Salmon fishing in Alaska

[Monello]

I went on vacation to Alaska in 2005. I caught a few fish but I also caught the bug. The bug being the desire to return to fish again. So I ended up going back in 2006, 2008, 2009 & 2010. 2011 I decided to try something different and went to Yellowstone NP.

If you like to fish and love the outdoors, you will absolutely go crazy for Alaska. Sure it's a bit pricey, not real warm in the winter, measure distances in hours instead of miles and have alpha predators that make it a bit unsafe at times to walk in the woods. But it makes up for any shortcomings with incredible scenery.

And they have a few fish that are pretty easy to catch. Not a fish a cast, but pretty close. The fishing depends on the salmon runs. Each year the timing varies due to weather. But catch the run just right and you will end up with sore wrists and shoulders.

In the video each splash is caused by a pink salmon. The Kenai river has a run of around 2 million pink salmon every other year. Pinks are not that desirable with the silver salmon a better eating variety. The silvers swim under the pinks in the river. If you are lucky, your lure will make it past the pinks down to the deeper water where the silvers hang out. The videos are from August 2008.

[video]http://s527.photobucket.com/user/monello99z/media/vids/Cap0009.mp4.html[/video]

 

[Chris0nllyn]

Awesome.

I've always wanted to go to Alaska.

Who'd you use for travel info/accomodations/etc.

 

[Monello]

Who'd you use for travel info/accomodations/etc.

I did a DIY trip. The first year was a lot of trial and error. The 2nd year went a lot smoother after I knew what to expect. Packing is the hardest part. Airlines limit what you can bring. I needed poles, reels, waders, coolers, tackle, etc. We made it work for us.

The first 2 years I rented an RV in Anchorage. This serves as your hotel, rental car and restaurant. We were never more than 3 people in the RV. 4 people would work but barely. Buy groceries in Anchorage before heading out. Taking the Seward highway south out of town takes you to some fantastic fishing holes. Many are world renown, especially the confluence of the Kenai river and Russian river. Along the way you will want to stop for many photo ops. Some of the destinations along the way are the town of Whittier, Hope, Seward, Cooper Landing, Soldotna and all the way down to Homer. The entire Kenai peninsula is Anchorage's playground.

You can camp 1 night then just dry camp the next. Dump tanks and take on water while you are in a campground. Other campers will give you good info on where to fish. The local tackle shops are good sources of where to go and how to do things. If you can spin fish you can catch fish when they are running. Heavy rains can put the runs down for a few days.

Other than fishing there are lots of things to see. You may have to get out and walk a bit. Buy bear spray, it's cheap insurance. I've only been out once where I saw a bear. The spray will travel 20 yards so you don't have to be very close to discharge it. A 3 second blast should do the trick.

A trip to Alaska to fish is NOT out of the reach of most people. It does take a bit of planning. Unless you want a 5 star lodge where you do a fly out every day. But the average angler can plan and execute a rewarding trip to a beautiful place that is still pretty much unspoiled by man.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Here's a link to some of my fish from 2008. http://myroadtripsrv.blogspot.com/2009/03/kenai-salmon-2008-season.html