We booked a 6 hour halibut and salmon charter with Mike at The Alaska Catch for our family of six on June 3 during our Alaskan cruise. We chose to book with him based on TripAdvisor reviews and the fact that his price was cheaper than what Princess Cruises offered. Booking was easy and Mike was waiting for us at the end of the dock before our agreed upon time.
We traveled about 45 minutes by boat to our halibut fishing destination. The boat was clean and new looking, with a zipped enclosure to keep us warm when we were traveling. He provided sodas and a huge variety of chip type snacks, and by the end of the trip my kids pretty much cleaned out his stash.
I was worried about the weather forecast (mid 50's and rain) and whether it was wise to bring our younger kids (ages 10 and 8) along, but it ended up being super fun for everyone! We wore several layers, including gloves and stripped them as the day went on and the sun came out. The rain was a misty drizzle, which wasn't a big deal at all. Our younger kids were excitedly engaged the whole time, and had an enclosed bench to rest on when they needed a break.
Mike baited our lines and taught us how to attract halibut. We used five poles among the six of us. The fish came in waves, with some quiet times and some busy times. We caught our limit of six halibut, and even threw a few small halibut back. We also brought home a cod and a little red rock fish. Apparently, salmon were still quite scarce at the time, so we chose not to use any of our time fishing for salmon.
Mike gave us paperwork to have a local company process the fish and ship them to our house the following week. He took care of everything from that point, and we received a big old box full of delicious halibut shortly after we got home. Mmmm!
If you're trying to decide between booking through your cruise line and booking through Alaska Catch, save the money and book with Alaska Catch. You'll be on the exact same kind of boat, you'll have more flexibility and you'll either be with Mike or his other captain.