What Customers are saying about Baranof Fishing Excursions

Second Time Review Date: 2018-08-02

In 2016 during a Princess cruise we had booked a trip with Baranof for our family of four. Unfortunately my son got sick and was quarantined to the room. So my wife stayed behind and my daughter and I went for a fishing trip followed by dinner at their camp. At first my daughter was upset about having to go fishing. The captain, Jeff Kraynik, said to my daughter I will do my best to make you smile. After a few minutes of fishing Jessica was smiling she was catching fish and even out fished me! To make up for our son and wife not being able to go we flew back to Ketchikan and booked another trip for our 2018 vacation! We were able to have Captain Jeff! What a wonderful guide, a 30 year police veteran too! Their boats are clean and comfortable the food they cook is wonderful. A treat to go fishing in a beautiful place! Highly recommend if you like to fish, and love the outdoors. This business is professionally run!

Captain: Jeff
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California
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Excursion: Wilderness Camp
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Rating: Excellent
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Aaron treated us right! Review Date: 2018-08-04

We chartered a Baranof boat, captained by Aaron, with 6 of us - my dad, my brothers, and my son and nephew. (FYI: We booked it weeks in advance which was a good idea) The weather was warm and sunny, which was great for being on the water but not ideal for the fishing. But, Aaron didn't let us go home empty-handed! He worked with us and other captains to find the right spots so we could catch some halibut, rockfish, and salmon. Aaron was friendly and personable and we were happy to add him to our family for the day. He also worked hard and without complaint to keep our lines baited, untangled and in the water. Perhaps the best part of the day was in the restaurant after. Since we had chartered the entire boat, they included the cleaning and preparing of the fish we caught in a private room of the Alaskan Fish House which is right on the dock. In addition to the catch, which they prepared multiple ways (ask for the beer-battered halibut!) they served fresh shrimp and delicious sides and included the first round of locally-crafted beer! If you can manage to charter an entire boat, do it. This perk makes it worthwhile! Thanks to Aaron and the entire Baranof crew that made our multi-generational fishing excursion successful and memorable!

Captain: Aaron
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Washington DC
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Excursion: Hunting for Halibut
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Rating: Excellent
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Aaron treated us right! Review Date: 2018-08-04

We chartered a Baranof boat, captained by Aaron, with 6 of us - my dad, my brothers, and my son and nephew. (FYI: We booked it weeks in advance which was a good idea) The weather was warm and sunny, which was great for being on the water but not ideal for the fishing. But, Aaron didn't let us go home empty-handed! He worked with us and other captains to find the right spots so we could catch some halibut, rockfish, and salmon. Aaron was friendly and personable and we were happy to add him to our family for the day. He also worked hard and without complaint to keep our lines baited, untangled and in the water. Perhaps the best part of the day was in the restaurant after. Since we had chartered the entire boat, they included the cleaning and preparing of the fish we caught in a private room of the Alaskan Fish House which is right on the dock. In addition to the catch, which they prepared multiple ways (ask for the beer-battered halibut!) they served fresh shrimp and delicious sides and included the first round of locally-crafted beer! If you can manage to charter an entire boat, do it. This perk makes it worthwhile! Thanks to Aaron and the entire Baranof crew that made our multi-generational fishing excursion successful and memorable!

Captain: Aaron
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Washington DC
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Excursion: Private Charter
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Rating: Excellent
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Halibut Charter-7/30/18 Review Date: 2018-08-05

I knew we had the right captain, Geoff Peck, when he said he wanted to catch fish more than we did. We had our limit of halibut in <1hr (all 5 passengers). We proceeded to fish for exotic fish. Everyone had their yearly limit of yellow-eyed rock fish (about 30 inches long) within 1-2hrs. Grace (Geoff's 12 y/o daughter) was the 1st mate. She is better than other 1st mates I've been with on other excursions and very polite. I would give Geoff a 10/star rating. What a pleasant and enjoyable day....HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Captain: Geoff
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Pennsylvania
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Excursion: Hunting for Halibut
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Rating: Excellent
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Great Day!!! Review Date: 2018-08-05

We had a successful day, we all caught a Halibut and some Rock Fish. Our guide, Greg was EXCELLENT and very friendly and helpful. He was determined to get us some fish! He stayed out longer than we were scheduled for and we barely made it back to ship in time. :)

We had fish sent back and received on the day we asked. and it was delicious! Would definitely do this again-great guide and company!!!

