A day's worth of keepers (for all 6 people on the boat, not just us) with many more fish released.
Admiralty Island, Alaska
August 2021
If you want to fill your freezer with delicious fish, there are few better places to go than The Great Land, Alaska. This trip was a little bit of a change of pace for me compared to the trips I usually take. I wanted to find a place where I could take my daughter that would be a little more comfortable and have some non-fishing activities. I also wanted a place in Alaska that would have calmer seas than what I had experienced in my prior trip to Sitka. After much research, I selected Pybus Point Lodge, which is located on Admiralty Island outside of Juneau. Admiralty Island's indigenous name, Kootznoowoo, means "Fortress of the Bears". Being on the inside passage, it has very calm seas relative to the unprotected outside waters. It seemed like the perfect choice, but unfortunately my daughter ended up not being able to go because her school moved their start date a week earlier for some reason. Pybus was booked and didn't have any openings earlier, so I ended up just going with my friend Marc instead.
Getting to Pybus was relatively easy compared to some places in Alaska. We flew to Juneau, spent the night, and then took a float plane to the lodge first thing the next morning. The float plane was the largest I have ever flown on.
August 2021
If you want to fill your freezer with delicious fish, there are few better places to go than The Great Land, Alaska. This trip was a little bit of a change of pace for me compared to the trips I usually take. I wanted to find a place where I could take my daughter that would be a little more comfortable and have some non-fishing activities. I also wanted a place in Alaska that would have calmer seas than what I had experienced in my prior trip to Sitka. After much research, I selected Pybus Point Lodge, which is located on Admiralty Island outside of Juneau. Admiralty Island's indigenous name, Kootznoowoo, means "Fortress of the Bears". Being on the inside passage, it has very calm seas relative to the unprotected outside waters. It seemed like the perfect choice, but unfortunately my daughter ended up not being able to go because her school moved their start date a week earlier for some reason. Pybus was booked and didn't have any openings earlier, so I ended up just going with my friend Marc instead.
Getting to Pybus was relatively easy compared to some places in Alaska. We flew to Juneau, spent the night, and then took a float plane to the lodge first thing the next morning. The float plane was the largest I have ever flown on.
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Upon landing, we went up to the lodge, had a quick orientation, and then headed out to fish. Marc and I were put on a boat with four guys from the Midwest who had all been to the lodge before. Our captain Trent took us out to a Halibut spot close to the lodge, and we dropped our plastic jigs down. Almost immediately, a couple of us hooked up and soon had our halibut up on the deck. Mine was on the smaller side, so I elected to throw it back and try for a bigger one since you could only keep one per day. I was able to quickly upgrade to a fish in the 25lb range and then I was done with Halibut fishing for the day. Marc got the hang of it and had one on deck, and once everyone had one we went off to troll for Salmon.
Halibut limits of 1 per person per day were not hard to get
My biggest halibut of the trip. Not a monster, but a good eating size.
Trolling for salmon (or any other kind of fish besides Marlin) is not really my thing, but the Midwesterners were really into it so we did quite a bit of it throughout the week. If it were up to me, I would have jigged for Halibut and Lingcod the whole time, but unfortunately we didn't get to spend much time doing that relative to how much time we spent on the Salmon. On the plus side, the Salmon bite was pretty hot the whole time so at least there was a lot of action. We trolled two rods with downriggers and one with a diving board down the middle. We never had to wait very long between bites. Most of them were Pink Salmon, but one out of every 7 or so would be a better tasting Coho. We also got a couple of stray Kings and Chums. The King Salmon were subject to an emergency closure and could not be kept.
Marc with a large Pink Salmon
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The author with a small Coho
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After Salmon fishing for a while, we switched it up and jigged for Rockfish. We were mostly fishing for Pelagic Black and Dusky Rockfish in the middle of the water column, and as soon as our jigs found the right depth it was fast and furious fishing. Some of the Blacks were pretty good size.
The biggest Black Rockfish of the trip for the author.
My main goal for the trip was to catch a big Lingcod. After quickly catching my 5-fish limit of Black Rockfish, I grabbed the big Halibut jig and sent it to the bottom to see if I could pull up something bigger. I was quickly rewarded with two beautiful Yelloweye Rockfish, which were released with the aid of a weighted device to take them back down to the bottom. It's a pity you can't keep these guys; they taste delicious.
