Alaska King Salmon are some of the most sought after fish in the world. Nine out of the top ten King, or Chinook, Salmon ever caught in the world have even come out of one river, the Kenai, in Alaska. This includes the current world record of 97.4 pounds caught in 1985. It isn’t odd to pull out kings in excess of forty pounds or more. On top of this, the meat of King Salmon is tasty and nutritious, its high in several essential fatty acids and amino acids, the building blocks of protein. If you’re planning on trying to catch the next set of salmon runs in Alaska, which vary every year between May and August, make sure you know as much about the fish as possible and where they live.
Catching massive Alaska King Salmon starts with your equipment. Make sure that you have a rod weighed to at least twenty-five pounds and a reel of equal weight. The heavier the better if you want to try to reel some trophy fish. Once you have your tackle setup you can move on to selecting baits.
Selecting your bait is largely gong to depend on where you’re fishing, what type of fishing you are doing, and the current water conditions. Make sure you talk all of this into account before you go out and buy your bait. In general though, you want to have bait that is going to mimic what the salmon traditionally eat. For kings this means that your bait selection should mostly resemble the large, fleshy fish that they feed on. Also keep in mind if you are planning on doing river fishing you are going to want to keep your bait near the bottom, and this means you either need to use heavier bait or attach on weight to the lines. The weight you need to attach is going to go up as the current gets stronger.
Generally, in shallower waters such as rivers, river mouths, or sandbars out in the ocean, T-spoon, bait eggs, tadpoles, and kiwifish are going to work the best to attract the Chinooks. Its important to have different combinations so that you can try out different baits to see what is working in your current conditions. Remember to vary your reeling speed so that the bait or spoon that you are using bounces off the bottom in different directions to catch the king salmon’s eye. This is especially true if you are doing some shore fishing.
If you are planning on fishing deeper ocean waters, herring are a great trolling bait to try. Remember that you need to troll your boat at the same speed that the herring would swim at. This sometimes can require an experienced captain because as the tides move in and out, herrings move at different speeds. To make the bait as lifelike as possible, you need to have a captain with some experience.
Which brings me to my next point, if you really want to catch some big fish in Alaska, you should consider hiring a guide or charter. They take most of the hassle out of your trip for you and will provide all the bait and tackle that you need. They also have generally been in Alaska for a long time so they have their ear to the ground and know where the fish are when its cloudy or sunny or when the tide rolls in and out. They can take you right to where all the excitement is so that you don’t have to try to figure it out for yourself.
Alaska is teeming with big fish during the salmon runs. Not everyone’s going to go home with a world-record fish, but to get a huge Alaska salmon on the line is not very difficult, it just requires some time, patience, and good preparation. One last thought. During Chinook Salmon season in Alaska, it is daylight almost the entire day. This means that you don’t have to fish during normal waking hours, and indeed fish are even usually more active during the times when it is darkest and at dusk and dawn so vary your fishing times accordingly, especially if you are fishing from the banks of a river.
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