Kenai Alaska Halibut Fishing

Halibut Fishing

Halibut fishing generally provides the angler with the most meat to take home. We try to fish halibut on days when there is the least amount of tidal exchange.  This is because halibut are bottom feeders.  With the strong tides we have in our salt water fisheries, it is almost impossible to keep your weight on the bottom when the tide is running.  On days when there is a large tidal exchange, it is only feasible to fish for one or two hours. Usually, on the days when there is a low tidal exchange, one can fish almost the entire five or six hours of the trip.

The International Halibut Commission has severely limited sport fishermen. You can keep 2 halibut per day, one of any size. There are several choices for halibut fishing.

We generally send our people to Deep Creek-Ninilchik which is  about 45 miles south of the kamp. Once at the charter office, anglers climb into the boats before they are driven down to the beach where they are launched. This is quite an experience. The boat trailer is hooked to a tractor which then drives the boat into the surf. The captain cranks up the engine, backs off the trailer and away you go. Ninilchik is about an hour’s drive from kamp and the times the boats go out is dependent on the tides.

Other options include departing out of Homer which is a 2 hour drive from kamp. These boats leave the harbor between 6 and 7 AM requiring anglers to depart the kamp around 4 AM.  There are also halibut trips available out of Seward or Whittier.

The average sized halibut weighs in at around 40 – 60 pounds but there are many fish that weigh in excess of 100 pounds.

Halibut are a very delicate flavored fish and can be prepared in a variety of ways. Our favorite is Halibut Olympia. Halibut also makes wonderful fish and chips or poor man’s lobster. There are many halibut recipes on the internet.