Hello all-
My wife and I are planning another cruise to Alaska sometime in 2023.  We did an “southbound inside passage” cruise in August 10-17 of 2007.  It was an amazing trip.  I took a float plane out of Juneau and we flyfished Admiralty island and I caught 75 fish on 75 casts.  All were pink or humpy salmon, largest was maybe 10 lbs with an average of closer to 6.

We are only in the planning stages of this new trip but I know I’m float planing it out of somewhere to flyfish.  I’ve been hammering kings (chinooks) and silvers (cohos) off of Lake Ontario and tribe for close to 40 years on both spinning and fly rods.

I’m trying to time this upcoming cruise to match with either a king or coho run, or at least increase the odds of catching one.  We have the run in NY down pat and it peaks on or about October 1.  There may be a monster brown or steelhead in there but we target those in other months (colder.... lol)

I guess what I’m asking is if there are peak times to fish for kings or silvers on smaller creeks with a fly rod from shore accessed by float plane?  Dolly Varden would be nice but I specifically want to target bigger salmon.  I’d prefer to stay with the cruise line provider (people that used independent charters actually missed the boat and had to fly and catch up with the ship at a future port of call.

The day I fished in 2007 was sunny and 85 and I was in shorts and short sleeves in my waders - something that I found out is not very typical.  As I said were only planning at this point any any insight from locals is very much appreciated.  Thanks!

I can't tell you timing for the runs in the Southeast, but I'd be careful planning a trip around king fishing.  Runs are dying and regulations change overnight by emergency order.  You may get here and find out that kings are closed, even to catch and release.  I can say the runs are much earlier than they are where you're at.  I'm up in South Central and the salmon gear is put up for the winter by October, if we're catching salmon outside May to September it's in salt water outside the bays.  We generally get kings and reds running late May to July, silvers late July to early September, and pinks and chums June to September.  

Thank you for taking the time for the write up ArmyAirborne.  Not really sure that tributary fishing is even a “thing” for Kings or cohos up there.  Here in NY on the big river “The Salmon River” it’s considered combat fishing.  Fishermen side by side and the fish have to run a gauntlet.  We stay far away from these places when we fish and are always rewarded with peace and quiet as well as good numbers of unmolested fish.

Was surprised to find out that king runs can be closed overnight there.  Since this will be a cruise excursion everything is catch and release.  On Admiralty island we had a sow and 2 cubs come danger close to us feasting on humpy eggs.  So much so that our guide took out the rifle.  Pretty unnerving seeing a brown bear on its back legs staring at us 50 yards out and “HuFFing” at us...
I’ve seen some pretty high concentrations of fish but never like Alaska.  Literally tens of thousands in a creek 6 feet wide.  If it has to be humps or dollies or steel so be it, but it will be remote and from a deHaviland Beaver transport

FYI this is a pic from the Salmon River in the town of Pulaski, NY.  Ground zero for snaggers, drunks, idiots and fighters.  They should sell tickets or put it on pay-per-view
Attached File

Looks like he Russian river here. Attached File


Don’t have any insight on the timing of kings in the south East. Les Paul might though.

We have Kings year round. The early run is May-ish and then closed soon after til June 15th or so. Lots of terminal fish going to the streams. I think a non-resident could not get a King stamp the last few years, but I could be wrong. Petersburg and Sitka would be very good choices to fish from and if you are in Juneau go to Angoon and fish.

Pay for gas and I can probably get you out for a day...

If you come up bring me some parts from Fulton for our heating skid if you are from the Pulaski area.

Here most of the smaller rivers and streams are closed to allow the fish to spawn, so tributary fishing isn't much of a thing.  Some are open though.  Definitely acquainted with combat fishing, less so with the drunk and aggressive sort, most people are pretty friendly.  Picking times and staying away from certain areas helps.  I also have a river boat so can do float trips and that helps get away from the crowds.  I do like to dipnet though and that gets pretty crowded.  Doing it from the beach is a party, boat can be stressful but lots of fun and get to fill the freezer.  You could just about cross the river on the boats when it's busiest.



I was kind of surprised by the EO thing when I moved up here.  Alaska is surprisingly tied into the internet, lots of things can be done online.  Fish and game management is one of them.  The state biologists constantly count fish and monitor numbers, most runs have a minimum escapement goal and if they don't think they're going to make it they shut it down.  You can get alerts on your phone when things change, often they change quick.  They also manage by section in most rivers.  There are certain areas anyone can fish, some only bank fishing, some only boats, some rivers restrict motor size and type, some river sections restrict motor size and type, there's time of day restrictions, etc.  There's a lot to keep up with to stay out of trouble.