Prime Fishing Found Everywhere In Alaska!
By Naomi K. Shapiro
Alaska, the largest State, with 570,374 sq. miles of land.
is known for its far-flung borders, profound wilderness, and unbelievable
sportfishing attracts visitors from all over the world!
Here are just a few of the things that make Alaska one of
the most desired destinations in the world, and that may help explain Alaska's
latest promotional slogan: "AlaskaB4UDie!" (www.AlaskaB4UDie.com):
Alaska's largest cities include Anchorage, Fairbanks,
Juneau, Sitka, and Soldotna. Alaska does not share a border with other States.
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The Alaska State Bird is the Willow Ptarmigan.
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The Alaska State Flower is the Forget Me Not (myosotis
alpestris).
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The Alaska State Tree is the Sitka spruce (picea
sitchensis).
You may also be interested to know that ...
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The capital city of Alaska is Juneau.
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Alaska became a State on May 16, 1959 (49th).
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Alaska's motto is "North To The Future".
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Alaska's State song is "Alaska's Flag".
 Friends of mine recently planned (and made) a fishing trip
of a lifetime that included more than 21 plane fights to numerous locations
within Alaska -- and they were just tickling the tip of the iceberg!
Here are just a few Alaska destinations offering superb
fishing -- and they’re a mere sample of the possibilities of "The Last Frontier,
Great Land, and Land of the Midnight Sun:
Kenai Area Offers Up King, Silver, Sockeye, Rainbows, and
Dolly Varden
 The Kenai Peninsula is probably the most well-known Alaska
fishing destination, and it’s the easiest to get to. Kenai, Soldotna and Seward
are about an hour-and-a-half’s drive from Anchorage, and Homer is just a click
further at the southern end of the Kenai. All offer access to top Alaska river
and ocean fishing.
The world-record King Salmon was caught on the lower Kenai
River, where fishing is done by powerboat, using spinning or baitcasting gear,
running lines out the back of the boat, with the boat sliding down-river real
slow. Use 5 to 10 ounces of lead, ‘bouncing’ on the bottom, with a Spin & Glow
lure tipped with cured salmon eggs behind it. A double hook with bait loop
secures the chunk of cured salmon eggs. If bait is prohibited, fish a
‘crocodile’ or a ‘Kwik Fish.’ Both plugs dive 10 to 15 feet deep, and they
‘wobble’ in front of the fish.
 When you fish gravel bars, you’ll SEE schools of salmon
suspended in river seams or eddies. Toss a leech, streamer, or egg-sucking
leech, which the salmon will hit aggressively.
On the upper and middle Kenai River, driftfish or stop at
gravel bars for rainbows and Dolly Vardens. Rainbows will average 15 to 20
inches. Dolly Vardens will go up to 30 inches. Use a 6 or 7-weight fly rod
or rig your spinning rod with 10 to 12 pound test line, and throw egg patterns,
fresh flies, or an occasional nymph or dry hatch.
Red (sockeye) Salmon stop feeding when they hit freshwater,
but will act aggressively toward your bait. Use your spinner or fly rod with 15
to 25 pound test line. Throw a Coho Fly bug tail spinner. Run a 3/8 to 1/2
ounce of lead 18 inches up the line from the Coho Fly. Work 10 to 12 feet of
line to where you cast upstream and let the line drift down, bouncing the bait
off the bottom. Same method for silvers and Coho. One to two feet of water in
fast current is best.
Prince of Wales Island Area of Southeastern, Alaska Boasts
Salmon, Halibut & More, on Area Oceans and Streams
Prince of Wales Island in southeast Alaska, the third
largest Island in North America, located 60 miles west of Ketchikan by air,
offers a plethora of fishing opportunities.
 Local captains target all available species on every outing
-- and all species can go much bigger than average.
In season, you have the King Salmon run, with silvers and
pinks, during, and after, the kings.
Halibut, Ling cod and yellow-eyed rockfish (called ‘red
snapper’ locally) are also available. Kings average 25 pounds, with silvers
going to 10 pounds. Pinks go to 6 pounds. Ling cod will average 20 pounds,
with halibut around 20.
Cruise around the island in a range, 25 miles north to
about 25 miles south, and fish anywhere from 80 to 225 feet, along the ENTIRE
water column.
Guides use frozen herring spliced onto two, four ought
hooks, a four-ounce banana sinker, and a 6 to 7 foot, 25-pound test leader
attached to 20-pound test line. Guides make you ‘work’ to catch your fish.
For halibut, Ling cod, and rockfish, they use chunks of
halibut or something called a White Scampy Tail as bait, taking a one-ounce,
round-nosed lead weight with a large hook attached; and splicing a 6 to 8 inch
Rubber Scampy onto the hook. Then, ‘hit bottom’ and jig.
Sitka, on the Outside Coast of Southeast Alaska, Provides
Outstanding Ocean and River Fishing About 90 miles southwest of Juneau, Sitka is
accessible by plane and boat.
For ocean fishing, there’re Kings, which will go 15 pounds
on average, and up to 70; and Silver Salmon, which will go to around 7 pounds.
And halibut, too.
You will ‘mooch’ for the kings and silvers, which involves
using the motor to change speeds, raising or dropping the bait, giving it action
all the way from the top to the bottom.
Bait is a whole or cut-up frozen herring and a 6 to 8 ounce
banana weight on a two to four ought size double hook.
Jig for halibut, about 3 feet off the bottom, using a 13
ought J hook or a big circle hook tipped with herring or salmon. Halibut will
go anywhere from fifteen to maybe 100 pounds.
