weather (historically driest): May through June (believe it or not)
- Silver salmon: July - September
- King salmon: May through June best (but still really good fishing through mid Aug… although sometimes there are so many darn silvers biting that it's hard to catch a king). Our catch rates are better than Sitka's (less competition) and 2 to 25 times better than anywhere else!
- Halibut, sablefish, rockfish and lingcod fishing is evenly great ALL season long! The best time might be when we have an opening.
We have the biggest halibut in all of Alaska... 3 times bigger than Sitka, Seward and Homer. Our king salmon catch rate is the very best in the state (ten times and a hundred times better than most other locations). One of the best things about fishing with the Highliner is that we can catch salmon, halibut, lingcod, and black rockfish everyday. Most places you only catch salmon on one day and halibut, lingcod and rockfish on another day. Also, we can keep 2 halibut per day. Many other places you can only keep one small halibut!
Usually, we fish for salmon until around lunch time and then fish for halibut in the afternoon. More than half of our fishermen limit out on king salmon and halibut on the same day. We target lingcod and rockfish if we haven’t caught them incidental to fishing for halibut and they are relatively easy to catch. Our guests averaged 120 pounds of fillets over the last five years, after 4 days of fishing!
Target Species - Daily and Annual Limits for 2025
King (Chinook) Salmon
- Our daily bag limit is one king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length
- Annual limit is 1 king salmon for the 2025 season
Silver (Coho) Salmon
- Bag limit: 6 per day
- No annual limits or size limits
Sablefish (Black Cod)
- Bag limit: 4 per day; any size
- Annual limit: 8 per year
Halibut - Area 2C (Southeast Alaska)
- Bag limits: 1 per day
- Size limits: Must be less than 37 inches OR greater than 80 inches
- Closure days: Charter vessel anglers in Area 2C may not retain halibut (except GAF) on Tuesdays in 2025
Halibut - Area 3A (Southcentral Alaska)
- Bag limits: 2 per day
- Size limits: 1 halibut of ANY size; 2nd must be less than 27 inches
- Closure days: Charter vessel anglers in Area 3A may not retain halibut (except GAF) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in 2025
Please note that we have access and licenses to fish both regulatory areas above! Also, our guests have the choice to use Guided Angler Fish (GAF Permits). This allows anglers in Area 2C to keep a bonus halibut of ANY size for a fee of $700. They also allow you to keep a second halibut of ANY size in Area 3A for a fee of $200. On all Tuesdays in 2025, we will be offering GAF Permits at HALF PRICE due to the coinciding day closures of both regulatory Areas 2C/3A!
Lingcod
- Bag limit: 1 per day
- Annual / Size limit: 2 per year; one of the 2 must be between 30-35 inches and the other has to be over 55 inches
- Closure dates: June 15 - August 15, 2025
Shortraker Rockfish / Other Slope Non-Pelagic
- Bag limit: 1 per day
- Annual / Size limit: no annual limit; no size limit
- Slope non-pelagic rockfish include: Blackgill, Blackspotted, Bocaccio, Brown, Chilipepper, Darkblotched, Greenstriped, Harlequin, Northern, Pacific Ocean Perch, Puget Sound, Pygmy, Redstripe, Redbanded, Rougheye, Sharpchin, Shortbelly, Shortraker, Silvergray, Splitnose, Stripetail, Vermilion, and Yellowmouth
Yelloweye Rockfish
- Bag limit: 1 per day
- Annual / Size limit: 1 per year; no size limit
- Closure dates: closed until July 1, 2025
Pelagic Rockfish
- Bag limit: 3 per day
- Annual / Size limit: none
- Pelagic rockfish include: Black, Blue, Dark, Dusky, Widow, and Yellowtail
HIGHLINER LODGE FISHING TIMELINE
May and June: King Salmon and Halibut are abundant at this time (and continue to be so through September!) We have the driest and sunniest weather this time of year as well.
July 1: Dude Fishing starts
Early August: Cohos start to get big!
September: Coho numbers peak in late August to early September, but the fish just keep getting bigger!