Alaska vaction next july any recommendation from this itinerary

[MN_Iceman]

Thinking about going up to Alaska and have begun to set things up. I am looking at heading up there the first week in July with my wife. I have started a itinerary of things to do and seeing if anyone has any information / suggestions. We both like to fish/hike/ be outside.

Fly into Anchorage and spend the night there. First morning take a train down to Steward. Spend the next 2 days in Steward at the Kenai national park. Ocean tour / hiking in the park. Next rent a car and travel to Soldotna / Kenai. Spend a 3 days there fishing / hiking. Then head down to Homer for a Halibut trip. Spend 1-2 days there. Then drive back to Anchorage. I have a few questions about this area / trip.

Is it easy to find a place to stay with a RV if I decide to rent one rather than a car? Is there places to just pull in or do I have to get reservations months in advance?

Does anyone have any advice of a charter boat in Kenai / Soldotna / homer for salmon and Hailbut fishing?

Would it be better to take a charter boat out of Steward for a day of fishing?

How hard is it to just go out on your own and fish for some salmon from shore in these areas. I have never fished salmon but have fished for everything else under the sun. This might just be a day with the wife that turns into an extra fishing trip.

How far in advance do I usually have to book a charter trip?

Are there any recommendations for lodging in Kenai / Soldotna? Maybe stay in one place for 3-4 days and just take day trips from a base camp.

Any information would be great. I am just weighing my options between renting a RV or staying in a hotel / resort for the entire trip.

Thanks

[traveler]

I'll give it a shot...first week of July isn't great; it's between the peaks for the kenai king runs, too early for 2nd run reds on the kenai, too ealry for Seward (not steward:) silver salmon. Try to go mid-June or mid-end of July, or even August, although that takes you out of king season. The Anch-Seward train is great, but I'd base your car rental out of Anchorage. Do the round trip train to Seward, then get your car back in Anchorage for the rest of the trip. You really can't spend time at Kenai Fijords park; it's all remote boat/air access. But spending a couple days in Seward, taking a tour boat into the park, doing the walk up glacier, a halibut charter...all good. We love Seward:) I prefer it to Homer, the butt fishing is comparable too. Plan on a day or more in Cooper landing, halfway to Soldotna from Seward. Beautiful area, best hiking on the peninsula, and your first taste of the Kenai river. The Soldotna/kenai area isn't NEAR as cool, great fishing, but do your charters (or shore fishing for reds) and move along. Yes, you can pull over and RV (or tent) most anywhere, not near as picky about that as around here. Finding a hookup spot for an RV without reservations would be tough though. If you go the RV route, I'd have a few reservations made in advance, and wing it the rest. If you dicide to do cabins/motels, reservations are a must, and that means tighter planning. Plenty of shore fishing to be done along the kenai and other rivers, and tons of charters to be had. Decide on your itinerary and time frame, then come back for some specifics on charter info. I'd be making reservations for an RV soon, for cabins/charters, by the first of the year, the best go fast. I can gaurentee you my favorite Kenai guide is already virtually full for next July (the last 2 weeks anyway). Good luck; the planning is half the fun! Well, not really, but it's something...

[Flatlander]

This is what I did this summer-

Flew into Anchorage on July 3rd. Drove up to Willow on the morning of the 4th to catch our bush flight to Chelatna Lake. Found the Trading Post in Willow about 4 PM (right after we found out we wouldn't fly that day). Drank really good beer with some locals and a very cute bar maid until about midnight.

We got a short window of decent weather, so we were able to fly out on the 5th. Floated Lake Creek for 5 days, catching obnoxious numbers of big rainbows, grayling and very red kings.

Returned to Anchorage and picked up the rental truck. Four of us couldn't fit into my buddies s-10. We drove down to Seward on the 10th and camped at the town campground. Talking with the gals at Puffin Charters that night, it didn't look too promising for our combo trip the next day. Boats weren't making it out of the bay for close to a week, with the weather. Thankfully, we had a great capt., and good people on the boat. It took about an hour for all 10 people to catch 3 silvers apiece. Then it was decision time. Capt. Hoolie said he could get us out to a chicken patch(only 15 mile run), but if anyone kept a Ling Cod out there, we couldn't come back for 3 more salmon.

Long story short- we all caught our 2 chickens(15-30 lbs.), and the only legal Ling got off at the boat. So, we headed back to the bay for some more crazy Silver action. 30 silvers and 8 black bass later, we headed back to the marina. 10 people- 60 silvers, 20 Halibut and 8 Black Rock Fish, what a day.

Left Seward that night and drove to the Russian. Camped and fished the Kenai and Russian for a day. Really nice rainbows in the Russian, and between the 4 of us, we caught 3 nice reds.

Headed back to Anchorage the evening of the 12th, and started brining silvers for smoking. Friday the 13th, we got our stuff put back together somewhat, smoked a pile of Silvers and then had a little R&R. It's a little crowded, but the Alaska Bush Company is a lively establishment. Got up the next morning, packed everything up and flew home at 1:30 Sat afternoon(14th).

So, that is my 2007, 12 day trip to Alaska. Can't wait until 2009.

By bmaines at 2007-08-16

[dss44]

Ever though of BC?? Just as good, lower price.

[Gotem]

Just curious, but how can you keep 6 silvers a person? I was up this summer and we did a halibut/silver combo and only kept 3 per person. Just wondering.

[traveler]

Limits vary...it's 6 silvers in the salt out of Seward.

[Flatlander]

In the bay you can keep 6. We hit Pony Cove first, and everyone had 3 apiece in about 2 hours. It was too rough to head out to the Capt's good halibut spots, but he was able to get to a chicken patch. We had a legal ling up to the boat, but didn't boat it. So, no lings in the boat. Had we kept one, we would have been done for the day, as you can't keep lings in the bay. But, as it was, we headed back to the bay and caught 3 more silvers apiece, along with a half dozen black bass. We missed as many silvers as we caught. Talk about a perfect day of fishing.

[Gotem]

We fished out of Homer, so it must be a little different in that area. I sure wish we could have kept 6, because smoked salmon is the best!

[PRFISHER]

Just booked flights for the 12th - 19th of July....

12 of us going should be a hoot.

can't wait....