Affordable Alaska Fishing Trip - Article 15 of 31
Fishing Tackle for your affordable Alaska fishing trip
The only remaining item required to catch fish that we have not yet talked about is your tackle and terminal gear. Your Alaska tackle will be spinners and spoons, flies and/or bait (salmon eggs). There are literally hundreds of different choices but do not fear. In this discussion we will only talk about what is tried and true and proven to work. You don’t want to get up there and have to experiment with different tackle and terminal gear to find out what works. You’re time is limited and you want to catch fish right away. We’ll discuss which Alaska lures, bait and Alaska flies work for each of the different salmon. For a more detailed discussion on which flies to use in Alaska, check out the article on fly fishing.
Chinook (King) salmon
Again I will say that I do not recommend king salmon fishing for the first time angler on your own. The reason is simply that bank fishing is limited for kings and hiring a guide can be quite expensive. Having said that, we’ll still discuss how to catch these monsters.
Lures - Without a doubt (in my mind anyway), the most popular and effective Alaska lure for king salmon is the Spin-N-Glo. Basically this is a little, colored, plastic ball with flanges on either side which act like a propeller. It may be fished alone but more often than not, you will see a gob of eggs attached to the hook for a little added enticement.
Bait – check the regulations before fishing with bait as there are some locations and times when this is not allowed. Having said that, if it is allowed, the only bait you will need is a gob of salmon eggs. This can either be attached to a single salmon hook and drifted along the bottom or as talked about in the last paragraph, you may want to tie on a Spin-N-Glow and attach the eggs to the hook of the lure. Either way these will be dead drifted along the bottom.
Flies - My favorite tackle for salmon are the Alaska flies. I have never personally fly fished for king salmon but the most popular king salmon fly is arguably the wiggletail. Wiggletails have a chenille body and a marabou tail the same color as the body. As with most king salmon flies, the most popular colors are the bright and gaudy colors of pink, fluorescent orange and/or chartreuse. This fly is finished off with a collar of silver mylar piping. Other popular flies for kings are Woolly Buggers, Bunny Leeches, Flash Flies in fluorescent red, orange, pink and chartreuse and Alaskabous in color combos of orange and purple, white and pink and white and chartreuse.
No matter what choice you make for kings, make sure you are fishing on the bottom. You’ll use a minimum of a 25 lb test line (30-50 lb if on the Kenai), enough weight to get you to the bottom tied onto a slider (a sliding swivel), a barrel swivel with a 2’- 4’ leader slightly lighter than your line. Kings run deep and if you are not getting your selection to the bottom, you’re simply wasting your time.
Sockeye (Red) salmon
There is an on-going debate over whether reds actually even bite flies or lures or whether they strike simply out of irritation to get the offering out of their way. All are in agreement that the red salmon are the least likely to strike. An educated guess as to why this is may be that young red salmon are plankton eaters which would make them less likely to feed on baitfish and the like.
The most popular fly for red salmon is the Coho Fly, period. That is not a typo. Yes, the Coho Fly is used for Sockeye salmon. Don’t waste time with lures on this one. The Coho fly is simply two different colors of bucktail attached to a long-shanked hook. Even spin fishermen use this fly with their spinning rods in fly fishing only sections. Simply attach your weight eighteen inches above your fly, cast upstream and let it dead drift down to holding salmon. You must be very accurate here. If your fly isn’t within inches of the salmon, you stand little chance.
It is worth noting here that other fly fishermen have also found some success with another fly called a Polar Shrimp tied on a size 6 or 8 hook dead drifted in a standard down and across presentation.
There is no other offering worth mentioning here.
Coho (Silver) salmon
The Coho’s are arguably the most fun of the salmon to catch because of their acrobatic style when hooked. In deeper waters you can fish for Coho’s much the same way you fish for kings.
Lures – Again, in deeper waters, you can fish the same lure as you use for king salmon. Aside from the Spin-N-Glo, you can also use a Pixee. A Pixee is either a gold or silver metal spoon with a colored plastic insert in the middle and a single treble hook. They come in all sizes but the recommended size is the ½ or 7/8 ounce for salmon. Many fishermen use Pixee’s exclusively for all salmon and swear by them. Another option is a Vibrax. Use any of these on a medium action rod and a 10 – 12 lb test line. There is no perfect answer as to how to fish these spinners/spoons. You’ll want to experiment with your rate of retrieve to find what is working that day. It can change from day to day, even hour to hour.
Bait – where allowed, same as for king salmon mentioned earlier. Read the Alaska Department of Fish and Game regulations first.
Flies – any of the flash flies will work on Coho’s. Other very productive flies (especially in very clear conditions) are the olive or black Woolly Buggers, the black or purple Egg Sucking Leech or the Bunny Leech.
All of these should be fished with an 8 to 12 lb test line.
Pink and/or Chum salmon
Lures – for either of these salmon species, the only lure you need is the Pixee. Fish it the same as mentioned above in the Coho salmon section.
Flies – There are many flies that can be used here. I won’t mention all of them but will simply touch on the most popular and effective ones. You can use any of the flies that we mentioned for Silvers above. Additionally, you can use Comets, Smolt patterns, the Black-Nosed Dace, egg and double egg flies and the Polar Shrimp, just to name a few. All of these should most often be used in hook sizes 6 or 8 for Pinks and 2 to 4 for Chums.
You can fish all of these on a 4 to 6 lb test line.
As you have probably noticed by now, you can fish with just a handful of lures/flies and catch all of the different species of salmon although unless you’re planning on making multiple trips to Alaska for the different spawning runs, this will not happen all at the same time.
On to Affordable Alaska Fishing Trips Article #16...How to dress.
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