DIY in Alaska???

Ever since I can remember my dad has been talking about wanting to fish in Alaska....I would really like to put together some kind of DIY trip for the two of us but I'm having trouble on where to start...We both salmon and steelhead fish like crazy every way possible down here so we're no strangers to catching fish...but doing just general online searches I come up with a million guides and other nonsense....do you guys have any advice of where to fly to that we could just get a hotel room and be within descent driving distance to good fishing?..I think he would be stoked just catching salmon on a river but if we could do some halibut fishing too that would be great.....also if there are spots closer to the lower 48 maybe we could drive and bring our yaks?....any input would be great.

Thanks
Brian

Look for the Spring Issue of Alaska Sporting Journal (due out next month).  There'll be an article about kayak fishing with info. on a couple of guides who offer a range of services from overnighters to fishing SOT rental.

Might even have some pis of NWKA members...

BTW: It was good meeting you at the show yesterday!

-Spot-

That sounds like a great place to start I'll make sure to check that out thank you....it was nice meeting you as well, we'll have to do some fishing this season

Budget?  Length of time?  Time of year?  When you say DIY, would you charter a boat for halibut, or looking to rent your own boat and target them.  What kind of salmon, silvers of kings?

-Allen

There are two Alaska's.  The one most residents live in and fish.  The other are trips like Howard Kim out of Ketchikan runs or far off lodges where you can pay a ton of bucks and get pampered and even have the stream to yourself. 

I only have experience in the budget Southcentral Alaska scene.  During the summer it can be crowded!  But of course that's because there are fish to be caught!

Here are a few personal sites of mine.  The Kayak site I just soft launched a few days ago. Trying to keep adding to it.  Despite the URL, I am not a guide.

http://AlaskaKayakFisher.com  Kayak Fishing Southcentral Alaska

guidesak.blogspot.com  Recent posts of fishing

www.alaskafishinglogs.com  Older logs of fishing (1995-2004)

http://youtube.com/guidesak  My youtube channel

Budget?  Length of time?  Time of year?  When you say DIY, would you charter a boat for halibut, or looking to rent your own boat and target them.  What kind of salmon, silvers of kings?

-Allen

I'm thinking a couple grand ish for budget and a week maybe two for time....halibut I could see doing a charter but salmon We would be more than fine just taking ourself out

There are two Alaska's.  The one most residents live in and fish.  The other are trips like Howard Kim out of Ketchikan runs or far off lodges where you can pay a ton of bucks and get pampered and even have the stream to yourself. 

I only have experience in the budget Southcentral Alaska scene.  During the summer it can be crowded!  But of course that's because there are fish to be caught!

Here are a few personal sites of mine.  The Kayak site I just soft launched a few days ago. Trying to keep adding to it.  Despite the URL, I am not a guide.

http://AlaskaKayakFisher.com  Kayak Fishing Southcentral Alaska

guidesak.blogspot.com  Recent posts of fishing

www.alaskafishinglogs.com  Older logs of fishing (1995-2004)

http://youtube.com/guidesak  My youtube channel

Thanks for the info!!!...I'm not rich by any means so I think I would need to explore the more budget friendly options

You can fish on a budget super easily.

For halibut, I'd suggest a charter of some sort. A few places rent boats, but not a ton. Unless you go out of homer or deep creek/anchor point, expect a long boat ride. That's if you want to go the power boat route.

Depending on what is going on for run timing, salmon can be had on the cheap fishing a river from the bank really easily.

If you want to do a kayak fishing trip in the salt, check out http://www.liquid-adventures.com.  I've talked to Chris on the phone when I had some gear questions and he was really helpful and seemed extremely knowledgable. Rates seem reasonable at 220.00 for a 1 day kayak fishing charter. You will spend AT LEAST that with a powerboat charter. If you spend less than that with a powerboat (like the half days out of homer for something like 125.00) they are simply going to pack the boat, run you to a chicken hole, yank up fish, and head in. Most likely spend more time traveling than fishing on one of those trips. I do believe that Liquid Adventures offers multi day kayak fishing trips as well.

If you wanted to rent a power boat, there are a few for rent out of Whittier that I know of, and maybe a couple down in Homer area. I don't know the costs.

