Well, this is kind of a different review I am writing…read more I actually never took a fishing trip out on the waters of Homer, Alaska with this...North Country Halibut Charters. But... I was walking along the boardwalk area of the downtown Homer Spit section and a boat tour cruise had just completed their expedition. Now afterwards, the passengers were getting a firsthand glimpse into watching their freshly caught king salmons being fileted. Little did I know that after you go out on a fishing charter for the day...it's only customary to then return to the pier and clean and filet your catches. Lol, I have zero fishing experience. So...in getting to watch a professional fisherman/woman do all this for their passengers and witnessing it all with my very own eyes was fascinating! I even recorded it live and added it to my YT Channel...for entertainment purposes only, lol. It was a terrific little exposition, in just how easy it was for the girl to cut open the salmon while efficiently demonstrating her knifing skills. And there was a huge crowd standing around and watching her too. I asked the fisherwoman if I could take a few photos and record a little of her precise fileting and she said that would "be okay and it's fine"...pretty normal for what tourists like myself typically like to do when being exposed to such a cool demonstration. In fact, the girl had a tip jar situated right beside the table counter and of course I happily left her $5 for allowing me to watch. I was quite impressed with her experience, comfortabilities and technique handling such large fish! You could just tell this fisherwoman has been out on the high seas plenty of times and appearing so natural at it all. Unfortunately, I never did take a fishing cruise while in Homer, but after enjoying this fileting demonstration, I started thinking that maybe I should consider participating in a charter in my future travels to all these incredible Alaskan seaports...where they're famously known for catching some of the best fish in the world! In the end, I just appreciated how the tour group caught 5 salmon on their adventure and were now going to enjoy a fresh seafood dinner. Also, the fish they caught were king salmon which I believe are the most prestigious type of salmon you can find. This fileting demonstration was such a pleasant surprise as I was leisurely walking the boardwalk area of downtown Homer Spit. I'm glad I got to experience it.

We had such a great trip w these guys! Capt and crew were fun, informative, & helpful. We enjoyed…read moreour day fishing, had some great laughs, and came back w smiles, memories and plenty of halibut (even though it was end of the season) thanks to the captain!!! Mahalo Wes, Bender and Sayla for an epic day of fishing! We will def be booking w you guys again and be recommending you to our friends

We went on the Current Lady with Captain David and Deck hand Allisum. We had a blast. My husband…read morewas an idiot and invited us 3 high class ladies on this fishing trip LOL. After 6 months of shopping for this fishing gear us 3 Girls were ready to go. The 3 of us girls had no experience fishing, however, guess who caught the biggest fish. The girls ruled the boat and now my husband will continue to hear about it until our trip next year. We laughed so much with Captain David and Allisum that they can't wait for us to get back! Captain David will probably give us a free trip just for the glamour and entertainment LOL Thank you for everything Mike and Elena Leeper, Monica and Steph Las Vegas, Nevada

We had an amazing day with Captain Chelsie and deck hand Maureen! These two were top notch not only…read morein finding us fish as well as great professional personalities! A group of 4 of us limited out on Halibut as well as King Salmon. Thank you for an amazing day on the water.

Mike and Nancy are A+ people to work with. Planed a last minute trip to Homer and reached out to…read moretheir office for availability on the advice of a co worker. Nancy explained everything and was very helpful when booking the charter. Mike runs the boat side as the Captain and we couldn't have asked for more. It started with an outstanding safety briefing on emergency equipment, introduced his outgoing mate Clayton, who will be a Captain this year and Jake who had his first trip with us under the watch of the seasoned Captains. Fished two days with Mike and crew and couldn't be happier! We caught four species on day one and missed our King limit by 1. Day two was just as good, although the King bite wasn't to be had. Two day total of fillets that we sent for processing was 230lbs ! Mike and his crew love what they do and it shows, this is a no BS crew that wants you to catch fish and works hard to make you happy. Glad we chose Manns and will not hesitate to do so in the he future

My husband and son in law had a great day of fishing! They came home with halibut, salmon and cod…read moreas well as memories of otters, orcas and a very fine day out on the water. Thanks to Mike and crew!

A tremendous Experience!!…read more From the initial call to the office to book my tour to the end result of a day long fishing trip this was a wonderful experience I would highly recommend. The office staff was so helpful and responsive to my questions. Due to the laws pertaining to the halibut fishing I took a Salmon and Rockfish trip on the Whistler with Captain Avery Ault. The boat was clean and well maintained. The young man who was our deckhand was attentive and extremely knowledgeable. The captain worked hard at getting us on fish which he was very successful. All of us on the boat met our daily limits in Rockfish and Salmon. Overall a great day. Highly recommend this company!

Set realistic expectation. You are paying for a boat ride with some fish As add ons. The halibut…read moreare small now because they have been fished out. The salmon are very hit and miss. We were lucky and caught 2 each. August must suck? Over all my fish will cost me $60/lb For the little I caught over two days. Enjoy the day but not for the fish.

It was a great experience to spend a full day salmon fishing. The crew was wonderful and helped my…read morehusband catch a King Salmon. I highly recommend it.

Everything with these guy's exceeded our expectations. Awesome crew awesome fishing. Thank you…read moreAustin,Chad and Michael.