For river fishing, use spinning or fly rods. Early spring
means steelhead, using steelhead flies, or a dropper weight, or yarn fly.
Mid-summer, wade the gravel ledges of the intertidal areas
where the rivers empty into the ocean, stalking Dolly Vardens, which will go 17
to 19 inches. Use a fishing fly or salmon fry pattern.
After mid summer, fish pink or silver salmon in the
intertidal areas, using a Pink Possum. The Pink Salmon go 3 to 6 pounds. The
silvers go to 15. You’ll also get Dolly Vardens, using salmon egg patterns, or
a Crocodile. For spinning rigs, use a Dick Knight lure, which is so tiny, it
must be fished behind a torpedo float.
Away-from-town-rivers have rainbows to about 16 inches.
Same baits as for Dollies will work.
Aleutian Halibut out of Dutch Harbor: Big and BIGGER!
The International port of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian
Islands offers great action on halibut, running anywhere from 50 to 100 pounds,
with an occasional 300 pound brute taken.
You’ll be going out in bigger boats than you generally see
in Alaska -- 38 feet is common -- some are bigger. You move out an hour or two
from port, and fish anywhere from 100 to 250 feet. They use 130 pound test line
and jig off the bottom, using a 16-to-24-ounce jig-head, with a 6 to 8 ought
hook. And the bait? Berkley Power Bait works real well, and other bait can be
added if desired.
You can also get small sea bass, from 2 to 7 pounds,
fishing near rocks or kelp beds, anywhere from 20 to 100 feet, using light line,
a spinning reel, and a BARE HOOK -- no bait is needed!
The area also boasts the largest crab and pollock fisheries
in the United States.
A Dutch Harbor wag says, ‘the only thing different about
the conditions here compared to southeastern Alaska is that they have trees, and
we have wind.’ Both areas have a lot of rain.
‘Millions of Rivers’ Provide Top Rainbow, Dolly Varden, and
Salmon Fishing in the Bristol Bay/Katmai Area
Accessible only by float plane or boat, the Bristol Bay/Katmai
Area of Southwestern Alaska has so many excellent fishing rivers that
‘individual names are not important.’ Fish most anywhere, they say, and you’ll
fill your limit.
Fish the rivers from boats, or alight on gravel bars.
Spinning tackle or fly rods are your ticket.
Rainbow trout will go as high as a trophy 37 inches. Use
Marabou Jigs, Crocodiles, or Dare Devils.
Fish the smaller streams for Dolly Varden, particularly in
the fall, when the fish will go over 30 inches. Use spinning tackle with the
same general baits as you would for rainbows.
Back-troll for King Salmon, using Hot Shots or a Storm
Wart. Kings will average 30 pounds and go as high as 60.
Cast for silvers, which will be very aggressive. Use a
Flash & Glow, Mepps, Rooster Tail or a Pixie.
Casting for sockeye is trickier than for silvers, with the
key being a small and very sparse bait.
You’ll get silvers (average 6 to 10 pounds) and pinks
(average 3 to 6 pounds) at one time during the season, and sockeye and kings
sharing another part of the season. Summer weather is moderately wet.
Fish for Salmon Shark, salmon, halibut, and more out of the
wonderful community of Valdez, Alaska.
 This author was recently in Valdez, AK (Prince William
Sound) to fish for salmon, and salmon shark (related to Great White Sharks, a
fairly new recreational pursuit). They're called salmon sharks because they
follow and eat one-fourth of the salmon population; they average 300 pounds and
have a huge mouth filled with rows of many, many razor sharp teeth.
Or, as my friend, Gadget Guru, Stephen Regenold put it for
me: The salmon shark is a top-of-the-food-chain predator, weighing hundreds of
pounds and devouring its namesake prey with ravenous efficiency. In Alaska,
salmon shark are legal game "fish," though travel and outdoor writer, Naomi
Shapiro, recently chartered a trip in Alaska's Prince William Sound, says,
"pursuing these creatures is more akin to big-game hunting than rod-and-reel
fishing. You troll and mooch for the salmon shark using double hooked rigs with
a 30-foot steel cable leader," she said. "When the shark is brought close to the
boat, they harpoon it and use a shotgun to put a slug into its head before even
thinking about bringing it on board."
 During the time I was in Valdez, I also kayaked to Valdez
Glacier, where we were supposed to get off and walk on the glacier, but it was
blocked by ice that had melted and dropped off in recent rain, and had formed
icebergs blocking our way.
Head to Valdez, if only to take an 8-hour Cruise on a
marvelous cruise and sightseeing ship belonging to Stan Stephens Cruises, to
view Columbia and Meares Glaciers, booming and calving, examine a real chunk of
glacier ice; as well as view rafts of otters and several sea lions squeezing
onto modest-sized buoys in the middle of Prince William Sound!
Valdez Convention & Visitors Bureau, 907-835-INFO;
(907-835-4636) -- or go to
www.valdezalaska.org
To locate guides, charters, resorts, hotels, lodges,
transportation, and general information about Alaska and any other need,
contact:
Alaska Visitor Information
c/o Alaska Travel Industry Association
Toll Free: 800-862-5275; 907-929-2842
web: www.travelalaska.com
by Naomi K. Shapiro and Valdez, Alaska, Convention
and Visitors Bureau.
Naomi K. Shapiro is a Madison, Wisconsin-based travel and
outdoor writer specializing in fishing, nature, and soft adventure. E-mail:
cre8vNaomi@charter.net
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