it's getting close...

[jwmiller33]

less than about a month and half until the kings start running! I figured I'd start a thread to get all of us salivating for the amazing spring of Alaskan salmon fishing! Good luck to all that are heading up to God's country!!

Wolverine Creek for the reds

Deshka River King Salmon

The Little Susitna River with some early morning hog

Little Su King

Backtrolling on the Little Su

Another Little Su King

[jwmiller33]

Giant King Salmon from the Talkeetna River near Denali National Park

More from Talkeetna

Cook Inlet

GLASS!!!

[Sherpa]

Awesome. Can't wait to get back up this summer. I'm thinking the last week of July through the first two weeks of August this year. Are you going up for the early run Kings?

[kgpcr4]

I am heading up again this summer from July 18-31st. Kenai reds and kings then to my buddies place in Homer for halibut and lings. The silvers should be around by then as well.

[jwmiller33]

Sherpa, the last two years we have went in June for kings and reds. This year we wanted to do something a little different and we are going to go up for silvers most likely in August.

How far out do you plan your trips usually? It'd gotta be nice having your old man up there with a plain ready to run and gun upon your arrival. I'm very jealous of what you have got going for yourself up there. Maybe you can show me some of your secret spots if we ever happen to be up there at the same time.

[fivebucks]

Hit Cabelas over the weekend buying stuff for a trip to Seward to visit old friends and then to the Alagnek out in Bristol to visit some new friends. I almost don't even care about the walleye opener (almost). 5 years is too long between trips up there.

[jwmiller33]

What'd ya get at the big C store? I stocked up on my Blue Fox Vibrax spinners... Those are my 'go to' bait for the kings and I am going to give em a shot for the silvers as well.

What kind of fishing are you going to be doing while your up there?

[fivebucks]

All we have are the neopreme waders so we upgraded and got some light gortex type waders with wading boots. They will travel much better. They had a deal going for their credit card people that you get so much off for spending in different increments. We spent between 300-400 so we got $70 off our bill. I haven't even started on getting my lures together. Oh my

[jwmiller33]

nothing like having a good pair of waders for up there. that is probably the most important thing to not go cheap on for Alaska... the river water in Alaska is sooo cold, being that it is either glacial melt or snow melt coming down from the mountains, it is easy to get cold after only a few minutes standing in that water unless you have some heavy duty waders. water temp is usually mid 30s on the Deshka and Little Su when we went the last 2 years

You can always get all the tackle you need up there. Sometimes it is hard to find the right stuff for that type of fishing here in MN. The funny thing about Alaska is you can buy kwik fish, spin n glo's, blue fox vibrax spinners and anything else you need just about anywhere from a gas station to a grocery store.

[Sherpa]

Sherpa, the last two years we have went in June for kings and reds. This year we wanted to do something a little different and we are going to go up for silvers most likely in August.

How far out do you plan your trips usually? It'd gotta be nice having your old man up there with a plain ready to run and gun upon your arrival. I'm very jealous of what you have got going for yourself up there. Maybe you can show me some of your secret spots if we ever happen to be up there at the same time.

That is cool that you guys decided to switch it up. I love silvers. They are probably my favorite salmon to fish for. They can be so aggressive sometimes. Do you have any areas in mind already?

I usually try to plan 2 or 3 months ahead of time. I hope to decide for sure when I'm going and buy a ticket in the next couple days. I am so lucky to be able to spend the amount of time that I have up there. It's nice not to have to worry to much about planning with family being there already. His plane has really been the icing on the cake the last few years. I can't get enough of that thing. If we wind up in AK at the same time I would be happy to show you some spots.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. Bolos are one of my favorite lure for silvers. I can never find them here but they always have them up there. Not much different than a vibrax but I always grab a few of each .

[fishkid]

let me know when you guys come up if your around the anchorage area. i live north of there like 30 minutes and i am always down to go fishing. just finished up buying my fly rod set up for this year 6wt 9' tfo with a ross fly rise and cortland line

[Sherpa]

I'm headed up on Monday for a week. No specific plans for while I'm there yet. Just excited to see my dad and brothers and spend some time with them. I did tell my dad I would do some work around the house for him but that stuff usually gets put off for more pressing issues like flying, fishing, working on the boat and plane.....etc. I would love to try for kings if possible. A week just isn't enough time do all of the stuff I would like to do. That being said, it would be cool to meet up with you Fishkid if time allows. I'll be back in July/August for another three weeks too. Can't wait to get there. This week is going to take forever.

[fishkid]

well buddy here ya go hope these dont get deleted. its a snag fishery so its tough to take a pic of a "alive" fish after snagging them and bringing them in. did pretty well the last day and a half in seward for the fresh sockeye salmon. even cut a hunk off my first one and ate some sushi. 651 235 4522 give me a call if ya want to get out fishin i got work off monday and tuesday. heres a few teasers for you guys

[fishkid]

sherpa i forgot to mention the russian river opens up this saturday and i was thinking about heading down there on monday and tuesday possibly.

[Sherpa]

Nice pics Fishkid. Can't wait to get into some of those fish. I don't arrive until late Monday night actually 12:30am Tuesday morning. Tuesday would probably be to early to ditch out and go fishing. I'll still try to shoot you a call or something. Maybe we can hit something more local if that's an option someday after your done with work. If not maybe just grab a beer or something. My dad lives in Birchwood too so were not to far from eachother. Hopefully we can work something out but don't hold it against me if it doesn't happen. My biggest priority is seeing the family and time always seems to run short.

[fishkid]

ya i totally under stand. we could maybe go up bow fishin on the parks if it happens either way. just let me know

[jwmiller33]

fishkid, check your PMs, I sent you one

[Sherpa]

That would be cool too. I haven't fished for bows in a while.

[Mike_Top]

exactly 1 week I'll be on a plane to anchorage. CAN'T WAIT. We're going fishing either kings or reds, and then rainbows. can't contain my excitement so I had to share!

My friend that I'm visiting is planning things, he said we could fish kings and have a chance at a few trophies, or fish reds and probably have a better shot at catching a lot of fish...does this sound right? either way it sounds good to me..

[fishkid]

if you fish for reds you will most likely catch alot more fish and you will probably fishing the russian river from what i hear they have had great counts so far and fathers day weekend is looking to be amazing. hike up away from the crowds and you will do good

[Mike_Top]

Sounds like we're heading out with drifter's lodge, and either fishing the upper kenai for rainbows or the russian for reds and rainbows. This way we'll be able to fly fish...I honestly don't really care what we do, whether fishing halibut or kings or 'bows or reds or rock fish/cod...all that matters to me is being up there. Sooo hard to focus on work right now! good luck fishing up there fishkid

[fishkid]

samesies

[fishkid]

just got back from the russian river...will put up a post and pics tommorow. limits of reds and grizzly encounters what can beat that

[Mike_Top]

Just got back to MN. We spent most of our time on shore on the russian and kenai rivers and got to experience the combat fishing. I'd never done snag fishing before so it was tough to figure out...those reds take off like missiles when hooked. I lost a bunch of hooked fish but that seemed to be pretty common as I watched other people lose a lot of fish too. Did get to eat some fresh salmon though, we took the fillets straight from the Russian to my cousin's house in Soldotna. Can't beat eating a salmon 1 hr after it was swimming up the river!!!