moving to ak, fishing equip advice

[live4chrome]

Hey all,

Minnesota resident here moving to anchorage for the summer, and looking into picking up what ever fiahing gear i might need while working at a sporting store. Specificaly, gear for river fishing and shore fishing. I am bringing a 7 and 8 weight fly rod, but wanna get a spey and another centerpin rod. What wt centerpin and spey rod should i be looking at? I have some 8-10 foot medium shore casting rods that will be coming along too.

Tldr: moving to alaska, what do i need for river fishing salmon/steelies? I am very experienced with north shore steelhead but never fished ocean run fish. What do i need for kings?

[fishkid]

if you bring a medium heavy 7 to 8 foot ugly stick you can catch any salmon up here. its the rod i use if i am not using my 9 wt. idk anything about spey casting so i am no help there. if your up for only the summer dont worry about steel head since they run in the fall and early winter. sockeye fishing requires a hook with yarn on it and a weight.all you do is flip out the rig 20 feet and let it drift down and pull up slow. your just hoping that the line between the hookand the sinker gets caught in their mouth and you basically snag them. only fish snaged in the mouth may be kept. kings silver chums and pinks will all bite on vibrexes. bigger ones for kings and smaller ones for the other salmon. you can also buy eggs and soak them in some waters. if you have a couple poles like you mentioned and what i said bring them. all the other gear is way cheaper up here then it is in mn.let me know if you have any more questions. i live in birchwood which is only like 20 minfrom los anchorage

[live4chrome]

Great, i really appreciate the help fish kid! Been trying to get out of mn for a summer and this is going to be the one. Sounds like i really have every thing i need already. For the vibraxes are we talking size 5-6 for kings and 2-3s for the others?

[fishkid]

5-6 for kings and i normally huck 3's and 4's for silvers. make sure you keep the single hook that comes with them because some times the rivers go to single hook only.

[live4chrome]

Great! I normally must use the single h ooks anyways. If. I end up n

[live4chrome]

Are there any saltwater kayak fishing opportunities in your area. I wont be far from you fish kid. Maybe we could meet up and teach me some things.

[fishkid]

i know people fish out of kyaks down by ninilchick and homer out from the beach bluff and you could also do it out of seward when the silvers are in. i have not done it at all so i dont have much info on it.

[mainbutter]

No joke, I use the $30 spinning rod and reel + lure combos (often don't use the lures though) from wal-mart in anchorage for salmon fishing. It's cheaper than checking my rod case and I just need to huck heavy lures a short distance and reel them in. There is no waiting for an investigative bite from a feeding walleye, just the crush of a salmon taking a lure in current.

Catching silver, pink, and chum salmon in streams isn't rocket science.. just cast and do some combination of reeling or drifting spoons, inline spinners. The only tricky part is being on the right water at the right time.

Sizes and colors are an evolving opinion of mine. I used to think I could only catch silvers on the right color of pixee spoon (with the pink insert) in the bigger size. However last time I went silver fishing in the streams around Cordova, I hit the jackpot bringing some of my pike and (small) homemade musky spinners along to show off. Silver double willow leaf blades in size 4 was a KILLER because it moved super fast through the water, and I even caught enough silvers on a purple DOUBLE COLORADO BLADE SIZE 6 spinner to destroy the shaft after a day of fishing. I'm glad I brought along extra parts to rebuild it.

TLDR: cheap spinning outfit, spoons, inline spinners catch silver salmon. Colors and sizes may vary.

[fishkid]

good advice. i have tried soft jerk baits before for silver for a little bit just messsin around never got any to bite. i got a few other lures from mn i am going to try. its funny the looks you get from people when you start riggen up soft plastics. but they also laughed at me when i broke a branch off a tree and tied 20 feet of mono to it with a hook and sinker and was flossin reds in the kenai!

[live4chrome]

Just got into anchorage after a long drive from men. If anyone wants a fishing partner or two myself and buddy are more than willing to throw some gas $ down to get out on a boat.we will be moving to soldotna eventually

[fishkid]

there aint much for fishing right now...there are charters running out of homer where you could go catch halibut or possibly kings. this is the worst time of the year up here. june is when it starts getting fun. where you guys going to be working.

[mainbutter]

Ditto on a simple setup like mentioned above - cheap MH rod, reel that won't break on you.

Ditto on blue fox Vibrax (and other) inline spinners. I have caught all species of salmon (except reds) on 'em, and I will always have them in my box. I have even caught silvers and chums on home-made double #6 colorado blade inline spinners, and it wasn't just the big ones biting. Small spinners work just as well for me, but I like to use heavy hooks and line to muscle any fish I hook into away from other fishermen near me and not disrupt or tangle them.

I also REALLY like blue fox pixee spoons, in the larger/heavier size with silver spoon and pink insert.

[live4chrome]

Been living in soldotna the last few months and have A pretty good feel for the area. Figured out how to catch halibut in the surf and have 2 more species of salmon to catch so I can say I have caught all 5( chum and silver)