Homer in July

[dprado]

Hello everyone I'm Dan from Nevada. I'll be making my first trip to Alaska in mid July. The wife and I have set our sights on Homer and are looking forward to the 7 day trip. We want to fish at least 3 days for halibut, Lingcod and rock fish and a couple of days on the Kenai for Kings. We are very excited about this trip and would welcome any feed back on charters, places to see, what we can expect with the fishing, the best (cheapest) way to get fish home or anything would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

[Old John]

Hello everyone I'm Dan from Nevada. I'll be making my first trip to Alaska in mid July. The wife and I have set our sights on Homer and are looking forward to the 7 day trip. We want to fish at least 3 days for halibut, Lingcod and rock fish and a couple of days on the Kenai for Kings. We are very excited about this trip and would welcome any feed back on charters, places to see, what we can expect with the fishing, the best (cheapest) way to get fish home or anything would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan

click on the Homer Chamber of Commerce website.. tell them what your interested in and they'll send you a free visitors guide
www.homer.org Do the same thing for kenai/Soldotna (I don't have their web page handy, but you should be able to google it)

[MGH55]

Check with manns charters, silver fox charters, Big bear charters,or sea flight. If you look for the cheapest charter it will not be worth the money you would save!!! as for shipping fish home your charter will tell you the best way, but some people take it home on the plain with them in coolers check with the airline. GOOD FISHING

[homerdave]

If you want to do a long range combo I second Bruce on the sea flight. Quite a character and you will get all your limits.
Good advice on taking your fish as checked baggage, even with the overweight charge it will be less than fedex.

[Big Jim]

Captain Pete's Alaska for daily charter trips (boat is the Julia Lynn) out of Homer. Yep, shipping the fish home as baggage is a good way to go; travel light to Alaska and mail your clothes home. Note: if you anticipate flying out of Homer with multiple boxes of fish, be sure to not cut your connecting flight too close in scheduling (from Homer to Anchorage to home); often on busy/full flights (summer), sometimes baggage gets bumped to the next flight if the weight allowance is tight for the small planes. I've had this happen before.

Good luck; you'll love Homer and Alaska!

[Old John]

All excellent recomends on Charters... The price of whichever charter you choose will include fish cleaning (altho a tip is very appropriate)... I'd recommend you have the Charter send your cleaned fish to the Coal Point Processor to have it vacuum packed and frozen.. Coal Point can also sell you an airlines approved box to carry your fish with you... They'll also store your fish in the freezer for you until you are ready to go home... OR they can ship it overnight express for you if you want the convenience of not having to deal with it... John

[capt. bruce]

Check with your airline on their policy on extra baggage and how heavy the extra baggage can weigh

[dprado]

Thanks for all the good advice. It sounds like checked baggage is the way to go. Anybody know anything about Arctic Fox Charters out of homer?

[pike_palace]

You better start booking now, as charters fill up FAST. The good ones anyway.

[MGH55]

The best fox is SILVER FOX. If two of you fish for three days, what are you going to do with 600lbs of fish thats if you fish for ling rock and halibut! for the last 7 years most of the people that fished the Kenai that went with me did not do well and stated that they would not go back. If Silver Fox is full they will help get you on a good boat. best of luck!!!!

[pehudson]

Hello Dan from Nevada. I'm travelling to AK in the middle of July too. I read a ton of the reviews on this site before I picked my charters. I ended up selecting Capt. Pete (recommended above) b/c of his experience and reviews.

I'm packing light and planning to bring my fish back as checked luggage for $30-$35 per box on Continental.

You mentioned the Kenai for Kings, but you may want to consider the Kasilof (about 20-30 miles from the Kenai, closer to Homer). We researched both and chose the Kasilof over the Kenai b/c we preferred to (a) float, (b) a prettier river, (c) with much less traffic. On the Kasilof I believe you can continue catch-and-release fishing once you catch your King. The Kasilof's kings are generally a bit smaller than the Kenai's. We chose Dennis Randa as our guide. Anyway, just wanted to make sure you were aware of this option.

[MGH55]

Capt Pete is good and has a very nice boat, loves halibut and Salmon combos! Check about the rockfish and Lingcod with him. For a grand slam it should run around $375 to $400 if not you might want to look around for a good trip a boat will burn 150 gal of fuel or more Gore Point we be over 200 gals!

[dprado]

I think I will take your advice and fish the Kasilof instead of the Kenai. The wife is so excited about this trip not a day goes by without her saying X days left till Alaska. This is gonna be a trip of a lifetime for us I just hope the weather and the fishing cooperates with us.

[Old John]

I think I will take your advice and fish the Kasilof instead of the Kenai. The wife is so excited about this trip not a day goes by without her saying X days left till Alaska. This is gonna be a trip of a lifetime for us I just hope the weather and the fishing cooperates with us.

Alaskan Wx (weather) has never known to be cooperative with anybody...!!! but don't let that ruin your trip, just bring some quality rain gear and make up your minds that come hexx or high water your gonna have fun.. and you will...!!!