King Salmon Fishing in Alaska | Kingfisher Lodge

King Salmon Fishing in Alaska

King salmon fishing at Alaska’s fishing lodge, Kingfisher Lodge in Craig, Alaska is an ideal Alaska adventure trip for first-timers or experienced fisherman. At Kingfisher Lodge, your Alaskan fishing guide, will usually make salmon fishing the first order of the day, allowing members of his daily fishing expeditions to max out on their daily Alaskan salmon quota, before moving on to other species, like halibut, ling cod , red snapper, black bass or other rock fish.

Mooching for king salmon
The vast majority of the salmon caught around Prince of Wales Island by sportfishers every summer are taken mooching. Alaska fishing guides attach 6 foot leaders rigged with double hooks in either 3/0-4/0 or 4/0-5/0 are attached to a 4 to 6 ounce banana weight and with the boat moving forward slightly these rigs are then dropped at a controlled rate until they reach the bottom, or a predetermined cutoff depth. At that point the reel is kicked into gear and the herring is reeled slowly through a determined water column generally near the bottom one third of depth. After working this area for a short time the bait should be checked, it is not unusual for salmon to bite when the bait nears the surface so a person should be prepared for that bite further up near the surface as well. Alaska king salmon can be feeding at virtually any depth in the waters around Prince of Wales archipelago, thus the mooching method is a great way to cover the entire water column.

One critical element of this technique is the movement of the boat. A stationary boat will cause the baits to drop straight down, causing the herring and leader to wind up the line as the bait travels toward bottom, with a slight line angle this tangling can be avoided and the herring will travel out of the mainlines path as it drops.

Feeder king salmon are available year round, but the real action starts around Craig, and the Prince of Wales area the first or second week of June when the Alaska king salmon migration gets into full swing.
If there were a slightly more productive time to catch a trophy Alaska king salmon it would likely be from the last week of June thru the end of July when the large Skeena strain of kings are moving thru. Trophy class kings are caught throughout May, June, July, and into early August. Working the kelp lines and structure with a well-spun cut plug herring can put you face to face with a slab king any day of the week from early May till mid August.
With trophy class kings available hooks need to be sharp, bait fresh, line and leaders free of frays, and rods and reels need to be in top working order. There's nothing like hooking up with one of these explosive beasts this is, after all, the big leagues of king salmon fishing.
Bait, structure, and currents draw large fish to these areas each and every year and fish in the 50's, 60's, and even 70's are taken from this productive Prince of Wales area on a yearly basis. Trophy kings are certainly caught elsewhere, but the majority of the Alaskan anglers and Alaska charter captains searching for a wall hanger king fish the Noyes Island, and Prince of Wales area.

Alaska Fishing Lodge