Bucket List Trip: Salmon Fishing in Alaska

Are you looking for a fishing trip that’s truly worthy of bucket list status? Texas offers awesome fishing of all different varieties, but no matter how often you fish your home waters, there’s something incredibly interesting about fishing in completely different territory. And if you’re thinking about salmon fishing – definitely not a Texas thing – Alaska is the place to check out.

I had the chance to experience Alaskan salmon fishing first-hand, on a trip to the Kenai River with Yamaha Motors a few years back, and it was a serious eye-opener. Before you even get to the fishing, you’ll be blown away by eagles as prolific as starlings, potential moose and bear sightings, and towns oozing with rustic charm. Then, it’s off to the fishing grounds. Running the river on aluminum boats that do around 30-mph you’ll weave through some areas with rapids, peer through gin-clear glacial water, and finally drop anchor where you’ll wet a line. When the salmon grab your plug, they go into hyper-spastic mode and continually jump, always in a different direction with every leap and literally faster than the eye can follow at times. After hitting your boat’s limit (two per person on a boat with four people – on one outing it took a couple of hours but on another, it took all of 45 minutes) you then have a fresh salmon meal to look forward to.

Down-sides? Well, as you can see from the picture, even in the middle of summer you’ll want to layer up – it doesn’t exactly get sweltering in this neck of the woods. Alaska is also a relatively expensive place to get to, and to stay at. Some people may also find the light cycle a bit odd to deal with, because when you go to bed it’s likely to still be light out and the darkness of night only lasts for a few hours during some time-frames. Still, considering all of the above, a salmon fishing trip to Alaska is a once-in-a-lifetime event. And most everyone would agree, it’s certainly worthy of a spot on that bucket list.