Fishing Alaska

[Mike]

I would like to hear from fisherman their favorate speicies,time of year and area or nearest town that you like to fish, in Alaska.I'm planning a trip next year and would like to get a head start.Thanks in advance for a reply.

[RD]

Mike - Just got back from an 11 day cruise up the inside passage and then went inland for three days. I hooked up with a guide on the Talkeetna River in Talkeetna, Alaska (about 150 miles north of Anchorage) for King Salmon. Fished for about 6 hours hooked 5 fish and landed 3 of them - a 30+ pounder and two 20+ fish. Kind of small for Alaska but it was incredible. The fish came in at the end of June and I caught mine on July 1st. I understand the the Keni River south of Anchorage has bigger fish but the fishing pressure is pretty intense. Also I might add that you can only keep one King salmon per day and if you chose to keep a fish you cannot fish anymore that day. I caught and released so I could keep fishing. The Talkeetna area is pretty interesting and pretty roudy. Many of the fishermen where packing shotguns and pistols - I assume to protect themselves from bears. I would definetly recommend getting a guide - I think a first timer would be in trouble without one. Our 6 to 6 1/2hr trip cost $144.00 plus $10 license and $10 salmon stamp.

Check out the following website - it is put together by our guide. It is not a great site but his email and phone number is listed. Also check out the some my photos.

http://www.alaskatimeadventures.com/
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~csrld1/Alaska/s7011714.jpg
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~csrld1/Alaska/s7011706.jpg
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~csrld1/Alaska/s7011712.jpg
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~csrld1/Alaska/s7011711.jpg

If you would like more information - drop me an e-mail

[Gumbo]

Talkeetna's a great town--I love that place! It's a climber's town and the launching site for Denali expeditions. A lot of the locals (sourdoughs) fish the river right near town. No fishing info here, just hearing Talkeetna brought back some great memories.

[Bob G2]

Fall-Silvers- Alaskan Peninsula. Nearest town?-None. Waking Pollywogs on the surface for 12 pound silvers- Yeeehaaa!

[MarbleEye's]

If you would rather deep sea fish, i would suggest Seldovia (www.seldovia.com), Alaska. This is a small town with no access by road. You have to go out by boat or plane from the homer spit to get there. I was there this past May/June on a school trip and it was the coolest, prettiest and most interesting place i've ever been. The fishing can be excelent, considering there are many guides that go out of seldovia and there are hundreds of sea otters plaing all around in the bay. You have a chance of seeing many different species of whales and some halibut that may push 400 pounds. If you want to fish salmo0n there is a river going into town that is stocked with king salmon that come back to that river. It is a must to go to the camp site in seldovia. The sunsets are to die for, there are a few eagles nests withing 100 yards and at low tide there are tide pools to see (baby king crabs, eels, starfish, anenome.....). There are also quite a few bed and breakfasts in the town if you would prefer that route, many of these also have their own guides you can go out with. If you want to know anything more i could write for hours, but that should sum it up for know, look on the web site, it has informnation about most places in the town. MarbleEye's

[Tennessee Jed]

I unsuccessfully fished the Kenai and Russian river confluence near Soldotna seven years ago. I prefer the taste of red (sockeye) salmon over king and silver, so I would go in mid-July through mid-August when their run is at it's peak. The kings' run peaks earlier, and the silvers peak there in mid-August. Kings are the greatest sport, I am told, and the silvers are very flashy, acrobatic fighters. There is also some extremely good silver fishing at the mouth of the Anchor River, which is roughly halfway between Soldotna and Homer.

Some of the world's best halibut fishing is in Homer, so you could have a variety of fishing experiences--river, tidal, and deep sea--if you stuck to the Central and Western Kenai peninsula.

Why was I unsuccessful? No guide! GET A GUIDE! You won't be sorry. It's an adventure of a lifetime, but it is made even better by catching some monster fish. I'd also suggest becoming familiar with a fly rod between now and then. It's really the best way to make a presentation to fish that are stiking more from instinct than feeding. My spin rig didn't do well in the current on the rocky bottom...

[rd]

check out the following website

http://www.mtriver.com/

[cisco]

If you want salmon to eat, fish Lake Michigan. If you want an adventure, fish Alaska.

Incidentally, the idiotic snaggers converge on Seward by the end of August -- mindlessly throwing the ugly snagging hooks into the bay and jerking them back in, often with fish attached. If these spawners fail to get upstream, it upsets the ecosystem -- including the bears who must seek other food.

[Kaz]

Mike: I fish the Kasiloaf south of Soldotna around Labor day every year. This river does not get much pressure but you need a guide. I go for the silvers as I like the fight. We get a limit every day for five days in a row. We clean, filet and vacume pak flash freeze them for the trip home. Great eating the rest of the year; smoked, grilled, poached, and pan fried. We fly to Anchorage and rent a car for the drive to Sterling, where we stay. Whole trip costs less than $700, if you have flight coupons for the air travel. If you want a contact, get back to me. Good luck FISHING...Kaz

[Goldpig]

The Nushagak River is unbelievable for Kings, Sockeye, Chum, and Silvers. When I went, our boat was catching a hundred Kings a day in eight hours of guided fishing. Then you could catch more from shore after dinner. Each person in our group brought back nearly a hundred pounds of salmon! You can also catch northerns and artic grayling if you want, but the kings are the real deal. Check out www.dansspecialty.com Dan Ross runs a first class operation and has by far the nicest camp on the Nushagak. If you have any more questions about this region or fishing in Homer for Halibut, feel free to email me.

