Okay, so today it has been two week since the worst fishing trip I have ever been on. I had great expectations about Valdez Outfitters. I had seen great videos on Youtube with this company fishing reps from the Pautske's company. They go out in these videos and catch some monster ling cod, yellow eye, and halibut. So I booked a trip for myself and 3 other friends. We paid the " show price" and got a forty dollar discount on the regular 395 cost of a "Combo Trip".
We were told by the office staff on the 13th that we should meet our captain at the dock at 5:45am. We were there by 5:30. We waited, and our captain shows up at 6:10am. I have never been to the dock before the skipper. Strike one. When the captain does show up, he is very obviously hung over. He looks really rough. No introductions, nothing, just get aboard, lets go. Next we spent time in line while he goes to fuel up his boat. We end up leaving the harbor at about 7am. Why have us there at 5:45 if the boat is not ready to go?
Finally underway, still no introduction, but as we start to cross Prince William sound, he asks if any one wants to turn back due to the rough seas. Nope, let's go fishing I tell him. We then get the lecture about not "gambling" on big halibut. The captain says that we should not throw back any halibut of a good size cause larger fish might not be available. We get out and start fishing and the captain puts on a whole fish carcass that is usually used to attract larger halibut. So that rod does go off, and one of the people in our group reels in a pretty good size fish. A halibut of about 45 pounds. No sooner does the captain get the hooks out, he throws it back. So now who is gambling on bigger fish? We did manage to hook some fish on rubber jigs, but the fishing for the other rods was really slow. This same thing goes on for the rest of the time we are out. The captain made the determination that the conditions were too rough to try for rock fish or ling cod. Seems odd to me that he could not find some sheltered water were we might have fished for black rock fish. They are pretty common in these areas and can be lots of fun to catch. So much for our " Combo" trip. We did finally get into some chickens, smaller halibut in the 20 to 30 pound class. So we got our limits of small fish. I have fished with guides who charge lots less money and work much harder to get clients into bigger fish.
So we decide to go back to the dock and we have to cross back through PWS. The skipper says to us that he had a text from another skipper that the crossing might be really rough. We start back across and our captain has his hands off the wheel and is texting on his phone. We did encounter a few waves that if we had taken then at a different angle the boat would have been compromised.
The main reason for this post is to inform others of the poor quality of the trip that this company provided for the money charged. It was not until we got back to Anchorage on Monday July 15th that we even learned our captains name. He never bothered to even tell us his name. I am concerned about the condition of the Sea Hunter as it was taking water in our first crossing of PWS through a window that had been detached for some time. I am also concerned about the lack of responsibility that the owner of the company has shown in not taking a moment to respond to various emails that members of our party sent him via his website. I want to make people aware that this company Valdez Outfitters does not seem to show any concern that customers have had a bad experience with one of their captains as long as they have been paid. So if any of you have considered a trip out of Valdez for halibut or rock fish, please consider another charter company other than Valdez Outfitters. read more