Captain: Greg
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Iowa
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Excursion: Hunting for Halibut
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Rating: Excellent
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An Amazing Day on the Amazing Grace! Review Date: 2018-08-09

Before we even booked our Alaskan cruise, we knew we wanted to book a private fishing charter. After some research and talking with other friends who had gone on an Alaskan cruise, many people recommended Baranof to us. Boy, am I glad we booked this! This ended up being our most favorite excursion out of all the excursions we've taken over 5 cruises. Not only did we get super lucky weather-wise, but we were also paired up with the best guide duo (Geoff and Grace) on the newest and best boat (Amazing Grace) Baranof has to offer! Geoff and his 12-year-old daughter, Grace, were extremely knowledgeable, professional, and a ton of fun to spend the day with. We had our 12 year old son with us, too, so it was even more perfect that Grace was one of our guides. After hearing the different options we had to choose from, we chose to do the "Cook Your Catch", where we were taken to several different fishing spots to catch rockfish, salmon, and halibut, and then Geoff took us to the wilderness camp, where Geoff prepared our fish for the camp cook to cook up for us. During that time, Grace showed us around camp and the beach and took pictures for us. Lunch was amazing, there is no fresher way to eat fish than "water to table," and the dessert we were served was AMAZING! While the fish were not really biting the day we went due to a big storm that had come in the night before, we did catch five rockfish, and had an extremely enjoyable time on the water visiting with Geoff and Grace. We all agreed that we couldn't wait to come back to Ketchikan again and would definitely be booking another private charter with Baranof, especially if we can spend another wonderful afternoon with Geoff and Grace on the Amazing Grace. A++++

Captain: Geoff
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N/A
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Excursion: Wilderness Camp
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Rating: Excellent
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An Amazing Day on the Amazing Grace! Review Date: 2018-08-09

Before we even booked our Alaskan cruise, we knew we wanted to book a private fishing charter. After some research and talking with other friends who had gone on an Alaskan cruise, many people recommended Baranof to us. Boy, am I glad we booked this! This ended up being our most favorite excursion out of all the excursions we've taken over 5 cruises. Not only did we get super lucky weather-wise, but we were also paired up with the best guide duo (Geoff and Grace) on the newest and best boat (Amazing Grace) Baranof has to offer! Geoff and his 12-year-old daughter, Grace, were extremely knowledgeable, professional, and a ton of fun to spend the day with. We had our 12 year old son with us, too, so it was even more perfect that Grace was one of our guides. After hearing the different options we had to choose from, we chose to do the "Cook Your Catch", where we were taken to several different fishing spots to catch rockfish, salmon, and halibut, and then Geoff took us to the wilderness camp, where Geoff prepared our fish for the camp cook to cook up for us. During that time, Grace showed us around camp and the beach and took pictures for us. Lunch was amazing, there is no fresher way to eat fish than "water to table," and the dessert we were served was AMAZING! While the fish were not really biting the day we went due to a big storm that had come in the night before, we did catch five rockfish, and had an extremely enjoyable time on the water visiting with Geoff and Grace. We all agreed that we couldn't wait to come back to Ketchikan again and would definitely be booking another private charter with Baranof, especially if we can spend another wonderful afternoon with Geoff and Grace on the Amazing Grace. A++++

Captain: Geoff
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N/A
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Excursion: Private Charter
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Rating: Excellent
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Best AK cruise “excursion” yet! Review Date: 2018-08-11

