Alaska Fishing Spots

We put a lot of work into researching, visiting, and curating these fishing spots (over 500 in all!), so you can spend your time filling the freezer, not searching for fish. Alaska has over 800 marked fishing spots on the road system alone, and unearthing the best ones was a labor of love.

When choosing these spots, we considered popularity, accessibility, and how much is known about the location. Where possible, we go beyond the usual information—like water clarity, soil type, and other insights specific to the location.

Most locations were mapped to their respective parking areas. If you need gear, talk to our friends at The Bait Shack or 6th Avenue Outfitters. They'll equip you with all the necessary rods, waders, tackle and more.

And please respect sea lions and all marine wildlife while fishing, and don't feed them your fish waste.

See Fishing Spots by Species

Salmon: Red (Sockeye) Salmon | King (Chinook) Salmon | Silver (Coho) Salmon | Pink (Humpy) Salmon | Chum (Dog) Salmon

Other: Rainbow Trout | Dolly Varden | Northern Pike | Arctic Grayling | Lake Trout | Steelhead | Burbot | Arctic Char | Whitefish | Land Locked Salmon

See Fishing Spots by Area

Most Popular: Homer Fishing Spots | Kenai / Soldotna Fishing Spots | Mat-Su Valley & Knik Arm Fishing Spots | Kenai Peninsula Fishing Spots | Anchorage Fishing Spots | Prince William Sound Fishing Spots | Susitna River Drainage Fishing Spots

Other: Upper Copper - Upper Susitna Drainage Fishing Spots | Tanana River Drainage Fishing Spots | Kodiak Island Fishing Spots | Southeast Alaska Fishing Spots | Yukon River Drainage Fishing Spots

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Fishing Spots

This trib­u­tary of the Kenai Riv­er flows along­side the Ster­ling High­way, just north of Coop­er Land­ing (from mile­post 40 – 45). There are plen­ty of des­ig­nat­ed pull-offs along the high­way — like Quartz Creek Road, which leads to Kenai Lake, as well as the pop­u­lar access point at the Quartz Creek Bridge.

This spot is par­tic­u­lar­ly good for any­one who’s mobil­i­ty impaired, since you access the riv­er by a flat, met­al board­walk — and the actu­al fish­ing area is also from the board­walk. This makes Moose Mead­ows one of a very few places where anglers can fish for sock­eye with­out hav­ing to be in the water — you can do excel­lent even from a wheel chair.

Thou­sands of pink salmon con­verge on Indi­an Creek each July and August, just about fill­ing this shal­low, easy-flow­ing stream south of Anchor­age along Tur­na­gain Arm from bank-to-bank. This amaz­ing nat­ur­al spec­ta­cle occurs in one of the eas­i­est places to view spawn­ing salmon in the region: No steep banks, crys­tal clear water and fish so close they could almost be touched.

Sol­dot­na Park, in down­town Sol­dot­na, offers all Kenai Riv­er species — but most peo­ple are here for the sock­eye. That means it can get crowd­ed dur­ing peak sock­eye sea­son, but it’s also a good place to learn how to fish for sock­eye. The com­bi­na­tion of easy acces­si­bil­i­ty, hard-packed grav­el and a shal­low grade make the fish­ing enjoyable.

Difficulty: Difficult

This trail is also called the Prim­rose trail at the north end. It begins in a beau­ti­ful rain­for­est and even­tu­al­ly takes you up to a mul­ti­ple of beau­ti­ful lakes in high mead­ows. Anglers can fish for rain­bow trout in the lake.

Each head of house­hold is allowed to keep 25 sock­eye salmon per year, and every addi­tion­al mem­ber of the fam­i­ly is enti­tled to 10 fish.

Locat­ed down Beaver Loop Road, just out­side of Kenai, Cun­ning­ham Park is a great, easy-access loca­tion for sock­eye and sil­ver salmon. The shore­line here is a mix of grav­el and mud, with the mud being more preva­lent below the tidal zone. That said, this spot is very tidal depen­dent, so you’ll have to con­tin­u­al­ly adjust your bait set­up as the water ris­es or falls.

