Alaskan Fishin' Trip...suggestions

[ERSS]

Planning my first trip to AK for some fishing. Would like to be in an area where I can fish both stream/river and open water. Really have no clue at this point as to where and when. Looking for any suggestions regarding time of year, area and lodge/general locations. Thanks in advance for anyone willing to share thier experience.

 

[Calvin]

What do you want to catch?

 

[ERSS]

Salmon would be the priority, thanks

 

[Dana]

Hard to go wrong with the Kenai peninsula

 

[lilbiggun]

Alot of good areas around south central AK. Homer, deep creek/ninilchik area and seward are all withing driving distances of each other and all have there strengths and weakness's.

Last July did a charter out of seward, slayed the silvers, halibut and sea bass. One guy actually caught a porpous but it snapped the line bigger than crap (go figure). Ling didnt work out due to the currents.

If I wanted to fish the kenai for fresh water salmon, it would be an easy 2 hour drive to cooper landing to fish the river.

Get with calvin for the south east, I'm sure he can fill you in down thataway.

 

[passinthru]

Wife and I did the Kenai in 2005, hard to go wrong there. We found, through some friends at home here, that you can find some reasonable deals at bed and breakfasts. I'm not a b&b type but these were not like one's visited in the lower 48.

Became friends with one owner out of Ninilchik that is very reasonable and has an awesome setting on the river. Check out the Meander Inn if you get a chance.

Had a great Halibut trip with Rod Van Saun out of Ninilchik also.

Good Luck.

If you talk to Mike @ the Meander Inn tell him Aaron sent ya.

 

[Calvin]

I've never fished in the Kenai. Not sure if the "combat fishing" stories are true or not. Not sure what kind of Alaskan experience you are looking for.

I live on Prince of Wales, and we have a fair amount of people show up to take advantage of the river fishing for silvers/pinks/dogs. I've had buddies come up and fish in Sept and literally wear their arms out in the rivers, and fish a different river every day. No king runs in our rivers though. The ocean fishing it top notch for kings, silvers, and halibut. If you are going to charter though, go to South Central, as our halibut limits are stupid low now. But a self guided package in SE would still be fun. I know some operations of of coffman cove will rent you a boat/truck and give you a place to stay. 10 days of that would probably be the same price as 3 days at a guided lodge. Hell, you can even do a few days of alpine deer hunting at the end of Aug too.

 

[lilbiggun]

Oh it can get interesting on the river as far as "combat fishing" goes. It seems like everyyear the state closes more and more land along the river, so everybody gets funneled into smaller areas to fish. then you get the rambos that at the first sight of a bear the guns come out. If I fish the kenai, I do a float. either the upper kenai or the lower. its to stupid, unless you know a good hole, to fish off the banks.

Luckily there are other decent rivers on the ninilchik side.

 

[MrsWyodeerhunter]

I was born and raised in Soldotna, and the only time I remember combat fishing was during king season (when I had to drive the boat - ugh). I have tons of great memories of waking up before 4am to head out on the Kenai for silvers in August. It always was calm and peaceful with very few boats. Then again, that was 15 years or so ago, so I'm sure it's probably changed by now.

As far as bank fishing... You just have to know what private property you won't get caught on.

 

[StHubert]

Kenai river would be a great place to go. I have fished up there 4 times and I am going again this summer. The nice thing about the Kenai is in Soldotna there are places to fish from shore on your own. If you want to catch Sockeye "Red Salmon" July is good. Once the quota for Sockeye has gone passed the counter, the limit goes from 3 to 6 and that is usually towards the last few weeks of July. Make sure you check the tide table, because you want to fish on a high tide. Depending on what airline you take up, I usually try and use my miles to upgrade to a first class ticket on the way home. The reason is there is no charge for luggage in first class, you can check in 3 bags and instead of a 50 lb. limit it is a 70lb limit. This is for Delta.

 

[Bambistew]

I think as stated above your best bet is the Kenia. The tough part is if you want to do a 'combo' salmon trip. The kings peak diffrently than the reds, but if you could spend a couple weeks you could hit both. The halibut out of Hommer is the best, Seward is ok, but better for rock fish and ling. I'd do both.

I can't WAIT for fishing season to get here!

 

[ERSS]

Thanks for all the great advice so far! I am in total research mode at this point. Was planning on a trip up there when I got back from deployment in 2008, but then my hunting/fishing buddy shipped out. He got back from Afghanistan this week, so now it is on.

B-Stew
Awesome pics! The river/stream pics are the kind of fishing I am primarily looking for. Is that the Kenai / Kenai drainage?

Went out for rock fish on a boat out of San Diego a few weeks ago, but that big red you have there could have swallowed the ones I got whole!

 

[ringer]

I have fished Sitka 5 times and it is decent for halibut and great for kings and silvers. Done the Kenai maybe the same number of trips and it can be fun as well. If you want big numbers of kings I would do the Nushagak out of Bristol Bay. We have landed over 100 a day when the run is on but it is a very short run and no ocean fishing just the rivers.

 

[Bambistew]

The river pictures are from the Parks Highway, and the 'load' is from the Russian/Kenia.

The yellow eye was 23 lbs. Tasty buggers, but don't freeze too well. Surprisingly not much meat on one either.

Come on Spring!

 

[skeet20]

AK fishing

You didn't say how much time you had but there is some good stream fishing along the Deneli Hwy if you want grayling and trout. The comments of the others is spot on too.

 

[M. R. Byrd]

Bambistew-

You are really hurting me with all those pics. Awesome.

Calvin-
I have only seen SE Alaska and POW, but love it there. You are in paradise!

 

[Tom Mickey]

Give Leonards Landing a call in Yakutak. Ive been there three times and it was great. The Situk river is there and so is the ocean for fishing there. The last part of June the reds are running and in Sept the silvers are running. They can set you up for what ever you want to do. You have to rent a car as the Situk is 13 miles from the lodge. They have rooms or cabins to rent. Go to Leonards Landing .com and look at their website. There are people on the river fishing but its not combat fishing like on the Kenai river. Ive been there also. I had lots of fun both places. I was in the air force in Anchorage for 3 years and enjoyed myself hunting and fishing. Good luck

 

[icb12]

Kenai/Russian Pics

 

[Vek]

Mid June, overnight trip, Crackerjack, Seward.

Big halibut, and potentially a lot of kings.

 

[Goldtip]

How are you with open water? I've fished the Kenai peninsula quite a few times over the years, and will be there again this June, and you can catch all species of fish from either side quite readily. The biggest difference I've noticed is the length of the run to get to the good Halibut/bottom fish grounds from one side to the other. The Seward side I usually catch bigger Buts, but it's usually a 1.5-2hour run one way out to catch them. Homer/Deep Creek/Ninilchic/Whiskey Gulch is a much shorter run,(30-45min) but generally smaller Buts as well. The salmon runs will change year to year as to which side has larger take limits or a bigger run, but for the big Kings, definitely your better off on the Kenai/Russian side.