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On the next drop I caught a small Lingcod around 28 inches; two inches below keeper size. Knowing my time was running out as the rest of the boat was quickly approaching their limit of Rockfish, I sent my jig back down and was rewarded with a big hit, strong run, and a lot of weight at the end of the line. I was pretty sure this was a Lingcod, so I quickly pulled it up off the bottom and then loosened the drag just a tad to make sure I would get it in the boat. Sure enough, after a lot of reeling a massive head appeared from the depths. Trent netted it and with a lot of huffing and puffing was able to hoist it onto the deck.
Small Lingcod
Monster Lingcod
That big Lingcod taped out at 49 inches, which is a big fish anywhere in Alaska and an unthinkable size pretty much anywhere else. That fish really made my day, even though it couldn't be kept because it was over 35 inches but under 55 inches. Trent said fish over 55 inches were only caught a couple times a season, so the odds of getting one were extremely low. Sure enough, the 49-incher was the biggest of the week for our boat, although one guy on another boat got a 51 incher which was tops for the week for the lodge.
We were out of time on the short day so we headed back to the lodge to check out our cabin. It was very spacious for just the two of us, and had fully functioning temperature control and unlimited hot water. Very cushy compared to many places I have fished. The lodge also had two hot tubs, which we made use of.
We were out of time on the short day so we headed back to the lodge to check out our cabin. It was very spacious for just the two of us, and had fully functioning temperature control and unlimited hot water. Very cushy compared to many places I have fished. The lodge also had two hot tubs, which we made use of.
Our first meal at the lodge was similar to all of our subsequent meals - extremely good. We had halibut cheeks as an appetizer, which were delicious, and then a perfectly prepared Salmon. Every evening we had several superb choices for dinner, and all of them were excellent. This was definitely not the trip to go on a diet.
Day 2 brought even better weather than the first day, with the sun peaking out for a few hours and warming things up close to 60. Sadly, Day 2 would be the peak of the weather, but we enjoyed it while it was there. We ran 2 hours to a distant first spot, but once we got there we piled in the fish every place we tried. The program was the same, alternating between jigging for Halibut, jigging for Rockfish, and trolling for Salmon. We were successful on all three counts. This time I didn't bother jigging for Rockfish but instead fished deep trying to get more monster Lings. I managed 5 Lingcod for the day, with 4 just under 30 inches and one big girl at 42 inches.
Day 2 brought even better weather than the first day, with the sun peaking out for a few hours and warming things up close to 60. Sadly, Day 2 would be the peak of the weather, but we enjoyed it while it was there. We ran 2 hours to a distant first spot, but once we got there we piled in the fish every place we tried. The program was the same, alternating between jigging for Halibut, jigging for Rockfish, and trolling for Salmon. We were successful on all three counts. This time I didn't bother jigging for Rockfish but instead fished deep trying to get more monster Lings. I managed 5 Lingcod for the day, with 4 just under 30 inches and one big girl at 42 inches.
I also got a couple more Yelloweye and some Quillback Rockfish that had to be released. Marc got his limit of nice Pelagic Rockfish while I was messing with the brutes on the bottom.
The day ended very successfully, with limits of everything except Coho Salmon. We got some each day, but never got close to our boat limit of 30. We did catch an incredible 17 different species on Day 2 for the boat, which is an impressive tally anywhere.
Day 2 catch for the boat
Day 3 was when our weather luck took a bit of a downturn. The day started off nice, and so we made a long run to a spot that Trent thought would hold more Coho. It was a pretty spot and had some salmon, but no more Coho than any other spot we had fished. We got a handful, but it was mostly Pinks. We went close to shore to the mouth of a stream where bears were hunting Salmon.
We went right up to the stream and cast spinners for Salmon. There were a lot of Salmon, but unfortunately the boat only had two spinning setups so only two people could fish. We didn't do this for very long, but Marc got a really nice Coho which was the only Salmon landed in the short time at that spot.
