Yet Another Alaskan Fishing Question

Rich M

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Jun 14, 2017
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Orlando
So - want to go 2023 to AK.
One-time Bucket List trip and vaca with wife.
Hoping to book it before too long.

Wanting to do some more serious research than looking at the ads and reviews online. yeah, it's something but tough to make a decision off a one-page ad and glowing reviews of everyone. I know I'm gonna need to call some references and will once we get a bearing on a couple places to go and stay at.

Considering a 9-10 day trip, would consider staying at 1 place or even breaking it up with 1/2 at an inclusive fishing lodge and 1/2 somewhere else inclusive where we can do the other stuff.

Wife has a very limited list - sit around and relax, catch a salmon or two, ride the scenic railroad.

I'm okay with fishing all day every day. My wants are a 50-75# halibut, 1 or 2 grayling, maybe a char and whatever's available for king and/or silver salmon. Whale watch, puffins, glaciers... If we do a glacier tour, it will be under the glacier. Not too concerned with bears - unless one tries to steal my fish.

Not really interested in Denali either, but might be convinced to do the train thing from Seward or Whittier out there and back to Anchorage before flight out. Will have to check on that I guess.

All-in-all, I'm comfortable with up to $15K for total trip, including air fare and such. This will be a fly up and back kind of thing. I'm sure the cruises are awesome, just no.

Anyone have any referrals for an all-inclusive lodge that can produce most or all of that? Minus the train, of course.

Also - should we do a late June trip or do the peak season thing in mid-July?

Thanks for any suggestions!

I'm open for solicitations from folks who live and work up there too.
 
Joined
Mar 1, 2017
Messages
1,934
Location
Eagle River, AK
So - want to go 2023 to AK.
One-time Bucket List trip and vaca with wife.
Hoping to book it before too long.

Wanting to do some more serious research than looking at the ads and reviews online. yeah, it's something but tough to make a decision off a one-page ad and glowing reviews of everyone. I know I'm gonna need to call some references and will once we get a bearing on a couple places to go and stay at.

Considering a 9-10 day trip, would consider staying at 1 place or even breaking it up with 1/2 at an inclusive fishing lodge and 1/2 somewhere else inclusive where we can do the other stuff.

Wife has a very limited list - sit around and relax, catch a salmon or two, ride the scenic railroad.

I'm okay with fishing all day every day. My wants are a 50-75# halibut, 1 or 2 grayling, maybe a char and whatever's available for king and/or silver salmon. Whale watch, puffins, glaciers... If we do a glacier tour, it will be under the glacier. Not too concerned with bears - unless one tries to steal my fish.

Not really interested in Denali either, but might be convinced to do the train thing from Seward or Whittier out there and back to Anchorage before flight out. Will have to check on that I guess.

All-in-all, I'm comfortable with up to $15K for total trip, including air fare and such. This will be a fly up and back kind of thing. I'm sure the cruises are awesome, just no.

Anyone have any referrals for an all-inclusive lodge that can produce most or all of that? Minus the train, of course.

Also - should we do a late June trip or do the peak season thing in mid-July?

Thanks for any suggestions!

I'm open for solicitations from folks who live and work up there too.
I think your budget is plenty to do everything you listed. Most folk would cut that budget in half and do a couple trips- like one year do salmon and the rivers, another go ocean fishing.

I don't have any ties for ocean fishing but my Brother and Sister-in-law do through their fishing lodge in Willow fishing the Deshka for salmon. you can check them out-

www.deshka.com


Good luck, I wouldn't see a trip to Alaska as a "once in a lifetime" but at least multiple adventures! heck I loved it so much I moved here!
 

VernAK

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Dec 24, 2012
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Delta Jct, Alaska
IMO, the only scenic part of the AK RR trip is Seward to Anchorage. North to Denali has a lot of blah until Denali.

The under the glacier thing is going on right now at Castner Glacier south of Delta Jct.

I suggest looking at a small motor home rental if that's your bag. If the Kenai Peninsula weather is bad, go north. etc. Parking spots are easy when out on the road.

Seward offers the better halibut and salmon IMO.....avoid around July 4th. The Fjords tour is great.....pick a nice day.
 
Joined
Jun 3, 2020
Messages
613
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Eagle River, AK
If you want to fly out some where check out kodiak combos in old harbor. Heard great things about them. Good chance thay anywhere on the road system will be closed to kings on the rivers. Most rivers will be holding reds that time of year which the fishing for them isnt anything glamorous other then the scenery around.

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SteveCNJ

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Jul 1, 2017
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I fished the sockeye run last July in the first half of the month in the Kenai. Good fishing but my buddy who lived there said after we left the fish got bigger every week and there were more of them. They went from 4-7 lbs to 10-15 by the end of the run and the limit was doubled from 3 to 6 at times. The run is different for every river but now you know the questions to ask for the area you are going to fish. We went out to Valdez for the halibut and Ling cod. My buddy knows a captain out there. The fishing was great but probably can be done from Seward and saving a couple days of driving when you could be fishing.
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Jbehredt

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Mar 4, 2017
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Colorado
I think you’ve got two trips planned. A DIY road trip with ocean fishing, Glaciers, wildlife tours, the train etc between Seward and anchorage. Denali was pretty underwhelming since your stuck on an old bus and it’s almost always cloudy. Then a resort fishing trip on a river around Bristol Bay. My wife and I have done exactly that. In that order.
 
Joined
Jun 3, 2020
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Location
Eagle River, AK
I would probably stick to the kenai after thinking about it. You can get rainbows and dollies out of some of the rivers in that area. There are a couple creeks that will have reds near the end of july/early august and the dollies will be eating all the eggs they can. Spend a few days on the kenai fishing for reds/trout/dollies (would get a guide for trout on the kenai your odds will skyrocket you can get them from the shore but its a little tougher unless you know areas which require hiking through big bear country) then the other part of the trip spend time in either seward or homer for the ocean fishing. alot of people say seward has bigger halibut then homer but i tend to disagree since we generally pull a few 80 pounders out of 30 feet of water in homer (biggest is 165). what ever charter you decide make sure its a six pack boat and not a party boat. Late july you can do combo trips in both seward and homer and can target halibut/rockfish halibut/silvers rockfish/silvers. Some boats will do an all species trip but the chances of getting into quality fish (bigger halibut/rockfish) will diminish since they are trying to get all species of fish. If you want to go on 2 guided ocean boats i would do a all day halibut to give you the best chance of meeting you halibut goal then do a rockfish/silver salmon charter. It is possible to get all 5 species of salmon on a charter out of homer in mid to late july.

If you really want a greyling you could try to get on a float trip on the willow/little willow river north of wasilla. pretty easy floating and you would also get into rainbows, chum salmon pink salmon and some early cohos if late july.
 

MattB

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Sep 29, 2012
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5,410
If you go to Homer, we've used Homer Ocean Charters and had good success (salmon/halibut).
 
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