We have been on three Alaskan cruises, our first was just my immediate family, my bride and two kids about six or seven years ago. On our first trip I became convinced that everyone should do this at least once, the experience is indescribable, pictures or television or writing about the magnificence of the place will never adequately convey what is there to see and do. The kids were never crazy about a cruise to AK, probably because we spent our time seeing, not doing. We adults are stunned just looking at brown bears feeding in a river or stream or shoreside. We are happy to see the mountains, glaciers, the wonder of God’s creation, but the kids want to climb the mountains, slide down the glaciers and swing from the trees so they would often rather STAY ON THE SHIP AND PLAY BASKETBALL OR VIDEO GAMES or whatever kids do in the kids club on NCL. While surprising, probably understandable if one can manage to try to get into the heads of kids. They want to DO stuff, not LOOK AT stuff. Our trip with Baranof did both, although the kids are older now they still want to DO STUFF. Cool stuff. With cool people. I’m a pretty experienced and knowledgeable fisherman, mostly the gulf coasts of Texas, Loud and Florida but as the song goes...”I’ve been everywhere, man..”. Not fishing in AK though. And although I find a rushed fishing trip off of a cruise ship...well, I’ll just say I’d prefer to fly in and stay a couple of weeks, book with an outfitter and get after it, learn all I can and as my bride might say, get too serious about this. Our trip included 15 from our extended family. On our first cruise to AK, as we were steadily pointed north through Puget Sound I resolved to make sure my parents went with us someday. We finally completed this mission, My mom was on this trip. I booked with Baranof with a unique request. Mom’s side of our family can trace our roots to ancestors who were recipients of a land grant issued by the Provisional Gov’t of the Republican Texas, so roots and traditions run deep. Among her most cherished memories are days as a child spent crabbing with her dad, mom, brothers and sisters along the Texas Gulf Coast so I wanted to arrange a special trip for her...crabbing for Dungeness crabs in Alaska with her grandchildren. Baranof is a fishing outfitter but I took a shot and called. “No problem, we’d be happy to”. We started our trip, were met by three guides, my boat was captained and served by Chris Baldwin. Being a good fishing guide is a really unique and tricky job...they never know who they’re dealing with, could be novices, perhaps someone with ridiculous expectations, maybe rude or disrespectful people, maybe guests who don’t speak English, might even be a Russian billionaire (yes, he did that) and sometimes fish just aren’t biting. Or maybe they are...maybe guests just can’t set the hook, maybe weather doesn’t cooperate...the list is endless and often the captain gets the blame...or credit. Chris was a spectacular host, patient and fun with the kids (teens on our boat), knowledgeable and willing to answer my constant questions, I wanted to soak up as much as I could as this was my first fishing trip in AK; he is patient, fun, funny, interesting, eager. Chris is also enthusiastic, efficient and contributed to a unanimously agreed “best thing we did” on our cruise to AK. Once all three boats were loaded up with 15 people from 8-75yrs old, all outfitted in provided gear, boots, jackets and pants we were off. Dropped crab traps and went fishing. We caught countless rockfish, other fish I can’t remember the names of. Once adequately stocked for lunch, we had a little time so we trolled for salmon, caught several and finished by running traps that had only soaked for 3hrs or so. I’m positive that the collective excitement on our boat when pulling these traps, kind of mundane and routine for Chris took him completely by surprise. Kids messed with the crabs, took pictures and we threw back undersized. Chris told a story of once dropping a go-pro camera with a trap, documenting that crabs are turds. (My words). They will defend their trap, fight and even kill each other defending the bait that they’ve found. (I’m fully aware of the dynamics here...no lectures necessary). I found that interesting and a little funny. We returned to dock, Chris cleaned our catch and joined us for lunch in a back room of the restaurant right there at the dock. We were served by an extraordinarily talented chef who had taken time away from an upscale restaurant somewhere (I’m embarrassed that I didn’t take note of his name) but Chris said our chef is doing this for fun...he’s doing it because in his “real” job he rarely has a chance to interact with his guests, no time...wherever it is it is busy so he’s in the kitchen most or all of the time. I can’t remember his credentials but he’s not just a “cook”. He is an extraordinarily talented chef with a passion for his craft and loves serving and seeing his delighted guests as he works. He got word that I’ve wanted to try spot prawns for years...a bowl FULL of them appeared in front of me, sautéed and absolutely fantastic! Appetizer was some salmon/shrimp spread that was out of this world. Our fish was fried, broiled, I’m not sure what he did but it was ALL unbelievably good. My bride won’t eat anything fried but asked for seconds on the fried rockfish with just prepared tartar sauce. Best cole slaw I’ve ever eaten. Dessert was huckleberry something...some kind of cake that was out of this world. I cannot document blow-by-blow the other guides but I heard nothing but compliments. Our group of fifteen was beyond satisfied, this experience was the highlight of our trip.