Angling Unlimited: Sitka, Alaska Charter Fishing & Lodge — Hotel in Baranof Island

Simply put, my daughter and I had an incredible time and memorable experience at the 2019 “Hook It and Cook It” event at Angling Unlimited. What made it so awesome? It was a lot of things. This is our third year in a row attending “Hook It and Cook It” and it feels like an annual family gathering with familiar faces and new friendships to be made.

Before we get to the fishing let me give a shout out to the folks behind the scene who made our experience so memorable. The entire staff is so warm, friendly, hardworking, and extremely helpful. It starts off with Kim McCollum in Minnesota who makes the arrangements for us and ensures everything runs smoothly from the time we first touchdown in Sitka, Alaska to the time we depart with our boxes of fish. Spoiler alert - we had 4 boxes of fish to bring home this year. Our Sitka hostess Kendall was fabulous. From the time picking us up at the airport, transporting us to/from the docks, and taking care of our rooms she was working non-stop to make our stay very enjoyable. No detail was overlooked. The guys processing the fish did an awesome job as well. You really appreciate what they do when you open your boxes of fish and see how expertly all the fish were carefully cut, vacuum packaged, labelled, flashed frozen, and stuffed into the protective boxes. The fish were still frozen, hard as a rock, by the time we arrive home in NYC more than 18 hours later.

Now, let’s get to the fishing. Our captain and deckhand were the same crew as last year per our request. Over four days of fishing, Captain Spenser did an outstanding job in putting us over the fish and giving us a chance to nail our limits. The numbers tell the story. Between my daughter and I, we caught our annual limit of King Salmon, and our daily limits of halibut, rockfish, and other assorted species. At the end of the trip, we brought home 4 boxes of fish that weighed more than 130 pounds. Now that’s a lot of fish. The King Salmon bite was definitely better this year than last year. Where we were fishing you could see that other boats were catching the Kings as well. Its always a great feeling to hooked up a King Salmon and see them jump out of the water and swim around the boat. We couldn’t have done it without Captain Spenser’s superb knowledge of the waters surrounding Sitka. He has a love and strong respect for the Alaskan waters, wildlife, and land and it shows. He and his wife are year-round residences of Sitka. Connor was our deckhand and works extremely hard on the boat. He was doing everything on the boat, and I mean everything – dropping the anchor, pulling up the anchor, setting up the rods, changing bait, netting the fish, filleting the fish, and even making awesome sandwiches on the boat as well. I can’t say enough about how hard he works on the boat.

What makes us come to Angling Unlimited this time of year? It’s because of Chef Ludger Szmania and “Hook It and Cook It”. We had four awesome nights of Ludger’s creative and delicious dishes featuring the fishes caught off the waters of Sitka. Combined with his lovable personality and the flowing wine and beer, each night was a culinary experience and lots of fun with Ludger cooking right in front of us.

Last but not least, many kudos to Captains Tom Ohaus and Chuck McNamee for running a first-class operation. As they say in business, it always starts at the top. Many thanks to both guys for running a great operation and thinking about the future as well. P.S. The pavilion looks great and the new boat Petrel...

I am from Tampa Bay, Florida and have fished all my life. When asked by my Uncle if I had an interest in going to Sitka, Alaska to fish I really had no idea what to expect. Leaving Tampa, weather delayed my flight and my whole itinerary was messed up, which almost caused me to cancel the trip. I am glad I did not!

Upon arrival in Sitka, I was greeted by a very friendly young lady at the airport and upon arrival at AU, everyone was there to greet me and made sure I had everything that I needed. Since I arrived in the afternoon, I missed day 1 of fishing, however AU provided me a car and I was at least able to explore Sitka and even take a walk around Sitka's National Historical Park that was very beautiful and see many Bald Eagles up-close as they flew around the harbor picking up dinner.

That evening, the sun lit the sky on fire and the following morning I woke up looking forward to getting out on the water. Captain DJ and First Mate Leo were very friendly and overly accommodating. But when it came time to putting us on the fish, they showed their professionalism and skill! During our visit, we understood the fishing had been a little slow. I am not sure how that could be as I found the fishing to be exceptional! We caught King Salmon, Halibut, Rockfish, Yellow Eye, Lingcod, and so many other different species of fish that I had no idea existed!! I must have reeled in 50+ fish or more. Some were too big to keep. The best part was fighting the King Salmon. They fight like a sport fish and make runs all around the boat, but Captain DJ was on his game. The final day of fishing, we caught our limit around 10:30am!! Captain DJ took us to another area with some calmer water and we wound up catching a monster Halibut, another monster Lingcod and many more Rockfish while watching Whales slap their tails and sea lions cruising by.

Overall, I am so glad that I did not walk off that plane in Tampa when the weather jammed up my travel schedule. This was an amazing fishing experience and a great time to bond with family and meet new friends.

More important to me (aside from the fresh Alaskan air) was how friendly everyone was at Angling Unlimited. I could not speak more highly of this organization and I truly wish their continued success for many years to come. They are respected by the folks in Sitka and also by other Captains on the water. Clearly they have earned their respect and are very deserving of it.

I...

Angling Unlimited has always done a great job of making the Sitka fishing experience one that is exciting, fun and memorable. I have been fishing with AU for about 15 years, but all three friends I fished with this year had never experienced fishing in Alaska. I can't tell you how excited the group was to go fishing long before we left CA. Unfortunately, two weeks before our scheduled trip the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game decided to close the king salmon season early on July 7th. To say the least, we were bummed about not being able to keep any kings. Our hostess Addi picked us up at the airport and shuttled us to the resort and took care of everything we needed to go fishing the next morning. For our three days of fishing, Capt. James and deckhand Hayden made our trip a memorable experience from getting us on the just arriving silver salmon, placing us on incredible halibut catches and throwing in some black rockfish and some yelloweye. The weather did not allow us to travel out to the blackcod fishing grounds, but it didn't matter as we had plenty to do right where Capt. James took us. We released lots of king salmon and lingcod (they were out of season too) and we had a blast reeling in everything else we could keep. All three of my friends said fishing with AU was the experience of a lifetime and and were amazed at how well we were treated by all of the AU staff. We could not have asked for a better crew than Capt. James and deckhand Hayden. They were always there to help us with our fishing needs whether it was to net a silver, fix our tangles or tie our shoes!! Hostess Addi was always friendly and willing to help us with information about the Sitka area, shuttling us to and from the dock (all the other hostesses too!!) or helping us make sure we had the right rain gear. Office manager Bella is super easy to work with making our arrangements before, during and after our trip. AU is a top notch organization and fishing resort that always delivers a great experience, but to me the best part of AU is the people that work there and the way they go about doing their job in a friendly, helpful and caring way. Chuck and Jenny have put together a great crew to make sure the client is number one. Thank you AU for another fantastic fishing experience and I hope I get to return for another...