ALASKA SPORTFISHING - Magicman Sportfishing Charters, Petersburg, Alaska

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2011 SEASON RECAP AND 2012 SPORT FISHING OUTLOOK

Weather this year was a little on the damp side. August was the wettest on record and we didn’t suffer any sunburn in June or July either. We did have a great May and the damp weather didn’t seem to slow the fishing down in the other months.

KING SALMON: It was a better year for Kings this past season. The general abundance of King Salmon was up this year as well as the return to the Stikine River. We had the best King fishing that we’ve seen for the last 3 years. Our largest fish this year was 49.9 King taken in late May that turned out to be the Petersburg Salmon Derby winner. Our outlook for next season is better yet. The general abundance is still up, even a little higher than last year, and the returns to the Stikine River are projected to be substantially higher than last season. In addition the Blind Slough hatchery returns are also on the rebound for the first time in the last 3 seasons. We hope to see some good fishing in that area again this year. Bag limits should again be liberalized in all areas.

	HALIBUT: As many of you know our Halibut fishing is excellent and very consistent from year to year. This year was no exception and was in fact better in the early part of our season than usual. We had nice fish in both May and June this year as well as July and August. The Problem in 2011 was the very restrictive bag limit. We were not allowed to keep fish over 37 inches in length. That regulation was overly restrictive as we thought it would be. The Good News is that we have more relaxed regulations this year allowing clients to keep fish up to 45 inches, or about 43 pounds, or fish over 68 inches, about 160 pounds. What this means is we will return to a regulation that is much closer to what we can expect to catch. The 35 to 45 pound fish are great eaters and provide a reasonable amount of fish to take home. If you get lucky and catch “the big one” you will be allowed to keep that trophy fish. Last year we had a 400 plus pound halibut to the boat but had to release it due to the restrictive regulations. Not this year, if we can find that barn door again we can bring it home. COHO SALMON: 2011 was a pretty fair year for cohoes. We started finding fish in the last part of July and they held up well all through August. We had good numbers of fish on both the North and South sides this year. The largest fish came in a bit earlier in the season than normal with some of the largest fish being caught in mid-August. Our escapements to the streams has been very good the past few years so 2012 should again provide good to excellent fishing late July into early September. I am taking reservations now for 2012. You can call me at 907-772-9255, 907-518-0543 cell or email at magicman@aptalaska.net. Fishing rates are the same for 2012 at $275.00 per person per day. One exception will be that on combination trips requiring extra fuel, a $50.00 extra fuel surcharge per trip will be added (per trip, not per person).

Come to Petersburg, Alaska and experience the fishing trip of a lifetime!

"Captain Magic" Stan Malcom

Stan moved from Southwest Washington in the 70s and fished commercially throughout Southeast Alaska until starting Magic Man Sportfishing Charters in 1988.

Come to Petersburg, Alaska and experience the fishing trip of a lifetime.