Sharks & Rays

If you have ever been halibut fishing left your bait right on the bottom you may already know about skates. These are Alaskan rays. They dont have stingers, just very rough skin and scary looking teeth. Skates can slowly grow to a massive size and have faked out many halibut fishermen over the years thinking that they had a giant halibut on. These fish have one of the longest gestation periods of any vertebrate. Their leathery egg pouches (called mermaid purses) take 2 years to hatch!

Dogfish are highly migratory and tend to move as a large spread school in Cook Inlet. Dogfish are often seen as pests or “Trash Fish” while targeting halibut. However we have come to learn that just like cod, our clients from England, who use Atlantic Dogfish for the famous British dish of “Fish-n-Chips” that if handled properly these fish are not only beautiful and interesting they are also tasty. Limit is 5 per person.

If you were hoping for one of the lesser known species, this would be the one you want. Salmon Sharks are incredibly powerful. Like Great Whites, Salmon Sharks are in the Mackerel Shark family and due to their arterial plumbing are endothermic fish. (aka warm blooded) . They get their name from their primary food, salmon. Salmon Sharks spawn off the coast of Oregon and California and migrate to Alaska to intercept salmon on their way to spawn.

Salmon Sharks can fight for a very long time. Since they are warm blooded its anyone’s guess as to who will tire first. Captain Travis describes it like….”Imagine you tied your 80lb spider wire to the horns of a young billy goat, then you branded the goat and tried to reel in the goat.” They are excellent eating if taken care of properly. Keeping a mature Salmon Shark equals somewhere between 80-250lbs of shark meat. If you do not have the ability to store this much fish (including the other fish you will have like halibut and salmon etc) we would encourage you to let it swim. If you can store and eat that much shark, we are happy to harvest a salmon shark for you….if you can bring it to the boat. :-)

Limit is 1 per vessel per day.