SportFishing and Charters Forum - Anchorage Alaska

Anyone ever fish around Anchorage in June? Looking for feedback.

GR,

You may want to shoot a PM to fellow THT member RBHANKINS001. He has a charter business "Fish Alaska Charters" in Gustavus, AK. but he has worked all over Alaska including Anchorage. He is down in Venice, LA. doing an overnighter tonight but he is always posting on THT. He will give you the real scoop.

J

Describe fishing "around" Anchorage. You talking about north or south of Anchorage? Seward or Homer are great for halibut. (south) Willow is great for salmon.(north) Where abouts you talkin' about? Alaska is one huge state

Yup, gotta narrow it down a bit. Lots of directions to head out of Anchorage. I've done 4 trips to the Kenai peninsula via Anchorage...very good halibut fishing out of Whittier, Seward, or Homer,
June is good king fishing... Many of the rivers on the peninsula (and some fly-out locacations) are very good in June, but it is salmon so timing can be touchy...generally earlier in the month for many of the fisheries.
The Kenai itself has first run fish in June, it's the smaller of the 2 runs and sometimes has limitations depending on the year.
The Russian river has 1st run reds starting June 15, peaking around the 25th, it's a fun shore fishery (although very busy) and a good way to put fish in the cooler.
Trout are generally slower in June, but available.
Theres good fishing in the rivers north of Anchorage (but still fairly close) but I haven't been up there...good luck with the search:)

In June if you want the big Salmon hit the Kenai for Kings (chinook) and like MNmon said the Russian River gets going in June also. Seward or Homer would be good for Halibut. The rivers North of Anchorage have had horible years lately and have actually been closed to some species with low escapments. If you can do a fly out there are other rivers that have good king runs becides the Kenai. The Russian river would be an experience you would probably never forget as we locals call it full combat fishing and you should bring a pair of safety glasses to protect your eyes from all the flies and lead weights flying around. The people will be thick and it will be shoulder to shoulder with fisherman for a mile or more, plus there are a few brown bears that hang around there and "visit" the people fishing. June is typically a good weather month for the area and there are some good tides for clam digging in Ninilchik, Anchorpoint or Clam Gulch which all are south of Anchorage towards Homer. The other River that typically pics up good in June is the Kasilof River. There are some small to medium size Kings 25-40 lbs in that river and can be fished from shore without a boat. I would not recommend fishing for Kings from shore in the Kenai as the current is pretty good and it is a very small chance you would ever land one of any size. Depending on the time of June the Kenai also has a size restriction on King Salmon. Hope this helps some.

Can't believe I spaced mentioning the Kasilof...very nice river, with good kings as AKangler said. One of the best chances at kings from shore, and mostly a drift boat river, so if you have any interest in trying one of those out, there ya go.

What do you want to fish for? Do you want to go offshore (deep sea) or river or both? How many days do you have to fish and travel?

I am a professional guide in Alaska (and have been for years) and I used to work on the Kenai peninsula.

There are so many opportunities . . . just need some more info.

I will even tell you some good places to eat and stay.

I still have a list of halibut and salmon gps numbers for Cook Inlet and Homer (my little secret paper haha).

P.S. Are you already going to Anchorage or planning a trip?

-Rob

This may help you a bit. This is the link to the Alaska Dept of Fish and Game sonar counts for the rivers in Alaska. This way you can see what is the typical time fish show up and what species should be where you want to fish. http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/FishCounts/

Ship Creek.

Thanks fellas....exactly what I was looking for!

rbhankins...I'm going first week of June