Yelp readers, please learn from my mistake and don't do what I did... I almost always book a vendor…read morewho has been rated / reviewed but for our family trip to Homer and the #1 event we had planned, a fishing charter, I thought I could save myself a few bucks and find a guy myself. I found a captain who had a boat and a website and a Facebook page and everything, and I paid in full in advance to reserve a trip with him... And the night before we were supposed to go, he bailed on us with a weak excuse of why he couldn't take us. We had a really set schedule and only the only possible day to go out fishing, so our chance to go fishing was almost ruined. At that late hour, I wasn't even sure I'd be able to reach another charter company, let alone find space for a party of 6 the next day. I am SO, so grateful to Homer Ocean Charters who took my call late in the evening and went above and beyond to be able to find a boat and a captain to take my family out the next day as we had originally planned. Especially Artis (my sincere apologies if I've misspelled that!) in the front office, who was so kind and helpful. Homer ocean charters got us all set up with Captain Brian and deckhand Ben, two of the most genuinely good guys you could ever hope to meet. They took such great care of us, made sure we had a great time, and of course, made sure we caught lots of fish!! Both guys were just incredible with the two kids in our group (ages 11 & 13). We really could not have asked for a better time! Please, please do yourself a favor. Stop looking now, and just book with Homer Ocean Charters. They will truly make your trip!! And whatever you do...DON'T trust a company not rated / reviewed! I never will again!

We recently went out with Homer Ocean Charters on the Bay Explorer (Captain Max), and the…read moreexperience was far below what we expected, especially compared to their older reviews. The boat felt oversold -- about 20 guests with only two deckhands to assist. That made the trip feel crowded and chaotic, with lines constantly crossing and several people losing fish. Between the long ride out (roughly two hours each way) and the large group size, we ended up with very little actual fishing time, maybe half an hour in total. Nobody in our group was able to hit their limit. Afterward, we tried to share our concerns directly with management, but instead of listening, they argued with us and came across as pretty rude. Overall, the trip felt impersonal and poorly run. For the price and the reputation, we expected much more

Interesting that there's high reviews here. Well, our charter experience was not well received. We…read morehad a full boat and they didn't provide enough seating to accommodate everyone. This really sucks because it's a 2 hour journey to the fishing area, 2 hour fishing and 2 hours back with no seat. At $185 for 1/2 day a pop I'd expect it comes with a seat. We had a 6 year old who didn't have a seat and we somehow had him propped sitting on someone's cooler. We later discovered there were seats that had life vests placed there. Nobody was offered a life vest except children. Instead the vests were nicely seated where we could have sat. The workers didn't seem to offer or take notice. There were 3 workers on the boat with maybe 20 people fishing, and it was a wait for getting help with bait or lines getting snagged with others. Too much demand not enough supply. I guess this is where they make money on cutting costs for staff and loading up boats. Money hungry charter business. Since we were outside of the boat we saw them filet our fish and placed them in bags, BUT we noticed they take one filet from each fish and put it in a separate bucket. Now that's pretty shady, hence the reason for 1 star. Not only do they take a filet from each fish but the big piece! How scandalous is that?! I asked my brother if this is a common thing with charters and he said they didn't do that with a previous charter he went with. I mean seriously people if you decide to use this charter check if they do this with your fish! Yes we all caught our limit but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone...not even my enemies.

5 friends and I took a trip with Alaska Coastal Marine out of Homer for halibut, rock cod, and…read morelingcod. Drew and Brent worked their asses off to make sure we had a great time. It was a little rough but that made it all the more fun. The rock cod and lingcod weren't biting but that's just how it goes. Instead we started trolling for salmon and caught a bunch of fish. We got one decent halibut (40-50 lbs) and went to a different spot to fill our limit on smaller sized fish. You can expect to see amazing views and tons of wildlife. We were lucky enough to see some humpback whales. Tip your crew well if you enjoy yourself, they definitely earn it.

Friendly greeting as we walked in looking for a kids fishing pole for my toddler. Asked a couple…read morequestions and then the gentleman working kindly set up the pole for my son and showed us how to use it. Easy, helpful and friendly. Thank you!

Each time stopped in the service was as fast as it could be and always friendly. We picked up our…read morefishing licenses and some additional tackle we didn't know we needed. There are some souvenir type items. I was lucky to pick up Alaskan Poopy seeds to take home. The last day of our trip I also stopped in to pick up a 150 lb Halibut pin (actual weight was 163) for the best trip reminder yet!!

Amazing Bear Viewing experience my family and I had with Catch A Lot Charters. We were going with a…read morecheaper outfit but we came to find out they cannot go at low tide because of there boat drafting to much so we went with Catch A Lot and saw up close many Brown Bears digging clams. Amazing!

Josh and Mike were great! They were both very knowledgeable and Mike made us feel safe and…read morecomfortable when in the meadows with his knowledge of the bears.

Great gift shop T-shirts.. spending a weekend there this summer for 40th birthday with familyread more

The Roadhouse is one of the cooler shops on the Spit. Everything they sell is artisan…read morehand-crafted, and mostly native made. They have wood and bone carvings, fur items, jewelery the like. It's a pricey shop, but you get what you pay for and everything they sell is authentic Alaskan made stuff.