Fishing Abroad

In the video below, you'll begin to understand, if not already, why boats, reels, hooks, and fishing lines were created. Could you imagine doing this Alaskan style? What an amazing feat this man did. Well, you can rest assured that we will not be asking you to do what he did. But if you did, we'd expect you to be bring us up some King Crabs as well as any Halibut or Salmon you might have encountered!
Lastly, you can count on one things we at Petersburg Sportfishing we will never ask of you: Wear little to nothing when fishing. Happy Fishing!

Bill Dance Bloopers

With every fishing trip, there is a chance for something to go wrong. When you've been fishing as long as this guy has, it's no wonder that things haven't always turned out the way he planned.

Best Fishing Bloopers - watch more funny videos

Hook and Tie: Getting down the basics

In fishing, there are two basic things you need to know: how to set the hook and how to tie knots. Setting the hook is easy in deep sea fishing. Even if you have never fished before, catching a fabulous Halibut or Salmon can happen to you. With little effort on your part. What you need to do is show up, set the bait, and let the line out. The fish does all the work. Once you see the rod dip toward the ocean, tug the pole in an upward motion and if the fish is hooked, the pole will bend down again. Easy peasy.
Tying knots on the other hand can leave you feeling a bit stupid. Well, perhaps I should say, it leaves me feeling that way. If you've never or rarely gone fishing, losing a hook or having your line break can be the end of your fishing trip (luckily, with Petersburg Sport Fishing we'll redo your hook and tie your knots when fishing so you don't have to worry!).
But having a little knot tying know how always makes for a better fishing trip. A few blogs back we posted some of the more common knots. Upon browsing the web, I came across this fantastic knot tying website: Net Knots.

Picture taken from netknots.com

If you ever wanted to know anything about knots, you'll find it here. On the left, you'll find a picture of an improved clinch knot. For every knot they have, they show you two things. First, a picture (as shown here) and directions on how to tie the know.
The really cool thing about this site is, the second thing they show: an animation of how to tie the knot. I'd say this site is totally worth checking out.

Fame Hits Hayes Family: An Alaskan Adventure

Previous to the June issue of Fish Alaska Magazine, Contributing Editor Andrew Cremata sought a guide and local in Petersburg, Alaska. His internet and networking skills brought a familiar name to those who have joined Petersburg Sport Fishing during the past two seasons: Donn Hayes the Second.

We'd call a meeting of these two good fortune or luck. But the real luck came in Donn getting the chance to spend the day fishing on the lake and making a friend. Donn and Andrew meandered in, around, and on Sand, Hill, and Crane lakes.

"Most of the trout we caught over the following couple of hours were the same size (16 inches) or smaller, but no matter as there is a lot to be said for fishing with a partner on a secluded lake in the middle of nowhere. In between moments of quiet and the occasional calls from birds hidden along the shoreline was quality, unhurried conversation." said Andrew, from his Wandering Petersburg article.

Meggan, Donn's wife made an appearance too! It seems it was Asian food night at their house when Andrew joined them. What a way to end the day, good eats, good company, and good sights!

You can see the whole article of Andrew's stay in Petersburg in the June issue of Fish Alaska Magazine. Donn even got his picture in there too!

The Summer

Over the next couple of weeks I will be sharing with you a few of the stories from this past Summer.

Story #1 FAMILY

It might be a sad statement but I don't know my relatives very well. A smattering of uncles, but that is about it. (even though I think my uncles are pretty cool and I never felt like I was lacking) But this Summer I was introduced to a few members of my Dad's side from Oregon. The Chases became family so fast and we wish they lived a whole lot closer.

My kids had a blast and thought it was fantastic getting to eat some of Jennifer's now famous sticky buns! We crabbed, fished, and ran up the creek to fly fish.

The weather was so fantastic that there was a flurry of activity to be the first ones to jump off the boat into the brrrrr cold water. Ya it was that warm!

Here are a few pictures of our week together. Thanks Doug, Jen, Tyler and Ross! See you soon...

Oh the Gear!!

With all of the shows that we have done we wanted our presence to be known. One of the best ways to do that is to make sure that people recognize who you are.

This can usually happen in two ways, either a person recognizes you as the person or they recognize you as the company.

We want to be recognized in both ways. We want to be known for who we are as people, and have that be a direct reflection of who we expect the company to be as well. Below you find a few pictures of the gear that we wear to help people recognize Petersburg Sport Fishing as a classy Alaskan adventure business. Tell me what you think.

A great big thank you to our designer Lorena O'Neal with Elloh Designs and D'Ann Hayes with Ink it up designs for creating our amazing look. Another thank you to my dear wife and professional photographer for making it so my double chins were almost non existent.

PS If you need a new "Business Model" I am always available and love to take pictures in other peoples gear!

Hats and Jackets...Done!

Did you know that if you see us at the show and book with us you can get one of these sweet hats?

I'm a model you know what I mean?

D'Ann has also hooked us up with logo'd pens, shirts, chapsticks, knives, shampoos, towels, business cards, and backpacks to take with us to the show. Talk about sweet gear!

Can't wait until this Summer to load you up with it all. See you soon!

Are you Zen enough for a Banana?

A Fisherman's nightmare or is it all just in your head?

There is a lot of talk out there about the power of positive thought. Whether you call it "The Law of Attraction" or you have watched "The Secret" it is basically the same thing. Our minds are very powerful and whether you believe in it or not just the simplest implication can begin to grow into a full on superstition.

I for one believe that we have great power and that sometimes we use that great power to our detriment. Like Bananas for example. Who decided that Bananas were bad to have on a boat? Very few anglers can tell you the history of this superstition, but yet most charter captains believe that Bananas are bad luck and even if it is Banana Boat Sunscreen the offensive product will get thrown off the boat and the offender is lucky if they aren't as well.

It's just a superstition! It can be traced back to two possible  beginnings. The first would be found in the Hawaiian Islands. (wouldn't it be nice if we could go there for a few days so I could teach this lesson? Well just imagine yourself there for now.) The Hawaiians would take along a bunch of Bananas and by the time that the Bananas were rotten they had usually traveled too far for the fishing to be any good. So they believed that the banana was the harbinger of bad news, thus becoming a symbol of bad luck.

The second story follows a similar path but instead of being the harbinger of bad news they were the harbinger of death. It was believed that when crates of bananas were brought onto ships they carried with them bugs and spiders that would bite causing pain and many times death. So, the Captains began spreading the word that bananas were bad luck.

Here's what I am asking: Come prepared to break down barriers and be free of the banana's mighty hold. We will fish and fish well while eating our fresh baked banana bread. Nothing will hold us back from "fishing up a Storm" nothing! Especially not an age old myth about BANANAS!

To prepare your mind you can read this article as well: Zen Fishing