This spot, just north of Ster­ling, is pri­mar­i­ly a boat launch, but it also offers excel­lent sock­eye fish­ing. It’s locat­ed at the end of Bing’s Land­ing Road: There’s a park­ing lot, but when the fish­ing is hot, you can expect to park along­side the road, up to half a mile away from the boat launch site. (Anoth­er rea­son you might park on the road: The lot near the boat launch has a fee.)

This unique fish­ery, about 25 miles north of Anchor­age, is com­prised of a small, arti­fi­cial eddy of water that comes down from a pow­er plant and con­nects to the main stem, Knik Riv­er. The glacial-fed water looks murky and blue-gray, and there’s very lit­tle cur­rent. While you won’t find much soli­tude here, you can usu­al­ly find a spot to set up a lawn chair for some lazy fish­ing. There’s abun­dant park­ing, too, as well as restrooms.

Crys­tal-clear Willi­waw Creek and its bank-side trail sys­tem in Portage Val­ley at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm offers excep­tion­al­ly good con­di­tions for watch­ing spawn­ing in action. Coho, sock­eye and chum salmon con­verge on the creek as it winds through the brushy flats begin­ning in mid-August, with some late-arriv­ing fish still present after first frost in the fall.

This spot in Ster­ling — at mile­post 82.3 at the Isaak Wal­ton Camp­ground — is where the Moose Riv­er meets the Kenai Riv­er, and the two rivers’ dif­fer­ing paces are dras­tic. The Moose Riv­er is very slow and wide, with almost no cur­rent — so much so that it feels more like a lake. The Kenai Riv­er, on the oth­er hand, flows fair­ly swift­ly in com­par­i­son, and the con­flu­ence can play strange tricks on your tackle.

This is one of the few spots along the road sys­tem where you might catch hal­ibut from the shore. Check out the beach, which sur­rounds the Land’s End Hotel, on the Homer Spit. Here, you’ll find a small park­ing lot, and the water’s only about 100 feet away.

Alaska’s most pro­duc­tive king salmon sport­fish­ery is locat­ed right in down­town Anchor­age! Fish for salmon at Ship Creek even if you have only two hours. Dur­ing the sum­mer­time der­bies, spe­cial­ly tagged fish bring in $100-$10,000. Buy your tick­ets ($7 – 35) from the Der­by Cab­in next to Com­fort Inn at Ship Creek and warm up your mus­cles-in 2002, a 41-pounder took grand prize! Want to fish Ship Creek? 6th Avenue Out­fit­ters (9072760233) sells…  ...more

At mile 10.7 McCarthy Road, there is foot access to Sil­ver Lake where you can enjoy a relax­ing after­noon fish­ing for trout.

Pull-off present. 14 mile trail

This fish-filled creek rush­es out from Far North Bicen­ten­ni­al Park and through the cen­ter of town. Cast for rain­bow trout, Dol­ly Var­den, or sil­ver salmon-all with­in walk­ing dis­tance of your car. Throw on a pair of hip-waders and head up the creek or angle from the shore­line trail. Direc­tions: Park at one of the lots on Camp­bell Airstrip Rd. to access the creek from Far North Bicen­ten­ni­al Park, or head west on 76th off of Old Seward to King…  ...more

On the north side of the bridge is a turn out with good access to Cari­bou Creek Bridge. It’s a good spot to stretch your legs, let the kids skip rocks, or con­tem­plate flow. As Thore­au said He who hears the rip­pling of rivers utter­ly despairs of noth­ing!” If you’re a riv­er run­ner, this is the launch for the Lion’s Head white­wa­ter run. Class III and Class IV water awaits, and you can run this with Nova Guides.

Spring fish­ery & BLM Campground.

Good fish­ing site. Kodi­ak Island Sports­men Asso­ci­a­tion Fir­ing Range.

