Alaskan Charter Fishing Trip Journal

Here is a diary of a fishing trip with Taylor Charters.

By: Ken Nielsen, Kevin Webb, Larry Webb, Shelly Sheinck

Arrived on 21st of July (Monday)
Greg put us up at Majestic Expeditions (ME), with owners Josh and Christina Graves. ME is pretty new, but they have lots of expertise. Christine is a 5 star chef; She is an incredible cook and I knew my waistline was in trouble. Josh has his Captains License and knows the business well.

The charter fishing was great! Greg and his Captains know the in’s and out’s to catching Fish, very professional, but a lot of fun. The new boats are awesome, lots of room to fish, comfortable, and warm in the cabin. A nice change from the small Dory’s I’ve fished out of before.

Tues 22nd
Met the boat and Trent (our Captain) at 7:30 am. Trent is probably the most laid back person I’ve ever met. We started off by catching some Herring for bait, then off to catch Halibut. Fishing for Halibut was off the charts, pretty much non-stop action. We limited up pretty quick, then we sat there and did the catch and re-lease program for the rest of the day. We caught a lot of fish in the 60 –120 lb range (good eating fish).


Wed 23
This is one of those days that only happens once in a lifetime, for us it was 1 of 2 days. Fishing pretty much started up where we left it the day before, only the fish doubled in size over night. Kevin pops a Halibut right off the bat, 160lb. Followed by Larry’s 311lb hog. Thanks heaven for the 2 speed reels they had us using. The rest of the day was spent hauling in one big Halibut after another. Several over 200lb, and many over 100lb. We did not hook up 1 "chicken" or "paddle" (under 40lb). I was jigging a 16oz jig out the back and having a blast. They wouldn’t leave the jig alone, pretty much hitting the jig faster than the bait. I had bought the Shimano Trevala Jigging Rod with a Shimano 30A,
2 Speed Reel. What a combo, it worked great! This was a Halibut fishing day that will be hard to duplicate (we came close the next day).


Thurs 24th
We wanted to go Salmon and Shark fishing out front (Open Water), but the seas were extremely rough. So we trolled inside by the reef, with no luck, so, we went Halibut fishing. After catching a couple of buckets of Pollock (which was a lot of fun), we headed out to the halibut fields. Shelly started us off, her bait hit the bottom and it must of hit this fish in the head. He grabbed the bait and battle was on! Shell reeled in a 300lb Halibut by her self (2 speed reels are awesome). Most guys I’ve seen reel in 300lb Halibut are crying like little schoolgirls after 15-20 min. The rest of the short day yielded another limit of Halibut. We had a lot of excellent Halibut Filets to take home.

Friday 25th
This was the “other day” that we’ll never forget. After catching several Salmon up on Home Shore we noticed a group/pod/and or gaggle of Killer Whales making their way towards us. After a couple of great photo’s they moved off toward our sister boat the “Koda”. We swung around in their projected path, turned off the motors and waited. What happened next was unforgettable. The first Orca breached behind us 5 ft off the outboards, then we felt the front of the Boat get a “Thump” and an extremely large Orca surfaced of the front right of the Boat. They were everywhere, swimming around, and under the Boat. They would even swim along side the boat and turn on their sides and look at us. It’s very easy for me to understand why this animal is at the top of food chain. That 10 min of craziness was incredible! No one around that area had ever had this happen to them or heard it happening to anyone else. If it has, those people were very lucky as we were. A day we’ll never forget.




Sat 26th
Salmon fished, very slow. Looked for the Orcas but they were gone.
We headed in at noon, ate Halibut Fish n Chips, packed and headed for Home.

Thanks Greg, Trent, Jeremy, John
Thanks M.E. Josh, Christina, Olin
It was one of the best Fishing Trips I’ve had up in Alaska. Can’t wait for next year.
I highly recommend these guys.

Ken Nielsen

For more pics from this trip go to Flickr.com