Alaska fishing recommendations…

[Panhandler80]

Did a moose hunt last fall out of Dillingham. It was a drop hunt and self guided. My first trip to Alaska, and while I’d love to don that again, my wife wouldn’t support it.

We are currently trying to make plans for next years spring break and one of the options is a cruise. I have very little interest in a cruise and when it’s all said and done I imagine we’ll have $7,000 wrapped up in it for the three of us.

Plenty of other ways I’d rather spend that money. I think his spring break be too early for dozing up there, but again… we could still do a trip out there later with that money.

A remote fly in fish trip for a salmon run would be ideal, but likely out of bigger range for 3 people. So I’d also consider something a bit more pedestrian so long as the fishing is good and accommodations / logistic are easy. Also open to ocean as part of the deal.

Anyway, just tossing ideas around.

Any suggestions?

 

[ddavis_1313]

Following along myself out of curiosity.

My wife and I fished the Kenai river last September after caribou hunting. The sockeye were spawning and we caught a bunch of rainbows and dolly’s.


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[Tradchef]

My friend Don operates Epic Angling and Adventure. It’s a pretty slick guided fishing trip for a good variety of fish.

 

[Idaboy]

What time of year and what kind of fish/fishing?
Halibut can be great out of different ports....River fishing can be productive for salmon, and likely more affordable than ocean fishing for salmon, but sometime more crowded.

Kenai peninsula is great as easy access from Anchorage...Seward is beautiful and if during the silver run, fishing that bay can be great. No experience in inside passage/SE alaska but I know people head there too

You can often multi-target fish in some of the open ocean areas (ie head out for salmon, if not hitting troll for lincod, if empty day hit some rockfish hole on the way in)

Would rec
- decide what you want (river or open ocean)
- decide what species you most want to pursue
- the timing of runs various by species and fishery often, and ocean part of run will vary from river run
- call up a few guide places and ask about time of year, as the salmon runs may not be when good Halibut fishing is, or maybe they are??
- consider Kenai as a target as lots of places to stay, and can run down to Seward, or head up and around to Homer, or fish one of the rivers there (Kenai, Russian etc)

Maybe someone from AK will chime in, but it's been over 15yrs since I've been up to AK..

 

[Thinkingman]

Spring break is going to shut you out of most Alaska sportfishing seasons.

 

[VernAK]

I'm an Old Phardt that has fished Alaska for a half century and more so here's my two cents worth FWIW:

Much of Alaska lives on a fishing reputation that is long gone. The few premium fishing spots are premium priced also.

Anything road accessible is overcrowded and overfished at least from my perspective. You may be accustomed to crowds. I'm not.

For King Salmon, I'd probably fish SE Alaska. The Bristol Bay area can have kings but can be hit/miss. The story of the Kenai River Kings is a tragedy.

Halibut are the dumbest fish in the ocean and require no skill or finesse to catch using a lead weight the size of a baseball and a hook that will pull a small pickup truck. No thanks.

I take the price of a halibut charter and take my cooler to New Sagaya or 10th & M lockers for my seafood.

Alaska hunting isn't far behind.

 

[Stache Attack]

Kenai River Cowboys. Vern above does have some great points though.

 

[gonhunting247]

Sent you a message

 

[kwackkillncrew]

contrary to popular belief there are many places on the kenai that are not crowded, you just have to know when to go. I wouldnt waste my time with Kings unless you are around anchorage in June and want to try to get one from ship creek (yes you wont be the only one there but its pretty cool for a chance to pull a king out of down town anchorage). Red snagging in seward can be a mad house, russian reds can be busy but there are always some hidden spots off the main trail where people wont go (have to bush wack a bit or they are scared of bears). If you want fish come june july or august. Early september can be pretty good as well. Especially if you want to catch some big silvers and rainbows on the kenai.

 

[grossklw]

If salmon is what you want I’d probably look at Seward for silvers when they’re running. If a fly in trip is the goal you’ll have a hard time beating SE Alaska, Sitka would fit the bill. Tons of kings and silvers.

If halibut is what you’re after many different harbors will be able to satisfy that itch. I prefer Homer but I also own a couple airbnbs there so I’m quite biased. King fishing can be good there but it’s not SE AK. Silvers in august can be excellent.

 

[Panhandler80]

Well, She completely vetoed the fishing thing. Not that she won’t want to at some point, but she really wants to do the cruise with a bunch of other families while he’s young.

Grrrr

 

[HuntHarder]

Dang it. After the fishing on our Moose hunt, I am thinking I need to make a trip to AK strictly for fishing. I think it would be neat to fly somewhere into where we were, maybe with a little river, and just fish for a week or so. Maybe one of these days.

 

[Panhandler80]

Dang it. After the fishing on our Moose hunt, I am thinking I need to make a trip to AK strictly for fishing. I think it would be neat to fly somewhere into where we were, maybe with a little river, and just fish for a week or so. Maybe one of these days.

We did okay on ours. Lake hunt with few migratory fish. 1st half Sept. All the lake trout a man could want, and some char. Was pretty cool.

 

[AKBC]

Well, She completely vetoed the fishing thing. Not that she won’t want to at some point, but she really wants to do the cruise with a bunch of other families while he’s young.

Grrrr

Spring break would not be a great time to bring the family to AK for a fishing trip.

 

[Panhandler80]

Spring break would not be a great time to bring the family to AK for a fishing trip.

“Plenty of other ways I’d rather spend that money. I think his spring break be too early for dozing up there, but again… we could still do a trip out there later with that money.”