Fishing in Valdez

In visiting Valdez, you will find that it is a quaint Alaskan fishing village. As such, one of the best things to do there is fish. Other great activities include taking a glacier cruise or hiking on one of the local trails. There is also a museum there that gives a lot of local history and discusses the Valdez earthquake. These are really the only things to do in Valdez. It does have a couple of small gift shops, but there really isn't much shopping there.

Quick Tips:

Best Way To Get Around:

There is not public transportation in Valdez. You will need a car.

Similar to other places in Alaska, you will have a hard time finding a cheap place to stay in Valdez. The Totem Inn has a great location, particularly if you'll be going fishing or taking a glacier cruise, as it is within walking distance from the docks. You won't have difficulty finding it as the business "hub" of the town is all located downtown, near the docks. The Totem Inn is definitely not the Ritz, and is probably more comparable to a Super 8 than even a Best Western. We paid $119/night (this is the Alaskan resident rate) for our motel room, and while it certainly wouldn't be worth that much down in the lower 48, we thought it was fine for our purposes.

A real plus to the Totem Inn is that they have several types of accommodations available including deluxe suites (with full kitchens), cabins, and your average motel room. During our stay, our friends stayed in one of the cabins (photos attached), while we stayed in one of the motel rooms. The cabins seemed a little older than the motel room we stayed in, but it did include a kitchen. Our friends brought their own dishes, cookware, and utensils, but apparently, for $10 extra, you can rent these items from the Totem. Our motel room came with a small refrigerator, a TV with VCR/DVD player, and a microwave (in addition to the typical items you find in a motel room). There was also a coin operated laundromat located downstairs in our building. We found our room to be clean and comfortable.

The Totem Inn also has a decent restaurant on-site and one of the better gift shops in town. All things considered, we enjoyed our stay there and wouldn't hesitate to go back again.

This was our first time going fishing in Valdez, and this charter was sort of our plan B. We went to Valdez with a fellow my husband works with. He had been fishing in Valdez before and set up a fishing charter for all of us to go on several weeks earlier with a captain he knew. Unfortunately, a few days before we left, he received a phone call from the captain telling him that his boat was being repaired, and he wouldn't be able to take us fishing. As a result, we contacted "Easy Freeze" there in Valdez. They book charters there, and it was through them that we went fishing with "Something's Fishy". Personally, I wouldn't go with this guy again. The captain's name was Rick, and his boat's name was the "Chinook." Unfortunately, the man had zero patience or tolerance for beginners. I honestly think that he forgot that we were paying him to take us fishing! I don't even know how many times he started screaming and yelling at us (and I really mean this).

For starters, when we arrived, he never really explained how the fishing process worked - he didn't give us the ground rules. If you missed a fish biting, or if he thought you were reeling the fish in incorrectly, he just started yelling at you. As a business person, I found it to be intolerable. In addition, he smoked a cigar, and he had it going the entire time - in our faces. I just didn't care for him. In all fairness, however, I do have to mention that we all caught our limits, and he seemed to know what he was doing as far as where to take us to catch fish. If you've been salmon fishing before, and you don't mind cigar smoke, he'd probably be okay. In my opinion, there are other captains just as good (or better) who have a better attitude with beginners. This was a half day charter. It was $130 per person.

This charter is owned and operated by Captain Don Lattimer and his wife. We found them a joy to fish with and would go back in a heartbeat. As I mentioned in my posting of the other charter we went with, we found these guys through the Easy Freeze business, located near the docks in Valdez. Among other things, they also book charters at Easy Freeze, and for our second day, we were booked with this company. Our boat was the Tse Guya, and although it was a little older than the boat we went on the day before, we thought it was great. The biggest difference was our captain. He was professional and a very nice guy. To me, it felt like going fishing with my grandpa. He would cheer you on when you caught a fish, and if you missed it, he would help you to understand what you'd done wrong. In order to go on this charter, you'll need at least 4 people. They don't book for any less than 4. It was $130 per person for a half day charter. Captain Don really seemed to know what he was doing. He took us out to a secluded location where we were all by ourselves (no other charters that we could see). We caught much bigger fish this day than we had the day before, and his attitude was very pleasant. We all caught our limits in about 3 hours. To book directly, contact: captdon@wildak.net or call (907) 895-4714 (in winter); (907) 835-2732 (in summer).