Fishing is still pretty good up here in the Great Land; the silvers are still running, and the charter boats are still heading out into Cook Inlet, Resurrection Bay, Prince William Sound, and other places after halibut, cod, and rockfish. And this week, we have two great fish stories for you.
Holy cow, that’s a big halibut!
Gary Walker caught the fish of a lifetime out of Homer earlier this month.
″I was trying for this fish for 43 years — since 1982,″ Walker said.
And he had no intentions of keeping the huge halibut, conservatively estimated to be 325 pounds and 84 inches in length.
“But not one single time during that entire 43 years did I ever have intentions of killing this fish,” Walker added.
″I wanted to make sure people understood the importance of releasing these fish. The better eating fish are the smaller ones anyway. It is fun to catch these big fish, but it is very, very important that we keep them in the water for future generations.”
Mr. Walker’s right about the smaller ones being better to eat. The “chickens,” fish running up to 20-25 pounds, and “turkeys” running up to 70-80, are really fine eating, but from what I hear, the big, big ones lack the flavor of smaller fish. Mr. Walker’s captain for this trip agrees.
That was the philosophy shared on the Alaskan Majestic Fishing Charters boat that day, captained by Kyle Metcalf.
″You’re talking over 4.1 million eggs in that one fish? That’s a breeder, that’s the stock we need to keep replenishing," Metcalf said. ″We need to be focused, it’s 2025, the fish stocks we know are down, sizes are down, so when we catch something like that, showing other people, ‘Hey, it’s okay, you don’t have to kill everything.’
Halibut and salmon are my favorite fish to eat. Rockfish and Pacific cod are pretty good, too, and we’ve got all of them in the freezer, as do a lot of Alaskans. That’s one of the better things about living up here. Stuff that comes up from the lower 48 can be pricey, but if you hunt and fish or know someone who does, you can get a lot of your protein at a lower cost – unless you’re chartering an excursion, in which case it might not be advisable to figure the cost per pound.
We go out on charters every other year or so. We get our money’s worth. It’s more than just the fish, after all. A great day out on the open sea, catching fish, meeting new people, enjoying the camaraderie of the day; that’s worth more than money.
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets, for the fish, and for the release.
Read More: Alaska Man Monday - Salmon, Halibut and Homer
While we’re talking about fish, it’s also the time of year for silver salmon. Wasilla’s own Jager Thurmond has brought in the winning silver salmon in the 2025 Valdez Silver Salmon Derby. Good catch, Jager!
Jager Thurmond of Wasilla emerged the winner of the 2025 Valdez Silver Salmon Derby with a 15.32-pound fish.
With the win, Thurmond also collected the grand prize of $10,000. In all, Thurmond won $11,500 when accounting for $1,000 won for winning the Silver Salmon Slam tournament and the $500 Captain’s prize.
Thurmond caught his winning silver salmon Wednesday, according to derby officials.
“I was supposed to be running the boat and everyone else was eating sandwiches and I just happened to grab the pole. I just got lucky,” Thurmond said. “I was guessing it was around 13 pounds.”
That’s a nice fish. Silvers are fun to catch; they are hard, powerful fish and put up a good fight. They are right good eating, too. Win-win!
Alaska Man score: 5 moose nuggets. Great fish, and it must have been a great day.
Read More: Alaska Man Monday - String, Pumpkins, and Just for the Halibut
Now, let’s talk about some small game stuff. It’s that time of year, too.
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