Alaska Fishing Reports

Sitka's Bottomfish Bonanza

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The Sitka area is home to a prolific fishery for many species of bottomfish. While salmon and halibut are the most famous target species in Alaska, and certainly plentiful near Sitka, the other bottom dwelling fish deserve attention. From the thrill of hooking into a monster ling (see the last blog post), to the joy of eating incredibly delicious sablefish, nearly all of the bottom fish around Sitka are worth spending time to target.

Black rockfish are a near shore species that can be fun and easy to target on light tackle. When you're in a school of these voracious pelagic rockfish, hook-ups occur as fast as you can get your jig back in the water. They're fun to catch, delicious to eat (especially in fish tacos), and make a nice addition to a day's catch.

Yelloweye rockfish are delicious, and you can often catch your limit incidentally while targeting halibut or lingcod. Lingcod are super fun to catch, and make delicious fish and chips when shallow fried in Panko bread crumbs and served with lemon wedges and tartar sauce.

Sablefish, or black cod, are a deep dwelling species (1200-1600') known for their delicious flesh. Known in Japan as butter fish, they are the only species we catch that are as rich in Omega-3 oil as king salmon. They are particularly tasty when marinated in teriyaki sauce then grilled. At these depths, fishing for sablefish is somewhat weather dependent, but you'll often have a day or two on a typical trip that are calm enough to target them.

Sitka's bottomfish are a fun-to-catch, delicious addition to any fishing vacation up you'll make to this area. Be sure to ask your captain about taking time to target these less famous species on your next trip!

KINGFISHER CHARTERS,

104 Berry Knoll,

Sitka, Alaska 99835

Phone. 907-747-6136

Email. kingfisher@ak.net

MAILING ADDRESS

PO Box 1781

Sitka AK 99835