Alaska Salmon
Fishing

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- Alaska Salmon Fishing
- Alaska Fishing Lodges
- Fishing Salmon in Alaska
- Alaska King Salmon Fishing
- Alaska Trout Fishing
- Alaska Halibut Fishing

Alaska King Salmon Fishing

Alaska King salmon fishing is a very popular adventure for anglers from all over the world. The average size of the King salmons caught during Alaska king salmon fishing is 33-36 inches, but this giant salmon can sometimes measure up to 58 inches. A medium sized King salmon will weigh around 10-50 pounds, while the giants weigh up to an impressive 130 pounds.

The largest King salmon caught during Alaska King salmon fishing weighed 97 pounds and 4 ounces. The angler's name is Les Anderson and he caught the salmon in the Kenai River, in Soldotna, Alaska in May 1985.

The King salmon has always been extremely important for those living in Alaska and other cold regions around the North Pacific. Depending on where you catch your King salmon during your Alaska King salmon fishing trip, your catch will be known as Chinook salmon, Winter salmon, Tyee salmon, Black salmon, Blackmouth salmon, Hook bill salmon, Chub salmon or Columbia River Salmon. In Russia, this fish is named чавыча (tshawytscha), and this is from where it has got its scientific name - Oncorhynchus tshawytscha.

The King salmon that you can catch during Alaska King salmon fishing is blue and green on the back, while the top of the head has a silvery coloration. The ventral surfaces are white. You can also recognize the King salmon on the black spots that decorate the upper half of the body of the fish, and the dark grey coloration of the mouth.

The King salmons that you will catch during your Alaska King salmon fishing trip have been born in Alaskan freshwater rivers. Fry and young King salmons – that are called parrs – will typically stay in the river until they reach an age of 12-18 months. They will then swim to the estuaries where the Alaskan rivers empty into the Pacific Ocean and stay there for a few months before they venture into the Pacific Ocean.

During this period of their life, they are called smolts. After having left the estuary, a King salmon will spend between one and eight years in saltwater before returning to the Alaskan rivers to spawn. Most of the spawning fishes are between three and four years old. During spawning, you will typically find King salmon in larger and deeper parts of the Alaskan rivers. The King salmon spawning redds (a type of nests) are inhabited from early September to the end of December.

The Rouge River, the Columbia River and the Puget Sound are the most important spawning runs for King Salmon. Estimation shows that there are at least 1,000 spawning populations in these waters. The Yukon River also houses an abundance of spawning King salmon and forms the longest freshwater migration route for any salmon. The King salmon spawning in the Yukon River swims more than 1860 miles from the estuaries in the Bering Sea to the breeding grounds upstream of Whitehorse. At the hydroelectric dam at Schwatka Lake, a fish ladder has been built to make it possible for the King salmon to carry on the ancient migration route