The American Beagler Forum

Alright guys heres the situation:

Ill be graduating from college in May. As a graduation gift from my dad we are going to be heading up to alaska during the first to middle part of may. Since everyone here is the outdoors type I figured some of you may have been to alaska and can reccommend a good place to go. Were looking to fish/hunt (although i dont know what you would hunt in may) and want to know who has been and your thoughts. Or if you have another place you would reccommend that may be a better place to go during that time of the year we are all ears. Looking forward to your suggestions.

Keith

Oh i dont know....Sarah Palin's house.LOL It is very beautiful country for sure. Ive never been but I sure hope u have a great time and a safe trip. Congrats on finishing school. That is great. Congrats again.

If i was going to alaska to hunt and fish i would go to Pininsula and get hooked up with John McClung

We went to Alaska last June. We did the 7 day Alaskian cruise and was in a different city about every day. The only places i went were places you can get to by a cuise ship. Probably my favorite place we went was Ketchikan, Alaska. It is the salmon capital of the world and the fishing was awesome! We fished at other cities we stopped at but Ketchikan was the only place we caught anything. Didnt do any hunting up there....only fished. We actually talked about going back this summer and just fly in to Ketchikan and fish for a few days but we ended up going to Minnisota fishing instead.
If you go to Alaska make sure you bring warm cloths and rain gear. I can about guarantee that you wont see 70 degrees even if you go in the summer and it will rain about every day your there.
There used to be a guy on here that went by "Rimfirematt" or something close to that that lives somewhere in Alaska that could help you the most.

Go to Soldotna and fish the Kenai River for salmon. All you need is some Vibrax spinners. Number 4 and 5 size work best with the number 4 being my overall favorite. We fish from the shoreline walkways that are provided for public fishing and protecting the shoreline from erosion.

Be very careful about the fishing regulations concerning single versus treble hooks and barbless hooks. They vary from place to place and limits change during the year. The penalties can be stiff and they don't know leniency. This comment about penalties is based on conversations with locals, not personal experience.

You may want to also visit the Homer spit. Good fishing if you catch the timing right. Tide etc. The location has some interesting geological hisory. It was created by a massive earthquake.

For siteseeing info and a great information resource get a copy of the Milepost. You can get it by calling 1-800-726-4707. It will cost about $35 and is well worth it.

Tom aka rinkydink

I was born and raised in Metlakatla (reservation)what is 13 miles from ketchikan. Ketchikan is where us natives buy are booz, groceries, and go to The theaters Ect.. it is a great little place with good fishing waters. So id second that motion... unfortunately I'm here in Michigan.

thanks guys. ill look into everything you suggested. anyone else?

you should check into their spring bear season, not sure when it runs but I know they hunt from boats glassing for bears coming out and filling up on the salt grass. Big bears, beautiful coats and the boat hunt is cool.. They glass from the boat spotting bears, then take you into shore in a zodiac for a final stalk. Accomadations are pretty good I here and a lot of the boats set crab traps etc while you are hunting so you are eating fresh seafood the whole time. Heard a lot of good about it. I would google black bear hunting from boats in alaska. Good luck, congratulations on your education. In todays world it is a necessity!

We have friends in Soldotna, the Kenai river is a great place to fish. However, we went in June during the 3rd week and the Reds were just starting to run. We were there before the combat fishing and I managed to catch a king salmon too. If you are going in May, you will probably do better chartering out in the big water for your fish... I could be wrong tho... You might want to look at Alaska's hunting and fishing website, they could give you more information.

Good luck and have fun!
Emery