Alaska Fishing Guide

When it comes to Alaska fishing even the average angler can hook into more different kinds of fish in Alaskan waters than he considered possible. "Skunked" is a word seldom heard from Ketchikan to Kotzebue.

Be advised, though, not to look for any single place to be labeled "best." There isn't one. The angling is just too good, too varied, and too dispersed across the sprawling bigness of Alaska to justify a single, one-only top rating.

Working from bottom to top, the southeastern Alaska panhandle is the closest area to the "outside" - or original 48 states. It is therefore the fastest and least expensive to visit - via major airlines, summer cruise ship lines, and the Alaska Marine Highway System of liner-like auto and passenger ferries.

King Salmon Fishing

King salmon is king in southeastern saltwater. Although the species is generally available April through August, the biggest lunkers (up to seventy pounds and beyond) are caught from mid-May through mid-June. Hot spots include Bell Island and Craig near Ketchikan; Greys Pass near Wrangell; Scow Bay at Petersburg; Saginaw Channel and Tee Harbor near Juneau; and Sitka Sound. Yakutat Bay at the very northern tip of the panhandle has begun to report some exceptional catches.

At most of these same points - and almost everywhere else in the region - silver salmon (cohos) arrive just about the time the kings move out. A leaping, sounding, splashing, hook-throwing acrobat, the silver is a small cousin to the king. And most Alaskans consider him a far, far better fighter.

Trout Fishing

Also in these same salt waters are halibut, sea-run cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden trout. The latter two, available and in fighting trim June through September, show a healthy appetite for small spoons, flies, and eggs. Best bet for maximum catches of both: waters where creeks and streams enter the sea. There aren't more than several hundred such spots along the coast.

Freshwater angling is as good, perhaps better, than saltwater but only a relatively small number of out-of-state sportsmen seem to take advantage of it. Nine-tenths of the outdoorsmen visiting the panhandle, in fact, overlook one of the world's great fishing bargains available only here: the rent-a-lake system of more than 100 cabins built and maintained at good fishing spots by the U.S. Forest Service. Incredibly, these cabins, located from one end of the panhandle to the other, on islands and mainland, can be reserved and used for the price of $45 per party per night. You have the whole lake at your front door to yourself. Fish available: rainbow, eastern brook, cutthroat and Dolly Varden trout, plus a limited amount of grayling.

Although king salmon generally bypass southeastern freshwater streams, silver and pink salmon enter these waters to spawn by the thousands. A small bright lure furnishes fast, furious sport from July through August in the case of pinks, August to early November for silvers. Another line-stretching battler, the steelhead, migrates from sea to fresh water in this region. In the lower panhandle a fall run enters some lake-fed creeks in September and October while throughout the region a spring run enters larger creeks in April, peaking in May. Best bait is salmon eggs, although steelheads seldom ignore spoons or flies during the peaks of their runs.

Copper River-Prince William Sound

Further north another great fishing region is the Copper River-Prince William Sound area where king salmon, silvers, halibut and Dolly Vardens provide the basic saltwater action. Access? You can drive here via the paved, scenic Richardson Highway to Valdez, fly via scheduled air service to Valdez or Cordova, or drive and sail via auto and passenger ferry to both points from the Kenai Peninsula.