AK Fishing

[MarbleEyez]

Looking at taking another trip up to AK later this summer. Been up there several times in the past and just can't get enough! Curious if Kodiak Island is worth the extra money? Want to do something different this time and people in the past have said that it's even better fishing when it comes to halibut and silvers than what you get out of Homer and Seward. It seemed that the last time we went up there (5 yrs ago), everything seemed to be getting pretty "touristy" in Seward & Homer. I remember the first time I went up there years ago and the halibut fishing was great, size wise, and the salmon fishing was unreal! The last time we went up there they opened up commercial fishing in the inlets and they were netting all the salmon before they could hit the river for the run. Our captain the next day for halibut mentioned that with all the charters around and fishing pressure in recent years, the big ones are hard to come by. It still was great to be up there though!

 

[KDM]

If I were going to drop the cash to go to Kodiak, I'd do it with a few blacktail deer tags in my pocket and a rifle to go along with the rod and reel. Just a thought!!!

 

[eseamands]

When we went up in 2015 and had time to take a deep sea trip, we stayed on the Kenai Peninsula, but avoided the towns that were more touristy. We opted to fish out of Ninilchik, which is a small town on the west side of the peninsula, right on Cook Inlet.

http://www.cookinletcharters.com/

These guys were very accommodating and fun to fish with. They have some cabins to sleep in too, so you can simply get there the prior evening, have a beer around the fire, get up the next day and hop on the boat with them. Caught our limit of halibut, including one 130lb one. Lots of other fish too, but it wasn't salmon season, so I am unsure of how much better the salmon fishing would be here versus out of Kodiak.

 

[DirtyMike]

I had a terrible time fishing out of Seward. Terrible I tell you.

 

[martinslanding]

Was in Alaska a few summers back for a wedding, fished out of Seward, on the water about 4 hours brought home 84lbs of meat, halibut and silvers a few rock fish...was not dissappointed

 

[Fishmission]

Ever consider river fishing for Rainbow and Grayling? Spent two summers doing that. Walk along miles of river. It’s quiet, serene, just you and the mosquitos. When I think of Alaska that’s what comes to mind. I seem to be the minority though

 

[Bfishn]

Ever consider river fishing for Rainbow and Grayling? Spent two summers doing that. Walk along miles of river. It’s quiet, serene, just you and the mosquitos. When I think of Alaska that’s what comes to mind. I seem to be the minority though

Yep when i think of Alaska, i think of fly-fishing rivers for salmon/trout. A week long Kanektok river float trip is at the top of the bucket list!

 

[eseamands]

Ever consider river fishing for Rainbow and Grayling? Spent two summers doing that. Walk along miles of river. It’s quiet, serene, just you and the mosquitos. When I think of Alaska that’s what comes to mind. I seem to be the minority though

We did something similar to this the last time we went to Alaska, instead of the deep sea route. We did hire a guide/float boat down the Canyon Section of the Kenai River, started just out of Cooper Landing. (Mike Pence- https://krff.com/) Was an amazing time. We went in July, so we caught a ton of rainbows and some dolly's and even got a few late run Sockeye's out of the deal. Fished for over 10 hours for the full day trip. Was a fantastic experience.

 

[MarbleEyez]

When we went up in 2015 and had time to take a deep sea trip, we stayed on the Kenai Peninsula, but avoided the towns that were more touristy. We opted to fish out of Ninilchik, which is a small town on the west side of the peninsula, right on Cook Inlet.

http://www.cookinletcharters.com/

These guys were very accommodating and fun to fish with. They have some cabins to sleep in too, so you can simply get there the prior evening, have a beer around the fire, get up the next day and hop on the boat with them. Caught our limit of halibut, including one 130lb one. Lots of other fish too, but it wasn't salmon season, so I am unsure of how much better the salmon fishing would be here versus out of Kodiak.

I fished out of Ninilchik the last trip up there. We floated the Kasilof for Salmon , went out of Homer for Halibut then bopped over to Seward and went after salmon and halibut. The most enjoyable for me was flossing for Salmon with a fly rod. We did the King deal on the Kenai, I don't know if I will ever do that again. It's great if you don't mind fishing around 100 boats within a 200yd stretch. The prior trip up there we went and checked out Mt. McKinley and I spent a half a day catching artic grayling with a fly rod. That was extremely peaceful.

 

[3Roosters]

The better half and I went up to Seward 5-6 yrs ago. We used FISHHOUSE charters. Gal name Sue was our Captain(said she wintered in Florida guiding and summered in AK...and a guy with stubby fingers on his right hand was the deck hand...think his story was he got his fingers caught in the anchor rope and lost his 4 fingers...hahaha.. true story. We were wondering if we should have tried to find another charter boat. haha. There we 5 of us tourist/fisherpersons on the boat that day..a dad and his son and my wife, her dad and I. While none of us caught anything to brag about the boat did limit out on halibut(2 each) and only one salmon, a bunch of rock fish, and the wife caught a octopus. Guide Sue wanted to buy it from us but we said no way..hahha. Back at the dock when it came time for them to clean our catch, Sue's daughter comes to cleaning station and made quick work of our catch. Good stuff right there I tell ya! haha
I would use FISH HOUSE again if we ever got back up there. I think it was mid/late july when we were there.
My dad and one of his buddies fished out of Ninilchik a good number of years ago and had good luck there.

