Tom Ohaus, President
Tom Ohaus is the co-owner of Angling Unlimited which operates 8 boats and two lodge buildings. The business was founded in 1988 and, since 1995, has operated independently in Sitka where Tom and his family live part of the year and are active in the community.
Tom began fishing in the polluted waters of New Jersey just after he began walking. Since that time he has been absent without leave from the real world and forever present on the water somewhere having fished extensively in the Atlantic and Pacific, from the tropics to here at home in Alaska.
Captain Ohaus has been running guided trips on the North Pacific for over 20 years, logging over 2000 days in pursuit of salmon and halibut. He has a B.S. in Fisheries Biology from the University of Washington and will talk your ear off on any subject related to our finny friends. Tom is a big believer in light tackle and in conservation based fishing.
Russell Thomas, Vice-President
Russell knows the hospitality industry having worked his way up through his family’s hotel business from housekeeper to desk clerk to bookkeeper. After a family decision to cater exclusively to sport fishing men and women he left college to manage the Cedars Lodge for a few years before taking over as General Manager. In 2003 Russell handed the GM reigns at The Cedars Lodge to his younger brother, Rod, in order to assume management responsibilities at Clover Pass.
Russell, his wife Leah, and their four children live year-round In Ketchikan, where he is an active community member, serving for the last seven years on the Ketchikan School Board, two of those years as its President. Russell also serves as the sport fishing representative on the Pacific Salmon Commission’s Northern Panel, which advises United States Commissioners on salmon-related Issues.
Seth Bone, Board Member
Seth Bone is a lifelong resident of Sitka.
Following several seasons as a commercial long-line and troll deckhand, Seth was able to purchase his first charter boat, the Kingfisher, in 1991. For more than 17 years, he has owned and operated Kingfisher Charters based in Sitka. Seth’s thriving sport fishing operation currently features a lodge and charter bookings for local boat owner/operators.
Seth has been an active participant in the greater fishery management process since 1997. He has been a member of several Council committees, including the Charter IFQ committee, the Charter GHL committee, and the Charter Halibut Stakeholder committee. On the Alaska State management side, he was a member of the King Salmon Management task force, and the State Guide Licensing task force.
Seth’s hobbies include fishing (of course), hunting, hiking and camping in the wilderness surrounding Sitka.
Stan Malcom, Board Member
Stan has operated charters from Petersburg, Alaska for over 20 years. During that time he has advocated for the Southeast sportfishing industry before the Alaska Board of Fisheries and North Pacific Fishery Management Council, participating on ADF&G’s Petersburg Advisory Council, ADFG king salmon management task force, and is one of the current members of the North Council’s Charter Halibut Management Committee.
Scott Van Valin, Board Member
Scott Van Valin owns and operates El Capitan Lodge & Island Air Express both on Prince of Wales Island, Southeast Alaska.
Scott was born in Anchorage, Alaska and raised on Lake Clark at his parent’s remote fly-out fishing lodge. Since these early days Scott has been involved in Alaskan aviation & fishing lodges.
In 1987 at age 15 Scotts family moved to Prince of Wales Island and built a fishing lodge business on the west coast- El Capitan Lodge. Scott started managing El Capitan Lodge in 1990 and then purchased it from his farther in 2002. Scott continued expanding El Capitan year after year with his wife Nani until 2008 when the facility was finally complete. El Capitan currently operates seven 28’ North Rivers, employees 22 crew members, and hosts an average of 650 guests each season.
Scott also serves on the board of the Alaska Air Carriers Association.
Richard Yamada, Board Member
Scott McKelvey, Board Member
Over the years, Scott has served on a sub-committee with the Alaska Board of Fish, as well as having spent a handful of years as a Board Member with the Prince of Wales Hatchery Association on Prince of Wales Island, or better known locally as POWHA.
Prior to Scott’s career in Alaska, and during off season periods since, he has worked and operated extended fishing trips based out of Southern CA. These trips fished waters as far south as the Equator, with many of them concentrating a few hundred miles offshore from Cabo San Lucas, MX. Still to this day, when not in Alaska or with his family in AZ, he is known to make a trip or two a year to fish the warmer waters of his youth.
Mike Loboki, Board Member
Board Composition
SEAGO’s board consists of a minimum of 6 seats with a maximum of 13 with the intent to have two from each area of Southeast Alaska; Northern outside and inside, Central outside and inside, Southern outside and inside. If the seats cannot be filled in accordance with this, members will be appointed as “at-large” members.
The board represents the interests and concerns of all regions and guided sport business models in Southeast Alaska.