A little after noon the weather started to turn bad. The wind picked up, the waves picked up, and it started to rain. We had a very long ride back to the lodge because we couldn't go as fast due to the waves. We didn't actually get much fishing time Day 3; overall it was the slowest day. I think it was the only day we didn't get full Rockfish limits. Marc and I tried to go out ourselves in a skiff to cast for salmon near the lodge, but the wind and rain picked up so much we were forced back after just a couple of casts.
The last day looked a little better weather-wise, although not nearly as nice as the first two days. Halibut limits were easy to get right off the bat, but Rockfish were a little tougher as they didn't just all jump on the lures like before. It was more picking up some here and there. That gave me more time to fish for Lingcod, and after picking up a couple more Yelloweye and Quillbacks I struck gold with a monster 47-incher. It actually had me stuck in the rocks for a bit, but I slacked off the line and it swam out and then I put the wood to it.
The last day looked a little better weather-wise, although not nearly as nice as the first two days. Halibut limits were easy to get right off the bat, but Rockfish were a little tougher as they didn't just all jump on the lures like before. It was more picking up some here and there. That gave me more time to fish for Lingcod, and after picking up a couple more Yelloweye and Quillbacks I struck gold with a monster 47-incher. It actually had me stuck in the rocks for a bit, but I slacked off the line and it swam out and then I put the wood to it.
After that it was more Salmon trolling, but at least we were getting more Coho. We ended up with 9 in the box, which was our high for the trip.
This was the biggest Coho of the trip
Whales and otters were common sightings throughout the trip. Sometimes the whales were so numerous that Captain Trent would slow down to make sure he could drive around them.
At the end of the day, it was time for another delicious meal and then packing up our stuff. We awoke to thick fog the next morning, along with the news that our float planes had been cancelled. Luckily there was a plan B, which was to take us to Juneau by boat.
Visibility was not great on our ride to Juneau. Thank God for GPS and radar.
We made it to Juneau just fine, where we were met with the news that our flights were delayed. I ran through the airport in Seattle and made my connection, but sadly my fish did not. Alaska Airlines delivered it the next day and it was all still frozen so that was a relief.
Pybus Point Lodge is excellent for what it is - a cushy, family-and-couple-friendly experience. Service was great, logistics were as good as could be expected given the uncertainties of the weather, and food was very good. It would not be my top choice for people who are primarily focused on fishing. Four days of fishing is relatively little for the price, and the types of fishing (trolling, bottomfishing) are low-skill level approaches designed to fill a box of fish. They limit the amount of gear you can bring due to float plane capacity constraints, and the fishing gear provided by the lodge was sometimes lacking. On our boat, the salmon and halibut gear was adequate (Ugly Stiks and mid-range Penns) but some of the baitcasting gear used for Rockfish was falling apart. They do provide slickers and boots which were great.
Some of the captains were more tour guides than fishermen, which was fine for some of the groups that wanted to combine other activities like hikes and nature viewing with some fishing. Our captain Trent was definitely not one of those. Although only 21, it was his 5th season at the lodge and he is well on his way to being an excellent fishing captain. He barely glanced at the whales, otters, seals, etc. He was focused on finding fish the whole time, which was fine with me. I was very happy to have been put on Trent's boat.
Pybus Point Lodge is excellent for what it is - a cushy, family-and-couple-friendly experience. Service was great, logistics were as good as could be expected given the uncertainties of the weather, and food was very good. It would not be my top choice for people who are primarily focused on fishing. Four days of fishing is relatively little for the price, and the types of fishing (trolling, bottomfishing) are low-skill level approaches designed to fill a box of fish. They limit the amount of gear you can bring due to float plane capacity constraints, and the fishing gear provided by the lodge was sometimes lacking. On our boat, the salmon and halibut gear was adequate (Ugly Stiks and mid-range Penns) but some of the baitcasting gear used for Rockfish was falling apart. They do provide slickers and boots which were great.
Some of the captains were more tour guides than fishermen, which was fine for some of the groups that wanted to combine other activities like hikes and nature viewing with some fishing. Our captain Trent was definitely not one of those. Although only 21, it was his 5th season at the lodge and he is well on his way to being an excellent fishing captain. He barely glanced at the whales, otters, seals, etc. He was focused on finding fish the whole time, which was fine with me. I was very happy to have been put on Trent's boat.