A favorite local spot for fish­ing on the Pasagshak River.

Difficulty: Easy

One of the eas­i­est beach­es to access from town, this park has a nice over­look and excel­lent water­front with pic­nic sites. In late July through Sep­tem­ber, you can fish from the beach for sil­ver and pink salmon. Bird­ing is good year round, but it’s espe­cial­ly great dur­ing the winter.

Pull-off’s present; best fish­ing at outlet.

W on D st., right on Loop Rd, left on Otter Lake Rd

Park­ing Spot on the North side of the high­way. Fol­low the cat track 2 miles North. 

King salmon enter dur­ing late-May and ear­ly-June and there are always some fish spawn­ing in areas near the high­way dur­ing ear­ly-July. Wear polar­ized glass­es if you have them and watch for dark red kings in the rif­fles and deep­er holes. A very lim­it­ed fish­ing sea­son is avail­able on these streams dur­ing the ear­ly sum­mer for both salmon and steelhead.

Enjoy the beau­ty and scenery of the turquoise Kenai Riv­er by strolling one of the 10 (or all!) board­walks along the banks. If you’re here to fish, you can do that from the ele­vat­ed fish plat­forms, or bring hip waders and use one of the 53 stair­ways to walk down to the riv­er and cast your line while stand­ing in the water.

Creek Par­al­lels road & offers excel­lent fishing.

.5 miles north of road

Mile­post 17.7, Seward High­wayKe­nai Lake offered a flat tree­less path to trav­el in win­ter. This trail was one of two over­land routes to Sun­rise and Hope. (The oth­er over­land route was through Portage Pass.) Min­ers trav­eled by dogsled from Seward to Snow Riv­er and on to Kenai Lake. At the oth­er end of the 17 mile lake, trav­el­ers would fol­low Quartz Creek north through Tur­na­gain Pass along Canyon Creek to the gold rush towns of Sun­rise and Hope.  ...more

This Alas­ka State Fish and Game stocked lake pro­vides a qui­et and pic­turesque lit­tle stop for the fish­er­man or camper. There’s a good chance you’ll have the lake to yourself.

Difficulty: Easy Distance: 1 mile

These pop­u­lar trails lead to two beau­ti­ful, pris­tine lakes. Even bet­ter, they’re both easy hikes, which makes them per­fect for peo­ple of all ages. Bring a fish­ing pole and angle for stocked trout in Merid­i­an Lake or grayling in Grayling Lake.

Stop at Long Lake, at mile 45.2, to see a pop­u­lar spot for sock­eye salmon to spawn. Every year, 18,000 sock­eye salmon swim up the Chiti­na and Cop­per Rivers to spawn in Long Lake. This is a very unique run, salmon begin enter­ing the lake as late as Sep­tem­ber and spawn until April. 

If you like to fish for Sil­vers and Kings with a bob­ber and eggs, Ship Creek’s mouth is a great option. Though you may have to deal with a lit­tle bit more mud along the banks, bring a pack­able chair, and once you’re about 100 meters north of the road, you can claim a grassy area to set­tle in.

Difficulty: Easy

Whether you’re look­ing for a camp­site or fish­ing hole, glass­ing for birds, watch­ing for bears, or beach­comb­ing, this recre­ation site is a great spot to expe­ri­ence the won­ders of Kodi­ak Island with­out trav­el­ing too far.

This is a pop­u­lar boat launch for drift boaters fish­ing for king salmon. The Kasilof Riv­er red salmon dip­net fish­ery is here, but only open to Alas­ka res­i­dents. It’s worth a look if you’ve nev­er seen dip­net­ters in action before. There are 16 camp­sites, water, tables, toi­lets, hik­ing trails, a boat launch and fishing.

King salmon enter Deep Creek dur­ing late May and ear­ly June and con­tin­ue to spawn into ear­ly July. Watch for their dark red bod­ies in the rif­fles and deep­er holes. A very lim­it­ed fish­ing sea­son is pro­vid­ed dur­ing the ear­ly sum­mer for kings and steelheads.

