Phone:
 1-800-548-3474

358 Pound Halibut
Sets Record
Seward, Alaska

Seward's largest halibut was caught by angler Todd Steudner of Houston, Texas. Todd was aguest at the Grande Alaska Lodge and headed out on the vessel Bounty Hunter with Captain John Houlihan on July 7. The six lucky anglers had no idea what lie ahead, as the Bounty hunter made its way to the happy hunting grounds of Montague Island. Fishing in shallow water, just over 90 feet, was a real treat. In most areas of Alaska, halibut fishing takes place in 300-400 feet of water or more.
Almost instantly the giant ling cod arrived on the scene, bending three rods at once. Before the anglers could get all three lings boated, "red snapper" or yellow-eye rockfish, (some of the best eating fish of all) went on the bite and all rods were engaged. "Once we dropped the second time, BAM, BAM, BAM... huge barndoors were everywhere... several lines snapped. . . the bite was on! I saw that Todd could not stop the huge halibut he had on so I helped him and we got the 358 pounder turned around. I had stuck my rod in a rod-holder as I was helping him and I turned and saw it was doubled over and line was smoking out of my reel. I grabbed it and couldn't set the hood as my 198 pounder was on a huge run," explained an exhausted Kamell Allaway. "It was just the craziest fishing I have ever seen, non-stop with either huge ling cod, snapper or huge, huge halibut."

When the anglers just couldn't drop another line in the water, Captain Houlihan headed back to the Seward Harbor with one of the very largest catches seen in recent years. The largest halibut weighed in at 358 pounds, the largest in Seward for the season. Next largest was 198, 179, 166 and the next four weighed between 100 and 150 lbs. Anglers looking for the Ultimate Saltwater Fishing Experience need to focus on an all-day multiple species charter. Our boats leave the Grande Alaska Lodge every morning at 6:30am and return sometime after 4:30,and concentrate on a variety of fish. Species we target are halibut, ling cod, king salmon, silver salmon, pink salmon, sea bass, rockfish and snapper.

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Alaska's
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89 Pound, 4 Ounce King
Sets New Record

Angler Fred Houtman of Meridian, Idaho, landed the largest King Salmon caught in Alaska for 2002. Fred headed out onto the emerald waters of the legendary Kenai River on July 31, which was the very last day of the season for king salmon. He was fishing with a group of his friends from Tim Berg's boat, fishing a variety of techniques. Just shortly after 9am as the group of anglers were drifting salmon egg clusters on the lower river, the enormous Chinook slammed Fred's rod all the way to the gunnel. Fred, being no stranger to record size fish (he landed a 79 lb king with Tim Berg in 1999 and a 308 lb halibut), realized this was not just another fish.
"We got the boat turned around right away and chased this big fish up the Kenai for at least three-quarters of a mile. I think his first run lasted for at least 7 or 8 minutes," exclaimed Fred. "Then he scared the dickens out of us as he jumped clean out of the water, but we saw him and knew he was some sort of record."
A record fish indeed. Fred's mighty fish weighed in officially at 89 pounds and 4 ounces, breaking the old Trophy Lodge record that was established by Felicity Johnson back in 1988. Her big fish weighed in at 88 pounds- even.
According to Alaska Department of Fish & Game records, Fred's big king was the seventh largest landed and the very largest King Salmon caught in the last five years. Several other extremely large salmon were caught earlier in the season, including an 83 pound fish and an 87 pounder. The girth on Fred's fish was 39 inches and measured over 57 inches in length.
Once again the mighty Kenai delivers the very largest salmon on the planet and continues to be the place for anglers looking for that Trophy King Salmon.

Wow. . .
what
a year!

After 27 years in the charter industry, after you think you have seen it all, something crazy happens and reminds you of why we fisherpeople love our sport the way we do.
You just never know what is going to happen! (Tim Berg)

. . . We are doing a film shoot for ESPN. The show is North American Fisherman and is a prime time series. We are fishing from the vessel Chewbacca, with the show host Dan Larson, alone with him is Raleigh Werking, a terrific fisherman, sportsman and competitor who has established over 23 IGFA records. He hopes to break the 12 pound test line record for ling cod which is currently 54 pounds. The previous day we did a terrific show on king salmon, hooking 10 kings and 17 silvers in a little over 2 hours and got great footage. . .

On this day we are fishing "Ling Reef" with artificial lures in just over 100 feet of water. Dan is hooked up on a nice fish (close to 60 lbs.) and then Raleigh gets his hooks in a really nice fish. Remember, he is using 12 lb. test. We boat Dan's fish after a 15 minute battle but Raleigh's fish is a tough customer. 35 minutes into the battle I can see the shadow of Raleigh's fish beneath the boat and Raleigh also see the huge fish.(You cannot gaff ling cod in Alaska.) I grabbed the big net and scoop under this giant. The ling cod goes ballistic in the net. Dan helps me pull the big fish into the boat and we all know it is a new record and the "High-fiving" and celebrations begin. Raleigh is bending down to attempt to weigh his ling cod when all of a sudden, this giant spits up a little nine (9) pound ling cod it had eaten for breakfast!

. . True story. . . We went ahead and weighed the ling cod without its breakfast and it weighed in at 52 pounds, missing the record by 2 pounds. When we added the weight of the spit-up smaller ling, the total weight was 61 pounds, which means it would have topped the record by 7 pounds!

The rule book states that you cannot put anything regurgitated back in the fish. We all laughed until it hurt and I can tell you that Raleigh is the best sport on the whole earth!

Tim Berg's Alaskan Fishing Adventures
Alaska's Kenai Peninsula
800-548-3474