Angling with Tony Gosnell

January 19, 2010

Once upon a time only ‘The Gentry’ were able to fund angling trips to Scotland, for mainly salmon fishing.

Over the past ten to fifteen years or so, however ‘the ordinary Irish angler’ has been venturing further afield, in search of larger more exclusive species of game and sea fish.

I’m aware of Munster anglers who have travelled to Canada, Russia, Norway in search of salmon; River Nile for perch, Argentina for sea trout,

New Zealand for rainbow trout, US for steel head trout. During the Celtic Tiger years, golfers were frequently heading off to the Algarve and Spain on golfing trips.

If you can raise the money for your angling trip of a lifetime, where could you go? How about Alaska?

There are many Alaskan Sport Fishing Charter Companies, Black Rock Charters is located in Gustavus, Alaska, fifty miles due west of the Alaskan State Capital.

Juneau (population 31,262) is the only US state capital with no road access. It can only be reached by air or sea.

With Glacier Bay National Park as a backdrop and Icy Straits for your fishing grounds, you are in for a real fishing treat in southeast Alaska. They primarily fish for fresh Alaskan salmon and halibut. It is not uncommon for anglers of all levels of experience to reach their fish quota before lunch.

To complement the superb fishing and the beautiful scenery there is an abundance of Alaskan wildlife in the area. You can see humpback whales, sea lions, killer whales, sea otters, bald eagles, porpoise, puffins and even bears walking along the shoreline in search of food.

Josh Cozby is the owner of Black Rock Charters, and he has been fishing out of Gustavus, Alaska for 17 years now as a guide and running his own business there for the past twelve years. They have three boats from twenty six feet to thirty feet long; all very fast safe and comfortable boats for anyone who goes fishing with them. They offer daily trips and or package deals typically from three to five days long. Black Rock Charters can also customize any trip for any length of time you desire. The species they fish for are salmon, halibut, ling, cod and various other rockfish such as yellow eye (red snapper) black sea bass, quill backs, china rockfish and other small rockfish. Black Rock Charters, also fish for salmon sharks, when they are around. They typically start showing up when the pink salmon arrive in mid July, and stay around through August for the coho salmon.

They fish for king salmon in late May and June, but there are always a few around, all season, in the ocean. The average weight they catch is around twenty - thirty pounds, but can vary in weight from fifteen lbs. up to sixty - eighty lbs.

If you hook a thirty lb. king or larger you’re doing great! They also catch pink salmon, average weight is three - four pounds; coho salmon, who average eight - twelve pounds and chum salmon that average eight – ten lbs. The pink salmon start running early July through to August, and the coho salmon start late July through to early September. The king salmon and cohos are the most popular salmon to fish for.

The halibut fishing is the staple species of the Black Rock Charters industry. They can reach sizes up to four hundred plus pounds; the average size they keep is forty - sixty pounds. It is not uncommon to catch a fish over a hundred pounds on any given day though. A lot of the times they catch multiple fish over a hundred lbs. and even fish over two hundred or three hundred lbs.

You never know when the monster will strike. The local conservation limits for these fish are one halibut any size per day / per person. King salmon, one per day / per person and three per annum. Cohos, six per day / per person, pink salmon six per day / per person. Ling and cod - one annual fish with a slot limit between thirty and thirty five inches, and one trophy fish over fifty five inches. The closed season is from June 15th to August 15th. Yellow eye snappers one per day / per person. Salmon Sharks one per day, two per annum.

How do you get there? Flyglobespan is flying from Shannon Airport - €189 one way - to Toronto, from next May.

The flight from Toronto to Gustavus is €432 - one way. Depending on accommodation type – the cost ranges from €1,860 to €2,261, which includes five days of exclusive fishing, five nights lodging, all meals, ground transportation, fishing licences, taxes and fish processing (two boxes per person).

Black Rock Charters would like to thank Tony Gosnell for his thoughtful piece on Charter Fishing in Alaska!