Sitka is not your typical Alaska sportfishing destination. It lacks the crowds and circus atmosphere of some of the more popular destinations, such as those on Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, where fishermen stand shoulder to shoulder on riverbanks trying to intercept huge king salmon as they make their way upstream.
Sitka, the only community on spruce-covered Baranof Island, a 150-mile-long arrowhead-shaped land mass just southwest of Juneau, is famous mostly for its scenery and storied past.
The Tlingit Indians, who carved towering totem poles and elaborate masks of war, called their home Sheetka, which means "by the sea."
Commissioned by Russia, the Danish explorer Vitus Bering landed here in 1741, and 50 years later Russian fur traders established posts along the Alaskan coast. Alexander Baranof, governor of the Russian-American Co., decided to establish a permanent settlement in Sitka.
In 1799, when he arrived on Sitka's shores, he planted a stake in the heart of Tlingit country with the establishment of Fort St. Michael. The Russians treated the Tlingits so harshly that they rebelled, driving the Russians off in 1802.
Baranof returned in 1804 with a gun boat and 1,000 men, and a battle ensued in what is now Sitka National Historic Park. The Tlingits eventually retreated and disappeared for years before filtering back and settling alongside the Russians, getting along as best they could.
Extensive fur trading, which depleted the supply for foreign markets, and declining political and economic conditions in Russia led to the czar's sale in 1867 of all of Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million.
The official transfer took place at Castle Hill, overlooking what is now Sitka Harbor. Sitka remained the capital of Alaska until 1912. St. Michael's Cathedral, built in the 1840s, still stands in the center of town as a historical landmark, as does Baranof's residence.
Today Sitka is called "Paris of the Pacific" by some. Its economy is driven mostly by commercial fishing and a tourism industry generated by the hundreds of cruise ships that make Sitka a port of call during the summer.
Sitka residents have as their backyard a forest teeming with black-tailed deer and grizzly bears. Their inland waters hold salmon, steelhead, Dolly Varden and rainbow trout. Sitka Sound long has been a place to catch salmon, rockfish and huge halibut.
