On our second day, my daughter and I chartered with YakutatCharters.com - and went out with captain Luke Seattaerlli on the Sea Wolf. For an ocean adventure in late September in Alaska, we couldn't have asked for better weather or water conditions.
This was our 2nd year with captain Luke, and we had a great time once again, getting into plenty of bottom fish including a couple of halibut, a huge skate that we caught and released, a rather large ling cod and a bunch of nice black rock cod.
Luke lives in Yakutat year-round, and we found the conversation easy and entertaining as always. He got us on the fish, as well as being able to see a lot of other wild-life and species throughout the day.
We had a very curious Sea Lion that was acting more like a happy dog hanging out diving around the boat coming up and looking with a sideways eye at us, likely waiting for us to throw some bait his way. There were multiple sightings of sea otters, sandhill cranes, porpoises, and countless species of birds native to the Yakutat Bay. Viewing the sea life alone was worth the price of the charter.
One of our favorite sights however each year has to be the awesome view of Mt. Saint Elias rising 18,008 feet in elevation right off the coast of Yakutat Bay. Pictures just don't do it justice.
My daughter was the big producer of the day, pulling in her share of halibut and black rock fish. We both have the same attitude about Alaska and our fishing experience... yes, we want to go home with some of the best fish in the world to eat however it is not about the harvest or taking every possible fish in our limits to fill our coolers. To us it is about the experience, and sustainability and ensuring that the resource and experiences are maintained and supported for future generations.
Our halibut were not huge 100lb monsters of the sea, and we were saddened to learn that the summer commercial fishing in Yakutat had done some serious damage to the larger size halibut that have been the mainstay of this area for at least the 10 years that I've been visiting...and I know much longer than that.
We have to be better as humans and realize that as the fish go, so do we. It's about the experience and yes, taking home a few meals of the best wild fish that is the healthiest and tastiest thing that you can possibly eat in terms of protein on the planet (in my opinion at least).
Not into getting political - just common sense tells us that if we over fish or pollute our oceans to the point of impacting the fish and crab populations like we've seen in 2022...we are in a lot of trouble as a human species as well.
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