I owned a large powerboat for a couple of years, and while I had a great time sightseeing and such, finding the fishing holes for halibut out of whittier can be tricky, less so out of homer and whittier, but still can take time/work. For halibut if I'm going out on a power boat, I'm going with a charter. Their job to put you in the fish, and their business to know where they are. I consider it a meat run really.  Fishing from the kayak, it's more about just being out and relaxing.

Dan

I have done both remote trips with Howard and halibut meat runs out of Homer. There are many different facets of Alaska and I think you really need to decide what is most important to you. If you try and do everything you will end up just scratching the surface.
The Kenai peninsula has easy access and is really geared towards the tourist fisherman. Chicken halibut are everywhere and you will catch your limit. When salmon are running you have a shot at some of the biggest kings in the world..... but so do the 500 other guys fishing for them.

If I were to do a long trip ~2 weeks I would seriously look at POW (Prince of Whales Island) you can take a car over on a ferry from Ketchikan and it does not have the same type of combat fishing pressure. There are forest service cabins you can rent and loads of streams and near shore structure.
Contact Howard about renting Kayaks out of Ketchikan. He isn't doing daily kayak fishing trips but he will rent the gear.

Or sign up for his remote wilderness trips for 2014. You will be guaranteed to see the true Alaska.

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Budget?  Length of time?  Time of year?  When you say DIY, would you charter a boat for halibut, or looking to rent your own boat and target them.  What kind of salmon, silvers of kings?

-Allen

I'm thinking a couple grand ish for budget and a week maybe two for time....halibut I could see doing a charter but salmon We would be more than fine just taking ourself out

A couple grand each or per person?  Including flights or in addition to flights?

-Allen

I have done both remote trips with Howard and halibut meat runs out of Homer. There are many different facets of Alaska and I think you really need to decide what is most important to you. If you try and do everything you will end up just scratching the surface.
The Kenai peninsula has easy access and is really geared towards the tourist fisherman. Chicken halibut are everywhere and you will catch your limit. When salmon are running you have a shot at some of the biggest kings in the world..... but so do the 500 other guys fishing for them.

If I were to do a long trip ~2 weeks I would seriously look at POW (Prince of Whales Island) you can take a car over on a ferry from Ketchikan and it does not have the same type of combat fishing pressure. There are forest service cabins you can rent and loads of streams and near shore structure.
Contact Howard about renting Kayaks out of Ketchikan. He isn't doing daily kayak fishing trips but he will rent the gear.

Or sign up for his remote wilderness trips for 2014. You will be guaranteed to see the true Alaska.

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No king salmon runs in any stream on POW ... http://www.thornebaylodge.com/Freshwaterfishing.html

-Allen

Here's an article outlining many of the DIY Alaska trips I've done.

http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/articles/102-current-issue-featured-articles-on-kayak-fishing/1244-alaska-for-the-frugal-kayak-angler.html

-Allen

Like I said ... identify what is most important to you.
Personally I would rather catch coho in small streams till my arms fall off.

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do you guys have any advice of where to fly to that we could just get a hotel room and be within descent driving distance to good fishing?..I think he would be stoked just catching salmon on a river but if we could do some halibut fishing too that would be great

If I were in your shoes heading to Southcentral Alaska, I'd fly into Anchorage and then transfer straight on to Homer, where I'd rent my car and a hotel room for a base.  It's an easy drive from there to some great fishing -- Anchor River, Kasilof River, Kenai River, Swanson River, and some surf casting spots around Katchemak Bay and Lower Cook Inlet. Plenty of halibut charters out of Homer and Ninilchik.  Depends on the run timing for when the various species of salmon are in the rivers.  It's about 2 hours driving between Homer and Kenai/Soldatna area -- everything's pretty spread out here. Everything on the road system is going to get lots of fishing pressure within half a mile of the road -- but if you're willing to hike in a little bit, you can leave the combat fishing behind.

I'd go to Homer rather than Kenai simply because Katchemak Bay is one of the most beautiful places there is, and Kenai is ... less so.

but anything that's on the road system is going to get serious pressure unless you're willing to walk more than half a mile.

Like I said ... identify what is most important to you.
Personally I would rather catch coho in small streams till my arms fall off.

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Ya that's what I'm really leaning towards