I am considering taking my son (14) fishing in Alaska and would like to hear from the board on suggestions and guide services. This would be river/stream fishing and not really interested in offshore fishing. Thank you in advance for your comments.

We hunted silvers with Alaskan Expedition Company. Super experience and great fishing

Los of options. I have fished Alaska the past three summers.

My dad and I used a Kenai guide service called "Fishing for Fun", it was great for him being a new fly fisher. The technique was rudimentary flossing for salmon, but productive and easy if you put in the effort. I landed 30 fish on that day. Price was great too, $350 total.

My other trips have been with local friends who know the area. If you want trout action for rainbows, AK beats anything in the lower 48. I have fished Cooper landing in a drift style boat and a few of their lakes in the Palmer area.

My personal favorite was fishing the creeks up by Talkeetna for rainbows during a salmon run. The bows are super aggressive going after egg patterns and the technique is really easy. You use 15-20 pound leader believe it or not. Trout averaged 18 inches and we always caught a lot!

I also learned a new technique called mousing, using gigantic mouse flies to slap the water. Whatever reason it pisses off the fish and they go right after it. I have a whole case of these mouse flies now and use them in the lower 48 to great affect.

No specific guide recs for the bows, but all these locations are a short drive from Anchorage and if you plan right can be cheap logistically. Guides in AK are plentiful and many are excellent.

Hell you can hire me next July for free when I go back to fish for bows during the King run.

Alaska Sportsmans Lodge is fantastic - www.fishasl.com

https://aniakriverlodge.com/

Best cold water fishing trip I've ever been on. Very beginner friendly fly fishing, Caught 60-80 fish per day. The smallest rainbow I caught was 20".

I am sure it might not be quite the same these days, but we spent a couple of summers in Alaska back in the mid 70s and would just drive places and when we got tired of driving, we would find a good looking set of pools along whatever river we were driving along and just stop fo fish for a few hours. We rarely caught anything huge, but we caught Dolly Varden and Grayling until we were tired of catching fish. As a kid, it was nearly perfect fishing. Big enough fish to feel proud of what we were catching and walking the banks of those streams was just a lot of fun. Not sure if you are looking to bring back trophies or a lot of meat, but if not, there is a ton of great inland fishing in Alaska that doesn't require a guide service to access.

I highly recommend Boo Kandas out of Soldotna and Homer. Great guy and you'll have a lot of fun. We've used him both times we've been to Alaska for offshore and river trips with great results.

https://alaskafishingtrips.biz/charter-captains-guides.php

king salmon lodge in Bristol Bay. they offer guided fishing trips on the naknek river as well as guided bear watching trips. they are built on the river with a dock and float planes.

go in late summer when the silvers are running. it was always our favorite time of year to rod and reel fish.

I am by no means an expert, but I do have 1 trip under my belt. We (a group of 12 men) fished the Sockeye Salmon run in the Kenai River about 2 hours south of Anchorage (no guide). The guys who were in charge of the trip have made this trip for 10+ years, so they had a good feel for what and when.

* Our timing was perfect (last week of July). We limited out on Sockeye Salmon everyday.

* It was "combat fishing" - being that close to Anchorage meant that there was a fisherman every 4-5 feet for the 2 mile stretch of river we were at. Still - 99.9% of the people were friendly and worked together to not get in each other's way.

* We had people with us to teach us how to use the flyrods. Being able to have the right technique is EVERYTHING. If you don't have someone who can teach you - get a guide.

https://www.alaskawilderness.com/

Get the floating cabin in Sheep's Bay and thank me later:-)

Thanks everyone... who would have known how expensive these trips can be???

I use to travel there on a monthly basis for meetings and site visits, and had been invited on several occasions to go hunting or fishing - never took anyone up on it. I was traveling A LOT back then and just wanted to get home to my young family at the time. Now that they are teens I should have take some time to myself in retrospect .

As a kid, I lived in Valdez, AK for three years in the 70s. What I remember is, the fish were huge, plentiful and easy to catch. Good luck to you.

HollywoodBQ said:

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As a kid, I lived in Valdez, AK for three years in the 70s. What I remember is, the fish were huge, plentiful and easy to catch. Good luck to you.

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What a small world... I to lived in Valdez in the 70's ('75 to '76) timeframe. My old man was working on the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

coastalaggie said:

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HollywoodBQ said:

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As a kid, I lived in Valdez, AK for three years in the 70s. What I remember is, the fish were huge, plentiful and easy to catch. Good luck to you.

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What a small world... I to lived in Valdez in the 70's ('75 to '76) timeframe. My old man was working on the Trans Alaska Pipeline.

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That's pretty wild. My dad built the tanker berths at the end of the Pipeline.

I went to Kindergarten and First Grade there.
Here's me and my brother in one of the yards where they staged the 48 inch pipe.

This is a small world...
My dad was a pipeline a welder

Do y'all have any recommendations in the Fairbanks area? I will be up there in September with my son.

Magical Unicorn said:

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Do y'all have any recommendations in the Fairbanks area? I will be up there in September with my son.

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I was up there for work this last September actually...you're gonna miss the heart of the Salmon run unfortunately. We didn't do any guided fishing mostly due to this as well as budgetary constraints, but we fished the Chatanika North of town one day for Grayling and did really well. Accessed the river from the Olnes pond campground area.
Second day we drove South about 2 hours to the Delta Clearwater River to try and catch the beginning of the Coho/silver run. There's a VERY limited public access area by the lodge there and the fish hadn't made it upriver that far yet so we struck out...you really need a boat to fish this river effectively at all, IMO. If you don't mind the drive down and are after salmon specifically, I'd try to book a guide to take you down to the mouth of the Delta Clearwater. You should be able to catch the very beginning of the run doing this, but the scenery on that river and the gin clear water is incredible either way.
Definitely check out HooDoo brewing in town after fishing as well and eat some king crab at Turtle Club.

Thank you for the information!