Alaska Excursions

Alaska Excursions

Wide range of glorious day trips throughout Southcentral Alaska.

Anchorage: //Mostly cloudy

Fairbanks: -23°/-15°/Partly cloudy

Juneau: 25°/29°/Flurries

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Western Alaska fishing

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More on Fishing by Region

Regional fishing

Guide Mike Vaughan works the oars on a drift boat during an April snowfall on the Situk River near Yakutat while fishing for steelhead.

Where to find the fish and how to get there.

Directory of fishing guides and charters

Western Alaska fishing

Fishing is legendary in Western Alaska -- big country where the largest salmon runs meet the largest bears.

Southeast Alaska fishing

Rugged landforms make Southeast Alaska a beautiful place to fish, and the deep, cold waters of the Alexander Archipelago are home to enormous halibut and schools of salmon. Inland waters feature rainbow trout, and rivers often have Dolly Varden and steelhead.

Southcentral Alaska fishing

Anglers in Southcentral Alaska can choose between flying out to the Bush, driving to dozens of salmon streams or fishing for 40-pound kings a few hundred yards from tall hotels in downtown Anchorage.

Northern Alaska fishing

Anglers pursue Arctic grayling, northern pike and sheefish across Northern Alaska.

As fish return to spawn, anglers score big with sockeye salmon and trout

Fishing is legendary in Western Alaska -- big country where the largest salmon runs meet the largest bears.

State records of three species have been taken from the rich waters of the Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak Island and the national wildlife refuges.

And the world's richest salmon fishery, Bristol Bay near Dillingham, floods dozens of rivers with red (sockeye) salmon. Forty million reds head for the lakes off Bristol Bay each June and July, and 80 percent of the country's reds are processed at canneries and on ships in the bay.

The summer really has two seasons. After the salmon spawn upriver and in lakes, they become useless as game fish. But anglers latch on to rainbow trout, which are fattening themselves on salmon eggs and smolt.

Top sportfish of Western Alaska

King salmon (chinook) Red salmon (sockeye) Silver salmon (coho) Rainbow trout Steelhead trout Dolly Varden Arctic char Arctic grayling Northern pike Sheefish Whitefish Halibut