We met captain nick in Ketchican on august 25 from our cruise on radiance of the seas . From beginning it was perfect. we were A FAMILY OF 6 INCLUDING AN 8 YEAR OLD AND A 12 YEAR OLD.we booked this excursion ourselves through trip advisor, not through Royal Caribbean ( strongly advise doing so ) we had a perfect day caught 15 salmon. we are shipping back 15 salmon to my daughter in LA. Nick was fabulous, we had the best time, thank yu for the best time. even though it was cold and rainy it did not matter!!

We booked our Halibut fishing excursion with Ketchikan Charter Boats on-line a couple months prior to our cruise based on tripadvisor reviews. We had been sub-contracted out to Captain Ray who did not disappoint us. We caught our limit of one halbut and then a bonus salmon per person. Deck hand not very helpful-- fished himself so didn't help customers with fishing. However, he caught a huge halibut that had to be released due to size regulations. It would have been nice to catch a few more salmon. Be aware of the cost to ship the fish home...processing ($40) & shipping ($160) a total of 19 pounds (less than expected given size of fish caught). Overall a great experience. I would definitely book with either Ray privately or Ketchican Boat Charters.

Danny did great job. He was waiting for the 6 of us as we got off the ship. We immediately got on the boat and took off. After a brief boat ride he had all 6 lines in the water and we started to troll for Salmon. Within minutes we had one on the line, he got the net out to help land it, then another, then another. There was a lull but we booked a 4 hour private charter and within 3 hours each of us caught our limit (including several that got away) along with 3 King Salmon and one Cod. Danny was great. He knew just what to do, how to do it and where to go. I also watched other charter fishing boats and we had the best equipment, and caught the most and were done while others were still out there trying to catch Salmon. Upon others coming back, I was able to observe their catch from our balcony and no one even came close to catching as many as we did. I did extensive research on fishing charters in Ketchikan before I booked our charter and I would definitely recommend Ketchikan Charter Boats, Inc. and ask for Danny.

We booked a trip with Ketchikan Charter Boats, not fully understanding that this business is sort of like a clearinghouse for charter fishing -- they have lots of captains with boats, and assign you to a captain. Guests get different captains, different boats, different experiences.

We were in Ketchikan for a week, and I called to confirm the reservation, and was told it was a really busy day and they might change our time. No problem. We ended up with the original time, 7:00 a.m. We made a big effort to get to the office by 6:45 so we wouldn't be late. We were taken to Captain Al's boat, which was docked right by the charter boats. 3 other people on our boat were waiting to be released from the cruise ship, so we waited a good 30 minutes for them.....wasting 30 minutes of our fishing time. It wasn't the other guests' fault, so we couldn't be upset with them, but we wish we had a boat to ourselves so we didn't have to miss fishing time.

Captain Al provided coffee, cookies, crackers and salmon dip. The boat was pretty roomy and nice. Captain Al had a personality that some people probably don't enjoy....he was kind of sarcastic.....he told us a story about a husband and wife who he took fishing. They asked lots of questions, and he gave them accurate but sort of rude answers....like, when is the best time to fish? when they're biting....
I think these folks were asking genuine questions and wanted genuine answers. He could have provided better customer service. And he probably shouldn't share with other guests that these guests complained to the management about him.

Anyway - on to the fishing. My husband caught 1 pink salmon, as did one other man. A lady caught 2 pinks. Another man caught 1 really nice king salmon and a pink. I didn't catch anything....I had two good fish on the hook but lost one pretty fast, and lost the other as the captain was trying to net it. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but life goes on.

I think the one thing that really got me about the captain was that he wanted to teach us how to fish. Some of the equipment was sort of complicated, and he tried to explain it, and the intricacies of salmon fishing. That was nice, but really, I will probably never have the chance to pay for a salmon fishing trip again....and I really wanted to catch some fish.

He kept saying, since you are in town all week, if you do another fishing trip, this is what you should do.....and that was nice of him, but I didn't have $300 to pay for another fishing trip, because this one started late, ended quickly and the fish weren't biting a whole lot.

The captain had another trip booked at 11:30 and we had to hustle back to the dock. He was nice enough to filet the one fish my husband caught. I think there is a lot of pressure, on busy days, to get guests back to the dock fast so that the next trip can start. That is unfortunate for the guests and captain...

Anyway, I fish a lot at home and know that some days, the fish just aren't biting, but I wish I had left with the feeling that we got our $300 worth. We did see one humpback whale and several eagles, which was the highlight for me!