Case Harris has announced he will retire his Alaskan Marine Adventures company at the end of this season. The business offered fishing and scenic tours of Alaska.

Harris started the business in 2004 during a fishing trip with his own father. The business peaked to 980 individual trips in the 2005-06 season. Those numbers dipped to 350 this season. Last August he drove his boat, the famous “Can-Can,” 2,500 nautical miles with various parties.

Case said the reason for the retirement is two-fold - a changing business climate as well as the opportunity to spend time recreationally fishing with his own family.

“The political scene for sportsman in Alaska is not pleasant at this point in time,” Harris said. “Commercial fisherman are bringing in better than 90 percent of the allowable catch in an effort to corner the market. They would rather you buy the fish from them instead of catch it yourself.”

Harris said he will miss spending his days outdoors like the one which first brought his family to Alaska in the 1960’s. Harris said his father, Donald, took a job as a bartender two days into his first visit to Juneau. His father later opened the Red Dog Saloon, a well-known tourist stop in Juneau.

During his retirement, Harris said he will continue to run his Web site:  http://www.saveoursportfishing.com/.  The site documents the struggle between large commercial fisherman and the small tourist fishing operations serving Alaska.

“As we tell people on our Web site, it (the fish in the ocean) is your public resource,” Case said. “The commercial fisherman do not own the fish in the ocean. By definition, the natural resources in our country are owned by the people in the country. People need to stand up and realize their rights are being taken away.”

A little more time off of the water as a charter will also allow him the opportunity to continue with his fishing fly company, Can Can Case’s Crystal Flies. He will also continue his fishing advice Web site: www.cancancase.com.

Harris said he is looking forward to some time on the water fishing with his wife (Amanda); nine-year-old daughter Libby; his baby girl Delany and his son, Bradley, whom Case said, his first sentence was  ‘Dad, that is a big fish.’

"After watching thousands of my guests having fun catching their fish of a lifetime, it will be even more exciting to share those experiences with my children,” Harris said. “That, and I'm probably due a trophy-sized King Salmon myself one of these days.”

Important Note: All reservations placed and confirmed prior to 1/1/2009 WILL BE HONORED! I’m looking forward to all of the adventures we’ve planned in advance, we’re just not taking any new bookings at this time. Happy Alaska Travels!

-CanCanCase