Profile - All Star Fishing Charters
Gary Krein

As a longtime outdoor columnist for a major daily newspaper in the Puget Sound area, I've seen a whole lot of guides and charter fishing operators come and go over the years. You know the kind I mean – mostly young “hot shots,” bouncing around the Northwest and Alaska. They love the cowboy life, they love to fish, they think they can successfully show others how to do it, towing their boat and sleeping in a cut-rate motel. Some of them are not licensed. Some of them are not insured. They come, they hustle for a couple of seasons, and they're gone.

Is that really the type of person you want in charge of your hard-earned day on the water? Is that the architect you want designing what should be a safe, memorable, exciting, fishing experience?

Probably not.

Captain Gary Krein is the model for the expert and responsible charter skipper you feel comfortable handing your day to, as a fiery sun rises behind the shoulder of towering Mount Baker and salmon beckon from Possession Bar, Point No Point, Double Bluff, and other top fishing hot spots in north Puget Sound. Gary has been in business a long time, proving he knows where the fish are, what they're interested in, and how you go about inviting them to dinner. He's a family man, lives in the area, is an avid angler himself, and has been for many years the president of the Charterboat Association of Puget Sound. He has a long and solid track record of satisfying a wide range of customers and putting salmon in the boat.

In more than 40 years of covering the Western Washington fishing scene, Gary Krein would be my nominee as the top charter-fishing operator on Puget Sound, hands down. Few others could even come close to his level of expertise and commitment to providing a quality sportfishing experience.

Are you an old hand with a fishing rod – a hard-core lip-ripper? Want someone to put you over fish, and then get out of your way? Krein can do it. High-liners book him far in advance to fish various derbies, knowing he has an unerring instinct for where the big guys should be.

Have only a couple of days in the Seattle area and want an authentic taste of the Northwest sport fishing lifestyle? Krein will not only put you into salmon, he will spin you tales of how “the shipwreck” got its name, how Captain Ebey lost his head, and why chum salmon are called “dogs.” He can tell you what various vessels along the waterfront are doing – snag boats, buoy tenders, crabbers, and even the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln when she's in port.

Are you a family group? Krein is perhaps the best teacher of “salmon fishing 101” I've come across. He's patient with young people, women, and other novice anglers, without being condescending. He'll make sure you learn the craft, quickly, and then leave you alone to catch your own fish and make your own mistakes. No one – skipper or deckhand – catches your fish for you on Krein's boat.

The “Morning Star” is a shipshape, well-kept fishing machine, drug- and alcohol-free, with a warm, dry cabin and clean, fully equipped marine toilet facilities. Rods and reels are top-quality and the boat is loaded with GPS and radar, and with fish-finding electronics. If there are Orcas or gray whales to be seen in the area, Krein knows where they are. Kids are always thrilled when the captain points out a huge sea lion bull, waving a lazy flipper from his napping spot on the green Possession Point buoy, or invites them to hose down the deck, or steer the boat, or even use the salmon “persuader,” if they wish.

Are you into catch-and-release fishing? No problem. Captain Krein is an ethical fishing activist, involved in a range of regulation-setting activities through the charter association and advisory committees of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Keep ‘em or let ‘em go, your call.

Feel the need to quit a little early? That's fine. Feel the need to fish a little longer? That's fine too, but please don't try to wheedle Krein into keeping an “extra” fish or two over the limit. He's not buying it.

There's always some type of exciting action going on in north Puget Sound, from heavyweight king salmon which will pull you out of your shoes, if you let ‘em; through silver-bright, acrobatic coho and hordes of smallish but accommodating pinks; to ugly, toothy, but oh so good on the table lingcod.

When a long day filled with the scent of seaweed and salt spray, bent rods and shouts of excitement is over, Krein sends you on your way with bags of beautiful fillets, or fish in the round, your choice, and a warm promise to “do it again next year.”

Better sign up, before your spot is taken.

Wayne Kruse