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tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
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Feb 15, 2016 - 01:10am PT
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If fishing is the goal, either Southeast or Kodiak. Prince of Whales has some good lodges and charters. You can split it up between salt and fresh water.
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Climberdude
Trad climber
Clovis, CA
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Feb 15, 2016 - 06:16am PT
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John,
When I was growing up, my family used to go to two Forest Service cabins on Salmon Lake on Prince of Wales Island west of Ketachan. Now I understand there is a lottery to get these cabins, but at the time you just contacted the Forest Service to get them, which were reservable for up to a week at a time. We would time it when the salmon were running up the creek to the lake. You have to fly into the lake, but all of the bush pilot services in Ketachan know where this place is. One of the cabins was built by the original founder of the company that became Alaska Airlines. You have to fly in your supplies, but you have a roof over your head and usually people leave food that they cannot eat. Once the previous guest left us a case of beer, which was great. By the end of the trips I was always sick of eating salmon.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 15, 2016 - 12:10pm PT
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Thanks folks. Anyone ever been to Swan Lake out of Petersburg?
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Brian in SLC
Social climber
Salt Lake City, UT
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Feb 15, 2016 - 01:33pm PT
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Ditto Kodiak. Great water, not a lot of folks. Spent a couple weeks there a few years back. Good to go during a strong salmon run to keep the locals busy. Them bears are HUGE. We rented a small inflatable with an outboard motor that our bush pilot tossed in for us. Really made it nice to get from one end of a lake to the other (inlet v outlet fishing) without gettin' worked over by the alder, etc.
POW (Prince of Wales). Plenty of options. Lots of lodges. Primitive, plush. Take the ferry over from Ketchikan and rent a car.
Yakutat or Cordova. Yakutat has good steelhead fishing and easily accessible from town.
ABC's have plenty of options. I've fished out of Tenakee Springs. No rubbing shoulders with other folks in some of those locations. Helps to have access to a boat.
Plenty of pricey lodge options in SW out of Dillingham, Naknek, King Salmon...etc. On my list of spots to visit.
Alaska is a big place. Almost impossible to pick a spot, its so huge. I try to target a salmon run I want to fish then figure out a remote area with jet service to a bigger town, then, bush flight or boat access from there.
Yeah, take rain gear. I wouldn't go in the height of skeeter season to the interior...but...not sure the fun/great fishing is there anyhow (middle of the Brooks range does have good grayling fishing though...ha ha).
May/June for kings, end of Aug/Sep for silvers? Something like that.
Fun!
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maldaly
Trad climber
Boulder, CO
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Feb 15, 2016 - 02:48pm PT
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Hey johntp,
Ran into Guillory at McGukins and he gave me the head's up on you wanting Alaska Info.
Karen and I manage the Big Ku lodge, located smack dab in the middle of some of the best Rainbow water on the planet. It's not the place to go if your goal is to bring home a cooler full of salmon or halibut though. The Big Ku, and all the other lodges within Katmai National Park and Preserve are C&R only. They're also far enough upstream that the salmon are pretty spawned out and mealy by the time they get up to us.
Some general advice:
1) Don't spend any money reserving a place at a lodge that specializes in King or Chinook Salmon. Those runs have been getting sketchy and 2 years ago they cancelled the entire season.
2) Best eating salmon is the sockeye ( I think) followed by Kings then Silvers (Coho). Don't bother going after Chum Salmon: it's what they use for dog food, fish oil and a lot of the canned salmon you get.
3) 2016 will be an on year for the Pinks which is a bummer for the the other species. They tend to dominate the fishery and push the other species out.
4) Redoubt Mountain Lodge has a ton of great flexible packages that run from one day fly-ins to week long stays. You call it for how many days you want to go there. Most of the remote lodges are week-long stays only.
5) www.wildriverguides.com is an awesome way to fish Alaska. Fly to Dillingham, then fly out to the headwaters of one of the rivers that start in the Togiak Wildlife Refuge. Blow up a raft then float down for 5-7 days. Again, you'll eat salmon every day but you won't be bringing a cooler of it home.
6) Fishing for salmon with a rod is really really boring. Unless you hook one.
7) Going to Alaska to bring home a cooler of salmon is, by far, the most expensive way to feed yourself. It's much cheaper to buy in-season Sockeye at CostCo and put it in your freezer. It's also better quality. Buy it frozen because that's the way it leaves Alaska. The "fresh" stuff you see in the lower 48 was frozen within 24 hours of it being caught, shipped to CostCo (or wherever) then thawed and displayed on ice. If you buy a bunch of "fresh" and bring it home to freeze, that is the second time it's been frozen.
PM me if you have any other questions.
Mal
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