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If Homer is the capital of halibut fishing, then Inlet Charters may be its Air Force One. Take a day trip with this fishing-trip operator, and you'll come back with refined angling skills and—more than likely—your two-fish daily limit, too.
From the Inlet Charters office—along the Homer Spit and across from the boat harbor—you can quickly board a boat that suits your group's size: maybe it's a 28- or 36-foot boat, each of which can accommodate small groups of up to six passengers, or our 50-foot boat that carries larger groups. Half-day halibut trips stick to Kachemak Bay so you can get fishing fast, while day trips travel further out into Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet.
The coast-guard licensed guides will bait your hooks and give you pointers on technique. Once you reel one in, the guides even do the dirty work—bleeding, filleting, bagging and icing your catch—giving your more time to sit back and enjoy the ride, while watching for marine wildlife such as seals, otters, puffins and even humpback whales.
Inlet Charters offers an array of trips—even including some tours for hiking or bear-watching—but here are its main trips for angling:
Halibut
There's a good reason why Homer is considered the Halibut capital of the world: Halibut caught off its waters average 28 pounds, and the occasional bad boy tips the scales at three digits. Your trip with Inlet will take you about 30 miles out from the Spit, and half-day trips tend to zero in on fish between 10 and 25 pounds. Trips range from $105 to $325 per person, which includes gear, bait and cleaning.
Salmon
What you'll catch on these trips depends on when you come. King salmon's peak season runs from May through August, while the famous river-run fish (big boys ranging from 25 to 75 pounds) are most plentiful in May and early June. The silver salmon, meanwhile, crop up more during August and early September, and are known for putting up quite a fight on the line. $235 for full day, which includes gear, bait and cleaning.
Combo Trips
Can't decide between salmon and halibut? Do a little of both. Depending on the part of the season, you can do a day trip for halibut and king salmon (early May through mid-June), halibut and silver salmon (July 15 until September 1) or even halibut and rockfish (July 1 until September 1). Rates are $275 per person on a 4- or 6-passenger boat, except for the Rockfish trip, which has a flat rate of $1,800 for up to 6 people.
From June 10 through August 31, Inlet also offers a combo bear-watching and salmon- fishing trip at Katmai National Park-reached by a floatplane out of Soldotna (call for pricing).
Inlet Charters is more than just fishing, too. The company offers a few sea kayaking, wilderness hiking and marine wildlife tours—including a new walk-in, stream-fishing trip-out of Kachemak Bay, most ranging from $65 to $145 per person.
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