OK, our AK fishing vacation is set for June 29 to July 6 on the Kenai with daily trips to different locations.  My wife and I will be spending 1/2 days with guides but afternoons on our own.  We plan on doing some fishing on our own away from the lodge with either rental spinning rods or our own fly rods that we intend on bringing up there.  So, my question is, what kind of lures and flies should we have in our arsenal to fish for Alaskan salmon (or trout) from the shorelines of the Kenai, Russian and any other waters in the area.  The lodge manager said to get what the locals are using.  Well, it would be nice to pick that stuff up down here in CA, or go through our tackle boxes for what we already have or even tie our own salmon/trout flies.  So, any help from you Alaskan fishermen would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

Egg Sucking Leach (ESL) is a main staple for fly fishing salmon and trout. Bead drifting for trout is also very deadly. For hardware casting, Kodiak Custom, Mepps and Blue Fox Vibrax in-line spinners will catch lots of salmon and trout also.

check out www.alaskansalmonslayers.com or email me tk9234@live.com also 907-388-4532 mobile

Hope you have a great trip! I am not a guide, biut I do catch a lot of fish.-Dennis

Dennis,

How can anyone forget that pic of the 43" chinook you caught back in July 2009? That was an awesome fish. I remember seeing other photos of salmon you've caught up the there and they were all pretty impressive. We just purchased our place tickets today and will arrive in Anchorage on the evening of 26 June. We head down to Soldotna on the 29th of June for a week of fishing the Kenai Peninsula. Hopefully we'll get into them during our trip. Thanks for the inputs.