Budget fishing Alaska

[fishinho]

I am going to Alaska this summer and have a student budget. Anyone with any tips for do it yourself fishing? I plan to arrive July 7th and fish and camp my way from ankorage down the kenai peninsula until july 23. I will get a guide at least once but would like to try it mostly on my own. Any paticular fly patterns i should take or perhaps buy while there. any good places for do it yourself fishing of the non combat type. will be both fly and spin fishing. thanks

[bdowning]

Unfortunately, you're going to have company. The Anchorage-Kenai area is the most heavily fished area of the state and you're hitting it at peak tourist season. Still, there are a few things you can do to lose the crowds if you are willing to be flexible and "go primitive." E-mail me for some ideas, if you wish.

-bd


<img src="http://world.std.com/~bdowning/fishing_lg_wte.gif">

[kenley]

I fished Alaska two years ago the second week in July. We stayed right on the Kenai River. The guiding is expensive but we discovered and incredible river on our own. There is a river outside of Homer called the Anchor river and it was full of dolly varden up to 24" fresh out of the ocean. We fished with 5 wt fly rods and used polar shrimp patterns, basically an egg fly flattened out. The river is easy to wade and you can catch fish all day. Homer is about 45 minutes from the kenai river in Soldatna. Do yourself a favor and visit this river.

[expwmbat]

You are planning a fantastic trip. My good friend and I did this two years ago. We drove up from Montana (my home state) and made a loop through Fairbanks, down the Kenai, took the ferry to Kodiak, etc., for about 3 1/2 weeks. It is entirely doable on a student budget, but the transportation costs might be high (which is why we drove). There are numerous campgrounds that are cheap to stay in (just check the map), and if you are an experienced fisherman you won't need a guide. If you can manage the $ plan a fly-in trip somewhere--we went out of Fairbanks. It was unguided--we just got dropped off at a little shack with a small boat, and cruised the canals for pike, which were big and eveywhere. You will be there during the prime silver (coho) salmon run, so there will be crowds, but it isn't terrible if you are will to walk a bit up the banks. We found a great spot (Montana Creek?) on the Kenai River, and with a few tips from the locals we easily limited out on silvers every day and caught more than we could take of the other salmon, including a few hook-ups on kings that took us for a ride before busting us off. If you are going for trout or char you will have to dig around to find them, and they are a little tougher to catch since they are often cosied up under the salmon eating the roe, but there are some big ones. My friend was disappointed at catching an 8lb rainbow because he was spoiled by the 12-14lb silvers.

Email me if you have more specific questions. Oh, and the heaviest rods we had were 6-weights. They were mostly adequate will judiciously applied skill, but I did break mine toward the end of the trip. Thank goodness for the warranty!

Dan

[Bab]

This time of the season the predominant runs will be sockeyes (reds) and kings. Locate the salmon and you will find rainbows and dollies. Check out the Russian R, Anchor R, and Ptarmagin Cr. You may find these rivers crowded but most people are after the salmon and will be grouped up in certain sections. Fish between these groups and you will find incredible trout fishing. Must have flies are: egg patterns (Iliama pinkie), flesh flies, and genaric nymphs such as hares ears or pheasent tails. Also bring some orange wooly buggers. These work well below areas where people have cleaned their catch. In Anchorage stop in at McAffe's or Mt. View Sports. They can be very helpful.

P.S. If you have a float tube or canoe you should try some of the Matanuska Valley lakes north of Anchorage.

[Jim1th]

What about "do-it-yourself" trout fishing? What's the best month, best places?