Salmon fishing excursion recommendations please!

[antnjen]

Hi all! 

 

We are cruising on Celebrity Millennium in July, northbound, and would like to book a salmon fishing excursion, preferably out of Juneau (that seems to fit our schedule the best).  Can anyone recommend a great company to work with?  Are all salmon fishing excursions trolling?  One of my sons really wants to know...

 

Thanks in advance!

[Anita Latte]

I’ve read a lot of trip reports of Alaska and I have only ever read of one fishing excursion in Juneau. It was a shore fishing excursion, basically standing on a dock. Because of the requirement on this board for only recommending excursions people have been on, I question whether you will get many responses.

 

We went fishing in Juneau. We packed our own rods and equipment, rented a car, and fished from the shore. We started with the following document and kept researching the spots by reading fishing forums, etc.

 

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static-sf/Region1/guides/PDFs/jnu_fishingspots.pdf

 

With shore fishing, you have to be aware of the tides, because that greatly impacts the fishing. The tides can vary by 20-30 feet and this greatly affects when the fish start heading for the fresh water. The way we understand it, in Juneau the salmon come bay into the bay waters and hang out there for a period of time. Then, at some point they head to the rivers for their final run. If you fish from shore, you are generally trying to hang out close to where the rivers hit the bay waters...and as you can imagine, the tides will affect whether or not the salmon are heading for the rivers. 

 

In Juneau area, the impression we got was that most of the river fishing was smaller river water fishing. Not really anything that would have a boat...more like waders. We went fishing in the Kenai River and that is big, long water and we had a guided boat journey to go up and down the river, stop and get out. I don’t think the river waters are quite like that in Juneau.

 

Therefore, I believe that most excursions will be salt water. Fishing the bay waters won’t have quite the restrictions of best time of day as the tide affected shore and rivers. Taking a look at the salmon seasons, you’ll have a good shot at King Salmon fishing. Fishing on the water will also likely be more pleasant than the shore because of mosquitoes. They are ferocious at the shore where there is so much exposed ground at low tide. Perfect mosquito breeding ground.

 

In Juneau, we learned that there are two king salmon runs. The earlier run is the native population and the latter run is the result of the work of the local hatchery. The earlier run has more fishing restrictions than the latter run so that works in your favor.

 

IDK if the fishing is troll fishing. If I were trying to plan a fishing excursion, I’d be looking at reviews over on Trip Advisor. And possibly reading the Juneau forum over there. I would also call the tour guides and just talk to them. We worked with many local tour guides when doing our plans. By and large, they are all so easy to talk to. Get the conversation going, explaining what you are hoping to experience and see if you click with someone. You will be spending time with them...it’d be good to get a feel for them.

 

Happy planning!

[wolfie11]

Yes, the fishing charters in Juneau are trolling.  You can book thru the ship or directly with one of the charter brokers in Juneau.  The are numerous six-pack charter boats out of Auke Bay.  It looks like this year king salmon will be catch and release...

Edited March 27, 2019 by wolfie11

[Suzanne123]

If you decide against trolling, my husband used these guys in Juneau a couple times, but I think he caught Dolly Varden.  I guess it depends on the time of year.  He booked the first time through the cruise line.

http://www.juneauflyfishing.com/fishing_trips.html