Alaska Salmon Fishing

alaska salmon fishing

Alaska Salmon Fishing Charters

There is nothing like the feeling of a giant Alaska King salmon on the end of your line. Your adrenaline starts pumping while your angry King strips out 100 yards of line in nothing flat. It takes both hands on the rod to hold your tip up so he doesn’t snap the line.

Finally your experienced salmon fishing guide decides this monster of a King is not stopping. So he puts the boat in gear and starts chasing this mad Alaska King down before you get spooled.

Now, you are finally able to use one of your hands to start reeling in some of that line that he stripped out. Kings don’t give up easily, though, as they shake their head back and forth trying to throw the hook and this one is going to make sure you earn every inch of line you bring in.

Do you want a salmon fishing experience like this one? Many of our returning guests at Sitka Point Lodge have that same experience year after year. We would like the same for you.

Sitka Alaska King Salmon

Sitka’s King salmon fishery is #1. Just check out the Alaska Department of Fish & Game website and look up the amount of rod hours it takes to catch a King. We have the lowest rod hours in the region. Sitka is located on Baranof Island with Sitka Sound opening up to the Pacific Ocean.

Sitka has a year round feeder King population that allows for a winter commercial troll opening. Sitka also has a King hatchery that has several thousand returning King salmon in the early spring. The best time to come for King salmon on your Alaska fishing vacation would be the months of May and June.

Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha – Alaska King Salmon Biology

The Alaska King salmon, also known as (Chinook Salmon) is the largest fish of all the pacific salmon species. Which makes it the most sought after salmon in Alaska. The Alaska state record for a sport caught King salmon is 97.25 lbs. The largest on record for a commercial caught King salmon was 126 lbs. in 1949.

Alaska King salmon are described as chrome bright on the sides with a purplish hue when first caught. They have irregular spots on their back and usually on both lobes of the tale and gums are very dark to black.

King salmon are anadromous like all other species of pacific salmon. Their life begins in fresh water, after they hatch they spend the majority of their life in the ocean to feed and grow, and then return to spawn in the stream system where their life began.

Chinook salmon may become sexually mature from their second through seventh year of life, this makes the size range of any spawning run of fish have a large size range. A four- year-old will probably weigh less than 8 pounds, while a seven-year-old may exceed 50 pounds. The fish we catch in Sitka range from 15 to over 50 pounds. Salmon grow rapidly in the saltwater and can gain up to a pound a week during the summer season.

Sport Fishing For Alaska Silver Salmon

If you have never experienced the feeding frenzy of a large school of Alaska silver salmon, then you are really missing out on something special. Alaskan silvers are voracious eaters…biting just about anything you throw at them.

Though silvers are not as heavy and strong as the King salmon, they can still hold their own. Silver salmon are the masters at throwing the hook…they leap several feet out of the water, constantly shaking their head and darting in all directions.

They will even run straight at the boat faster than you can reel in the slack, sometimes smacking the side of the boat. You have to really be on your toes when everyone on board has a hook up. Even though our professional salmon fishing guide makes, keeping all your lines from getting tangled and landing all the salmon seem effortless…it really is quite a feat. Now it’s time to get all those hooks re-baited and back in the water as quick as possible while the silvers are still biting. Now that’s how Alaska salmon fishing is suppose to be. So come to Sitka Point Lodge where salmon fishing is our second nature.

Oncorhynchus Kisutch – Alaska Silver Salmon Biology

Alaska silver salmon, also known as (Coho Salmon) are absolutely silver bright while in the ocean and are distinguished by black spots on the back and upper tail. They have white to gray gums. Silver salmon usually travel and feed in large schools which makes them easy to spot with an electronic fish finder.

Silver salmon average a weight of about 8 lbs. during the month of July while gaining about a pound a week through the end of summer and into the early fall. 12 to 15 lb. silvers are not uncommon in late August.