Alaska Fishing Trip

Captain Ahab was there couple years back in July I believe.  I am sure he can share some info.  He had a friend take him and his dad around, but still may be of some help.

 I spent 14 days there July/August this year.  I halibut fished one day out of Ninilchik with Cook Inlet Charters on a friend's recommendation. The biggest one taken was right at a 100 pounds.  My wife and I salmon fished on my 60th bday out of Soldatna with Eric Loomis (actually his wife Casey) and took our four salmon (silvers), all at about twelve pounds.  I highly recommend both of these.  Fishing is pretty much what there is to do on the Kenai Peninisula. Seward has a few more alternatives to fishing than the rest of the places (with good fishing options) if you are looking for bit more but don't expect too much. We just hung out there for three days.  If you want contact info, I can provide it for you.

You will absolutely love it.  I went the end of August though.  One thing is for certain, you need to float the Kenai River.  Homer and "The Spit" is kinda cool.  Ask any questions you can think of.  I will do my best to answer.

I've been there 5 times with north country charters.  I've also fished the russian, Kenai, and around Anchorage a little.  Shoot me a PM with a phone number and I'll help you as much as I can.

Fish the Kenai river for Kings and reds. You'll have way more fun doing this than deep sea fishing. average size kings about 40 pounds. reds average around 10 punds a piece. i was up there in 2005 at the age of 13 and I can't wait to get back. you'll have a shot at kings around 65 to 85 pounds too.

My buddies and I spent the first two weeks of July in Soldotna in 08. It was loads of fun. There were a few things I'ld wished I'd known though. We wished we'd went the second and third week of July. The sockey run was just getting going good when we left. We caught some but had to work for them. The fish count numbers started skyrocketing the day we left. Oh well. On the other hand we also missed most of about a millon tourist that started showing up just as we were leaving.  The run probably veries from year to year though. Take your lawyer along if you want to understand the regulation book. Its probalbly about twenty times the ND one and it just covers the Kenai penensula and surounding ocean. Its tough to find places to bank fish. Everythings posted or their Game and Fish will have it closed for conservation reasons and the public areas are crowded. I'm not sure what we would have done if we hadn't had some friends that lived up there to show us around.  Take some time for rainbows. I had a lot of fun just bobber fishing for them off the public access in Soldotna. Caught some real nice ones to. We chartered out of Seward and that was the best part of the trip. Rock bass Lingcod, Hlalibut, and Silvers all in one day. Does it get any better? Best of luck.

Gator Baiter Said:
My buddies and I spent the first two weeks of July in Soldotna in 08. It was loads of fun. There were a few things I'ld wished I'd known though. We wished we'd went the second and third week of July. The sockey run was just getting going good when we left. We caught some but had to work for them. The fish count numbers started skyrocketing the day we left. Oh well. On the other hand we also missed most of about a millon tourist that started showing up just as we were leaving.  The run probably veries from year to year though. Take your lawyer along if you want to understand the regulation book. Its probalbly about twenty times the ND one and it just covers the Kenai penensula and surounding ocean. Its tough to find places to bank fish. Everythings posted or their Game and Fish will have it closed for conservation reasons and the public areas are crowded. I'm not sure what we would have done if we hadn't had some friends that lived up there to show us around.  Take some time for rainbows. I had a lot of fun just bobber fishing for them off the public access in Soldotna. Caught some real nice ones to. We chartered out of Seward and that was the best part of the trip. Rock bass Lingcod, Hlalibut, and Silvers all in one day. Does it get any better? Best of luck.

Planning around salmon run is a good idea.  We were their after the king run, but during the silver run and the tail end of the pink run(pinks only run on even years though so you won't have to put up with them on the Kenai).  We have a friend that lives up there on a small creek/river and the pictures with the buildings in the background are at his place.  My favorite was taking a float boat out on the Kenai with hip boots and stopping along the way on nice looking sand bars.  Halibut fishing for a day is worth it also(awesome meat to bring home.)

My wifes uncle lives in Soldotna and we've been up there fishing. Best time seems to be 3rd week in July as you'll probably catch the kings running full force, the end of the Red run, and the beginning of the silver run. Halibut bite every day all summer at Homer.

Perchpirate was just up there doing the same thing. Not sure how the fishing worked out but I know they rented a camper and drove out to the coast and stayed in that while fishing. It must have been okay because he never said anything bad about it.

Perchpirate?? You out there??

 Awesome info so far guys, I'll be getting back to a lot of you guys individually as I do my planning here. 

We'll be stopping at a lot of river areas to fish salmon. We are either going to bring gear up and keep it in the RV or buy  some rods at Freddy Meyers or somewhere when we get there. Would you guys recommend bringing them up or buying them there?

Also, what should we be looking at for rod size/reel etc for these beasts? Is there a tried and true method for fishing them on the river and what are some good riggings to use?

Appreciate all the help, there's going to be 6 of us up there- my wife and I, my parents, and my aunt and uncle. I think that will be nice because we can get a 6 pack all to ourselves. At Bob's they have us going out on their Katamaran so we'll have the boat to ourselves.

Anyone do any clamming there?