ATV Trail from Tanana Lp Rd

SE on N Eagle Riv­er, SE on Eagle

This is a great spot to fish for Dol­ly Var­den begin­ning in August.

Beach Lake is a local gem locat­ed in the Eagle River/​Chugiak area, 20 miles north of Anchor­age. Enjoy a qui­et, uncrowd­ed view of the Chugach Mountains.

Short hike down steep hill to South; Sum­mer Fishery.

The Susit­na Riv­er is a major drainage sys­tem in the Denali region. The riv­er flows south from the Susit­na Glac­i­er and the Alas­ka Range and even­tu­al­ly turns west to flow through the Tal­keet­na Moun­tains and then south to Cook Inlet. The Susit­na is not float­able because of Devil’s Canyon down­stream. Access to the his­toric Valdez Creek Mine is on the east side of the Susit­na Riv­er. The mine is now closed and the land is being reclaimed.

This con­flu­ence is one of the most pop­u­lar fish­eries in South Cen­tral Alas­ka. Locat­ed about 60 miles north of Anchor­age on the Parks High­way, it offers excel­lent fish­ing for four of the major salmon species: kings, sil­vers, chums and pinks. It also fea­tures big rain­bows (up to 30 inch­es) and Dol­ly Var­den, as well as Arc­tic Grayling. You’ll also find, in small num­bers, bur­bot and whitefish.

This hand­i­cap acces­si­ble dock is a per­fect spot to spend time cast­ing for local species.

Difficulty: Easy

The trail is half a mile long and takes you through a mature birch for­est that is car­pet­ed with dev­il’s club and water­mel­on berry plants. It’s an easy walk­ing, ide­al for small chil­dren, and ends at a small camp­ing area on a slight bluff that over­looks Bish­op’s Beach and Bish­op Creek.

Lake Clark boasts some incred­i­ble fish­ing — whether fight­ing Dol­ly Var­den on a fly rod in the Chi­likadrot­na Riv­er or toss­ing a line into Upper Twin Lake in search of Grayling, Lake Clark’s boun­ti­ful lakes and many rivers mean you are nev­er far from excel­lent fish­ing. Guid­ing fish­ing is avail­able at sev­er­al of the lodges in Lake Clark.

Cast your line for some rain­bow trout, or maybe a sil­ver salmon. Here you’ll find pub­lic fish­ing access. A short walk on the .3 mile trail north to Strel­na Lake puts you in the right sport for some angling.

North Side of Road, Lake & out­let excel­lent for large grayling.

W on D st., right on Loop Rd, left on Otter Lake Rd

14 mile west of the highway.

Although this can be a busy spot, it is a lot less con­gest­ed than the Homer Spit. Things to do here include: tak­ing small day hikes, pad­dling in the lagoon, camp­ing, stay­ing at one of the three near­by pub­lic use cab­ins, and the most pop­u­lar, fish­ing for Kings dur­ing the month of June.

This is the largest lake you will see on the Demp­ster High­way. It was named for Ernest Chap­man, a trad­er, trap­per and prospec­tor. There are many oth­er small­er lakes in the vicin­i­ty and togeth­er they sup­port a vari­ety of water­fowl and shorebirds.

This riv­er flows past a prim­i­tive camp­site (first-come basis, free) and emp­ties into the bay. Only three miles long, the riv­er is fed by Lake Rose Tead, which is a prime spawn­ing area for sock­eye salmon. The riv­er also has runs of pink, chum, and sil­ver salmon, as well as Dol­ly Var­den. Fly fish­er­men love the chal­lenge of fish­ing in the tidal­ly-influ­enced low­er stretch of the riv­er; but spin­ner or fly cast­er, you’ll find good game in this…  ...more

The Nick Dudi­ak Fish­ing Lagoon (aka The Fish­ing Hole) is a pop­u­lar park with both locals and vis­i­tors. The lagoon is stocked with fry that grow up to pro­vide sport fish­ing. The fish­ing hole has a hand­i­capped acces­si­ble plat­form and ramp. King salmon return mid-May to ear­ly July fol­lowed by an ear­ly run of sil­vers mid-July to ear­ly August and a late run ear­ly August to mid-September.