[Tim]

My wife and I fished in both Cordova and Valdez, late August
last year. We had a hard time river fishing on our own. But,
we caught our limits each day while boat fishing the bay in
Valdez. The silvers were jumping all over. Just unreal. We
sent home over 150 lbs of salmon. Cannot wait to do it again.
Good luck

[Kaz]

Cisco: I understand where you are comming from, but the salmon at Seward have no place to go. They are all hatchery fish and the DNR starts them just below the falls on the side of the road south of town. You can see the falls when you are on the water. Since they are printed with that stream, they come back and try to return to that water. I have seen them so thick that they actually will jump in to your boat when they try to knock off the sea lice. It's a sight to see. Since there is no natural anamial need for the food, other than the killer whales and some seals who both get their fill outside the bay, they start to die and smell up the town. The DNR welcomes the snaggers as a way of cleaning up what was not eaten or caught by sportman angling. Elsewhere on the rivers of Alaska where the salmon can reach a place to lay there eggs, snagging is not done. I guess this is a special condition in which the "ends justify the means". You have seen the amount of boats that fish the area and there is still alot of salmon left over that just rot about the boats in the harbor. I go there every year and fish there at least two days, where the five of us always take our limit. Good luck FISHING...KAZ

[cisco]

Thanks for elaborating. Was not aware of the lack of outlet, altho I still abhor the snagging. Seeing it was reminiscent of the old days in SE Wis when guys were elbow to elbow and were taking mature and immature fish -- since snagging hooks do not discriminate.

[Kaz]

Cisco: I agree as I have been in Two Rivers years ago when the snagging was rampant. I understand Lake Mich is back and we should pay a visit to my old spots. I have fished mostly from Kewaunee to Manitowac, but it has been years. Now that I'm retired I can fish during the week when it's not so crowded. Good luck FISHING...Kaz

[CJB]

I HAVE FISHED THE KENAI RIVER SINCE 1986. THE PRESSURE IS BAD AT TIMES BUT THE FISHING IS SPECTACULAR. CALL RON'S ALASKA LODGE AT 907-283-4333 TO SET UP A TRIP OF A LIFETIME. HE HAS A LODGE ON THE RIVER JUST BELOW EAGLE ROCK AND HE CAN SET UP KINGS, REDS, SILVERS, AND A HALIBUT TRIP. HE ALSO HAS PLANES IF YOU WANT TO FLY IN. DEFINITELY GET A GUIDE, RON CAN ALSO SET THAT UP FOR YOU. STEVE HOWLETT WAS MY FAVORITE BUT HE IS NOW RETIRED SO ASK RON FOR A RECOMMENDATION. THE BEST TIME IN MY OPINION IS THE LAST 10 DAYS OF JULY. MONSTER KINGS COMING IN THE TAIL END OF THE SECOND RUN, REDS STILL IN THE RIVER AND THE SILVERS NOT FAR BEHIND. PLUS THE HALIBUT ARE STILL BITING. I WILL BE THERE WEDNESDAY AGAIN FOR THE SHORTEST WEEK OF MY FISHING YEAR. MAKE YOUR PLANS EARLY AND GOOD LUCK

[fishwhenican]

Mike
I fished for both Salmon(Silver) and halibut last year. The silver fishing was on the Little Susitna river and was just an awful lot of fun. So much fun we went back the following day.

That said though, Halibut fishing was without a doubt the most awsome fishing I have ever had. I never ever thought I would get whipped by a fish but at the end of that day I was absolutly beat! We fished out of Wasilla, AK on Prince William Sound and it was the best fishing experience I have ever had. We fished in 1000 feet of water with huge jigs with split twister tails and salmon belly on for a taste of meat. It was sort of like walleye jig fishing but on some serious steroids!!! We never even got into the "Big" halibut. All of ours were in the 40 lb range and were all the fight we could handle. I was so sore that I couldn't even close my hand into a fist by the end of the day! We also caught a limit of rock fish in the 30 lb range and they were not quite as fun as the halibut but pretty fun none the less. They were also REALLY good eating, ugly as sin but great eating.

To give you an idea of the quality of fishing, we were drifting no more than 10 minutes when the charter captain started getting real ansy and was telling us that we might need to move soon if we didn't see some action pretty quick. I looked at him like he was nuts and he told me, "You don't understand! There is so much stuff down there that we shouldn;t have to wait any longer than this to get bites." No sooner did he finish with that than my wife had a bite and the fight was on! She was starting to sound like she was giving birth and I made a comment and the captain told be to be careful cause my time was coming! Sure enough, I made every bit as much noise when I was pulling for all I was worth in a few minutes. I am not exactly a small guy (250lbs) and it was all I could do to fight these things. I can't even imagine hooking onto one of the really big ones!

Anyway, Salmon are great, no doub., But if you have the chance, do not pass up the opportunity to get out on the ocean and go after halibut! The scenery is great and the fishing is so good it's almost scary! Not to mention, Halibut is REALLY good eating fish and you get an 80% yield of meat off of them! We brought home 140lbs of fish and left almost that much there with my sister.

[GRUBB]

Also just fished the Nush for awesome King Salmon fishing. Boated
10-15 kings a day per guy on the trip. All fish between 20-40
pounds. Check out www.alaskakingsalmon.com. First class guides,
equipment, and food. All you bring is your clothes and an appetite for fishing and good food.