Alaska Salmon and other sport fish

There are two schools of thought when planning your pilgrimage for Alaska salmon. The first is to learn about each of the sport fish and determine which one(s) you’re interested in and making your trip during that species spawning run.

The second is to determine which month you feel you want to go and then find out which of the Alaska salmon species have their spawning runs during that time and that will determine the species you’ll be fishing for.

Usually anglers will use the first school of thought because they know which fish they are interested in. The second school of thought has a lot of merit when an angler shares the trip with a spouse or other family members and they also intend to do some sightseeing at the same time.

Generally speaking, if you have sightseeing in mind, you’re best bet is usually to try to plan your trip sometime in June or early July when the weather is the most cooperative.

If you are going strictly for the angling experience, then you may want to shoot for the last week of July and/or the first week of August which will give you the best chance to catch pinks, chums, cohos (silvers) and sockeyes (reds) all in the same trip.

If you're not into crowds and you're not too particular about which species to fish for, then you may want to wait until mid-late September when the tourist season is winding down and there are still some fish in the streams.

You'll want to get familiar with the most popular of Alaska’s sport fish. We'll learn about Alaska's five salmon species; the Alaska king salmon, red salmon, silver salmon, pink salmon and the chum salmon. We'll also discuss the Alaska halibut, rainbow and steelhead trout, arctic grayling and the dolly varden.

We’ll discuss a few different facts about each one in separate articles to help you determine which you’re most interested in fishing for.

On to Affordable Alaska Fishing Trips Article #3...Alaska King Salmon