When sil­ver salmon are run­ning up Mon­tana Creek by the thou­sands, fish­er­men are run­ning up the Parks High­way by the hun­dreds to go com­bat fish­ing.” They stand elbow to elbow along the creek, cast­ing their lines and catch­ing every­thing from fish to coat sleeves. Up and down the creek, you can hear peo­ple holler Fish on!”

Difficulty: Moderate Distance: 11 miles

This easy trail winds along the banks of three lakes. There is a camp­ing area on the side of the trail. The trail climbs a sad­dle and drops down into the val­ley. It can be dan­ger­ous to cross the rivers, as they are glac­i­er-fed and you can­not see the bot­tom. The rivers are low­er dur­ing the begin­ning of the year, but they are also colder.

Ever gone ice fish­ing? Cari­bou lake is a great place to enjoy this cold and unique expe­ri­ence. You can spend a qui­et day to your­self, fish­ing for Dol­ly Var­den and Koka­nee. Or if you’re feel­ing more com­pet­i­tive, you can par­tic­i­pate in the Sno­mad’s (Home­r’s snow machine club) annu­al ice fish­ing con­test. (Either way, dress in warm lay­ers and be pre­pared to sit or stand in the cold!)

Locat­ed towards the head of Tut­ka Bay on the north side is Tut­ka Bay Falls. The beach in front of the falls is a good spot for clam dig­ging, pink salmon fish­ing and just loung­ing around. Explore along the trail that par­al­lels the water­fall and take a back­coun­try show­er in one of the pools. Be cour­te­ous of pri­vate prop­er­ty in this area.

A beau­ti­ful, 2‑mile-long lake that’s a pop­u­lar place to come for activ­i­ties year-round. In sum­mer, you’ll find kayak­ers, canoers, and pad­dle board­ers, as well as the Kenai Cruis­ers Row­ing Club, which uses the lake for dai­ly prac­tices and a year­ly row­ing regatta.

Walk in pub­lic fish­ing access to Sil­ver Lake and Van Lake; you’ll find won­der­ful scenery and good rain­bow trout fish­ing in both lakes.

A good dirt road, with plen­ty of pull-outs, leaves the main high­way on the south side of the road. The Alas­com Road” runs four miles across the val­ley floor. There are sev­er­al lakes, stocked with trout and grayling, for fish­er­men, and plen­ty of camp­ing spots. It’s qui­et, and there’s great canoe­ing and bird watch­ing on the lakes. It’s a pop­u­lar week­end des­ti­na­tion for Anchor­age folks, so you might not be alone. And in the fall, you’ll see…  ...more

Avoid the crowds and explore a local favorite. This 6.2‑mile out-and-back trail, locat­ed in Wil­low, Alas­ka, takes trav­el­ers on a wind­ing jour­ney along bore­al for­est floor. The pay­off is at the turn­around point, which fea­tures views of Red Shirt Lake’s shore­line. At the lake, fish for north­ern pike and keep an ear out for loons, which fre­quent the area.

W on D st, right on Loop Rd, st on Route Bravo

34 miles south of the highway.

Small pull-off, short hike down to out­let; sum­mer fishery

This is one spot you don’t want to miss. July through Sep­tem­ber you’ll wit­ness a spec­tac­u­lar run of Sil­ver Salmon. Fish­er­men from all over the world come into Alas­ka to cast a line here. There will be hun­dreds of peo­ple com­ing and going from Bird Creek on any giv­en day. In their hands will be the days boun­ty; a nice big sil­ver salmon that is deli­cious when smoked and even bet­ter when grilled and coat­ed with lemon and a hon­ey mus­tard glaze.…  ...more

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