 

[ifish4iz]

Alaska is just so crazy big and so different from what we are used to that I can't imagine not being in awe and having a good time. Weather can obviously impact things greatly and I suppose that it's like anywhere people-wise, some good, some bad.
I have had wonderful experiences both of my trips over the past 5 years. We took float planes each day from lodges around Lake Iliamna to streams that were full of giant rainbows, char and silvers. The sockeye is really the heart of the entire ecosystem in those areas. To have bears around virtually every bend that we waded in, for the most part minding their own business and gorging on sockeyes, is pretty cool. I basically never fly fish around here, but that is all that we did when fishing those streams. A 30 inch rainbow on a fly rod is quite a battle. We also took a one day float plane trip out to the ocean each time, to experience something different, and basically fill the coolers with halibut, rockfish and silvers. While those trips were amazing as well, I did prefer wading in the streams for rainbows.
With a little planning and research on areas, dates and preferred methods of fishing, I just can't imagine that one could go wrong with any of the multitude of outdoor opportunities in Alaska. Each trip is different and one needs to be flexible to make the most of it sometimes. Our second trip rained all day, every day, but we had just as much fun as the first one, which had awesome weather. Now, I just wish I could afford some of those hunts for moose, bear or sheep

 

[Pedro]

Wondering if anyone had any experiences with areas/charters this past summer they’d like to share. Looking at possible trip summer of ‘19. Long time listener, First time caller when it comes to Alaska....

 

[johnr]

Using King fisher out of Sitka July 5th thru the 10th this summer. Me and 11 other guys. Will be my first trip up, but the buddy that set the trip up has gone a dozen times, claims this one is his favorite.

 

[roosterfish]

^^^^11 other dudes. who's bringing 2400's coffee? lol

 

[eseamands]

Had a great friend and his family fish south of Seward with this group this summer. https://www.millerslandingak.com/ They did really well on both halibut and salmon. Competitively priced, I thought.

I have personally stayed there, 2017. But we did not fish with this outfit. However, I did see a lot of fish being brought in at that time too. Miller's is a bit south of Seward, so it gets you out of the "touristy" area a bit. We drove our RV right up to the ocean and camped for the night. It is an incredible area and lots to see.

 

[wjschmaltz]

I got pretty limited experience but I guess I can share what I’ve learned over the last several years. First off, Hillary Clinton should have hired whoever is in charge of tourism in Homer as her election manager. Homer is very underwhelming and is all hype. Far from the “Halibut Capital of The World.” Maybe the sucker tourist capital. There are some fun things to do on the spit, but the fishing is subpar. If you just want action and are fine with catching chicken halibut and black rock fish all day, it is OK. We've done this and anytime you can catch tons of fish it is a blast; just a waste when there are so many other options IMO. Gotta run a LONG way to get into big halibut and yellow eye/ling cod. The only fishing trip out of Homer that excites me at this point is fishing for winter (feeder) chinook in march while setting for crab. That one is on the list for the next couple of years.

If you are in Southcentral Alaska and just want to catch halibut and want a really good shot at a 60lb fish and a decent shot at a big un, I say head to Ninilchik area. I fished with Mr. Seamands out of there and I hooked into a 125lb fish (cook inlet charters). My wife has fished 3 other times out of there and they always catch at least a couple of fish over 60lbs (Ninilchik Charters). It’s a good price and a really quiet part of Alaska. As a bonus, the boat ride is short as well. However, you will not get the scenery here.


If I would have to choose a place in southcentral, I would go to Seward. Every time I am on the docks there, I am very impressed with the catch. Haven’t fished a charter there, but I plan to this summer. Fished for coho out of a private boat and it was red hot. Best chance for a yellow eye and ling cod (which is what is next on my list) is out of Seward. Plus, the coho run can really be phenomenal starting in mid-July up through September. Long boat rides to get to the feeding grounds however. I will be fishing with Millers Landing this summer, but there are plenty of quality outfits there.

We did Kodiak in September 2018. The rock is one of my favorite places on earth! The coho fishing was unbelievable. I mean seriously unbelievable. GIANTS and fast action! The halibut fishing sucked, but we were there towards the very end of the season. I think it could really be good in August when the halibut are still around and the coho are just arriving. They just won’t be as big then. The coho bite was so good that we couldn’t even get our lures down to the Chinook. Road system freshwater fishing is pretty decent as well.
We caught 30 coho in a couple hours all right around this size on our last trip to the rock:


Cordova intrigues me as well as Valdez. I’ve seen some really consistent stuff from both of them docks that make we want to give them both a try. I tried to get in with Orca Charters in Cordova a couple years ago but they couldn't book me last minute. Someday soon hopefully. Plan to go to Valdex Labor Day 2019 so we will see how the budget aligns. I also don’t have any experience in the SE panhandle yet. Heading to Juneau over Memorial Day so maybe I can change that.

If I was only allowed to do one trip up to Alaska and I was going to fish saltwater and freshwater, YAKUTAT! Largest average size of halibut by a long shot. In fact, most boats usually don’t even catch their one fish under the size cut off. We fished there towards the end of the season in 2017 and average halibut size for the boat was about 80lbs. We didn't catch anything under about 40 lbs. Coho were swarming everywhere, it was just nuts. Go in July, catch some giant halibut, more coho than you can eat, and then float the Situk a couple times for Sockeye, Dollies, and Pinks. Yakutat is special. The only thing is that it can be lacking in saltwater variety. When we went, there were so many dog fish on the ling cod fishing grounds that it would have been a waste of time. There are also several outfits there that rent out boats. You can go with a charter to learn the ropes one day and then fish from your own boat the next. There are no bad fishing spots there. Pack the snake charmer if you’re going the DIY route, you’ll need it.



ANY QUESTIONS!?!?!?