Fly Fishing for King Salmon in Alaska

I'll be perfectly honest and tell you that my personal experience fishing for kings is all with spinning rods and tackle and I have never personally tried fly fishing for king salmon so my experience in this one particular area is limited to stream-side and fire-side queries and book knowledge. The remainder of the information I share on fly fishing for king salmon is taken from the book “Flyfishing Alaska” by Anthony J. Route. Tony is an Alaska fly fishing guru with a refreshing approach to fly fishing in Alaska. I highly recommend his book.

Topping the Alaska king salmon fly list are the Everglow flies. These glow-in-the-dark flies are tied in orange, chartreuse and red. Next on the list would be the Wiggletails. These large marabou flies produce such awesome motion in the water that the kings have a hard time resisting. These are tied in orange, chartreuse and pink. The Alaskabou flies are also a well-known king salmon fly and are very effective. They are tied in combo colors orange and purple, chartreuse and white and pink and white. Rounding out this distinguished list are the Flash flies and the Bunny flies. The Flash flies are tied in the fluorescent colors and the Bunny flies are tied in pink, orange, chartreuse, purple and black. These flies are very large and should be tied in size 4/0 – 1. The recommended hook is the Mustad #3407 for its corrosion resistance in salt water.

The general rule of thumb in fishing these flies is that the deeper and more discolored the water, the brighter and larger the fly and the more shallow and clear the water, the smaller and less catchy of a fly. This is not always the case and experimentation is sometimes necessary but this is many times the case and is a good starting point.

Kings stay near the bottom so the deeper you get your fly, the better. They usually will not move a whole lot in the column so you will need to get your fly fairly close to its mouth to elicit the strike. Dead drifting is the way to go again with some stripping action at the end of the drift to add some movement. Sometimes unreceptive kings will strike a fly that comes up behind them. Don’t be surprised if you lose the first couple of kings if you are not used to fishing for them. Fighting these fish is unlike anything you’ve done before. You can’t horse them. Let them run and don’t try to stop them…just control the run. Put as much sideways pressure on as you can which will tire it out faster and don’t let it hold in deep water for long as you will essentially be letting it rest and regain its strength.

When fly fishing for king salmon in Alaska, a 10 weight fly rod is the rod of choice for kings. Along with the rod, you’ll want a balanced and matched reel capable of handling your fly line plus 200 yards of 20 lb backing. Sink-tip lines are most commonly used for kings but there are times when fishing water under 4 feet deep when a floating line is called for. Be prepared for anything. If using a sink-tip line, start with a 4 foot section of 14 lb test leader. If using a floating line, start with a 8 – 9 foot section of 14 lb test and weight it accordingly to get to the necessary depth.