Alaska has over 3,000 rivers, from the mighty Yukon to little streams that have no names. Many of these rivers have fish in the summers and are accessible from a road or highway. Great fishing streams are found in every region, from the southeast to the Arctic. If you are thinking of river fishing in Alaska, the hardest thing will be to choose your spot.
Southeast Alaska is also known as the Panhandle, the little strip of the 49th state that descends along the Canadian border almost to Vancouver. It is home to Alaska's capital, Juneau, and freshwater streams with rainbow, cutthroat, brook and steelhead trout, as well as grayling, kokanee and Dolly Varden. About 350 southeast Alaska rivers receive a steelhead run, averaging 500 fish annually. Locals recommend steelhead fishing on the Situk River five miles east of Yakatat; they call it "a fly fisherman's dream river."
Jokingly called "Alaska's Banana belt," south central Alaska begins at the coast of the Gulf of Alaska and includes the state's biggest city, Anchorage. As you move inland, the countryside rapidly becomes mountainous. Major rivers running through this area include the Copper, Matanuska, Susitna, Kvichak, and Mulchatna, while thousands of small streams feed into the coast. Salmon and trout inhabit most of these. One local favorite fishing spot for Dolly Varden is the Kenai River, a three-hour drive from Anchorage. Try throwing your line where the Kenai flows into Skilak Lake.
Bordered by the Alaska Range to the south, the Brooks Range to the north, central Alaska offers the greatest variety of river fish in the entire state. Five Pacific salmon species swim in its rivers, joined by northern pike, Arctic char, Dolly Varden, grayling and some of largest sheefish in the world. Although summer is short in Alaska's interior, the days are very long. Try the Yukon River for early June king salmon fishing, August and September for silver salmon. If you have your sites on the 60-pound sheefish, cast into the Kobuk River.
The area of Alaska above the Arctic Circle is the far north. It includes the Brooks Range as well as the coastal plains on the edge of the Arctic and Prudhoe Bay. Most of the region is accessible only by bush plane, which makes it excellent for serene, isolated river fishing. Major rivers in this region are the Colville, Sagavanirktok, Canning, and Kuparuk rivers, which provide winter habitat for Dolly Varden. Arctic char, grayling and burbot are also caught in these rivers.
While most visiting anglers head home at summer's end, Alaskans continue to fish through the cold winters. In the interior, rivers freeze over, allowing a special form of river fishing known as ice fishing. Ice fishermen make holes in the river ice and drop in their lines. Ice fishing rods are short, and no sophisticated technique is required to catch winter fish, including burbot.
