We are looking at a two week fishing trip in late July early August of 2014, it will be mostly a DIY trip to fly fish for trout and salmon. We both have plenty of experience in the backcountry but have no clue as to where or how to plan an Alaskan adventure. The online searches are not giving us the first hand info we want, based off of the following what would you recommend?
We need to be able to drive to lots of fishing spots but at the same time we do not want to do the whole "combat" fishing thing. We will have no issue backpacking a few miles upstream spending the night and then back down the next day fishing along both ways if needed.
So far we have the following:
Fly in and pick up a rental car. We will fish multiple rivers and use two different guides for one day each; the first guide on day one or two and the second guide a week later. We originally planned on a hotel room every night of the stay but are now tossing up the idea of shipping our backpacking gear ahead of us and spending about every other night or every third night out in the woods.
Budget goal is $2,000.00 per person but it looks like $2,500.00 - $3,000.00 is more realistic.
The following prices have already been checked on and are accurate as of right now.
Round trip airfare to Anchorage will be $650.00 each. (Actual cost ended up being $461 each roundtrip)
Guide prices is $550 for two people one day. (Actual cost was $425.00 for a full day of two people)
Hotel is $95.00 a night. (actual cost was anywhere from $75 a night for one night in a hotel to a private cabin of $95 a night pre paid)
Out of state fishing license is $130.00 each if we get the King salmon stamp.
Rental car (ended up costing $980.00 for 12 days renting a large SUV)
That brings the total to $3,990.00 for both people if we stay in a hotel every night. This does not count food or rental car costs. If we plan on camping at least 5 days that will save around $475.00.
We really don't plan on keeping many fish, maybe a few smaller salmon for dinner but that's it so do we really need the King stamp? What would offer us the most solitude, the best chance to catch lots of big fish, great scenery, and the easiest/safest trip? So far we are thinking about flying into Anchorage, spending the night there and visiting Denali NP the next day. Then spending the next 12 days driving around hitting all of the water we can see and running down to the Kenai peninsula to fish.
---------------
Updated below with actual costs and any changes from our plans above. 11-29-13
Airfare: $461 each roundtrip.
Book it as early as you can and be flexible on the departure days. We are leaving out to go up on a Sunday morning and leaving late on a Friday night 12 days later to head back home. By doing this we shaved almost $100 dollars off of our ticket costs each.
---------------------------
12-5-13
Looks like the hotel prices are completely insane! The original prices were from when we searched online. We did not realize until now that pretty much everything that has even a remote connection to fishing tourism doubles during the season. Most of the rooms we are finding seem to be around $180 per night during the time frame of our stay. Our dirt bag solution we found is a mix of Hostels and private cabins! Seems that most of the places with Hostels have a "bunkroom" set up and also offer private cabins/shacks. The cost can run from around $30 per night for the bunkroom to around $70 for the cabin. We plan on car camping, slinging the hammocks "bear piñata?", and then taking advantage of the hostels every few days for shower and fluffy bed use.
The trip is also morphing away from 12 days of strictly hard fishing to a mixed trip. In order to keep the female company happy we are now going up to the monument at the arctic circle so that we can get pictures and actually claim to have been to the arctic, we will also spend half a day or so in Denali NP. The week I had set aside for the Kenai has now had some time split off for a hike on the Exit Glacier and a day set aside for the Harding ice field trail. Realizing that the daylight will be longer than we are use to was a blessing. Looks like we will be living on cases of Redbull and just enough sleep to keep the rods from falling out of our hands!
-------------------------
3-1-14
Updated some of the individual prices above to reflect the reserved prices that we have. So far our airfare, rental car, guide, arctic circle trip, private cabins, and hotels are booked and locked in for a total cost of $2,500.00 for two people 12 days. We are going to car camp and maybe even hammock camp for about half the trip. All that's left is food and any incidentals that we decide that we need or want.
I'm not sure how it happened but the total trip price is what I consider amazingly cheap.
The prices for airfare and hotels seem to be extremely volatile. We were seeing hotel prices swing $125 + or - from week to week for our trip time frame.
We need to be able to drive to lots of fishing spots but at the same time we do not want to do the whole "combat" fishing thing. We will have no issue backpacking a few miles upstream spending the night and then back down the next day fishing along both ways if needed.
So far we have the following:
Fly in and pick up a rental car. We will fish multiple rivers and use two different guides for one day each; the first guide on day one or two and the second guide a week later. We originally planned on a hotel room every night of the stay but are now tossing up the idea of shipping our backpacking gear ahead of us and spending about every other night or every third night out in the woods.
Budget goal is $2,000.00 per person but it looks like $2,500.00 - $3,000.00 is more realistic.
The following prices have already been checked on and are accurate as of right now.
Round trip airfare to Anchorage will be $650.00 each. (Actual cost ended up being $461 each roundtrip)
Guide prices is $550 for two people one day. (Actual cost was $425.00 for a full day of two people)
Hotel is $95.00 a night. (actual cost was anywhere from $75 a night for one night in a hotel to a private cabin of $95 a night pre paid)
Out of state fishing license is $130.00 each if we get the King salmon stamp.
Rental car (ended up costing $980.00 for 12 days renting a large SUV)
That brings the total to $3,990.00 for both people if we stay in a hotel every night. This does not count food or rental car costs. If we plan on camping at least 5 days that will save around $475.00.
We really don't plan on keeping many fish, maybe a few smaller salmon for dinner but that's it so do we really need the King stamp? What would offer us the most solitude, the best chance to catch lots of big fish, great scenery, and the easiest/safest trip? So far we are thinking about flying into Anchorage, spending the night there and visiting Denali NP the next day. Then spending the next 12 days driving around hitting all of the water we can see and running down to the Kenai peninsula to fish.
---------------
Updated below with actual costs and any changes from our plans above. 11-29-13
Airfare: $461 each roundtrip.
Book it as early as you can and be flexible on the departure days. We are leaving out to go up on a Sunday morning and leaving late on a Friday night 12 days later to head back home. By doing this we shaved almost $100 dollars off of our ticket costs each.
---------------------------
12-5-13
Looks like the hotel prices are completely insane! The original prices were from when we searched online. We did not realize until now that pretty much everything that has even a remote connection to fishing tourism doubles during the season. Most of the rooms we are finding seem to be around $180 per night during the time frame of our stay. Our dirt bag solution we found is a mix of Hostels and private cabins! Seems that most of the places with Hostels have a "bunkroom" set up and also offer private cabins/shacks. The cost can run from around $30 per night for the bunkroom to around $70 for the cabin. We plan on car camping, slinging the hammocks "bear piñata?", and then taking advantage of the hostels every few days for shower and fluffy bed use.
The trip is also morphing away from 12 days of strictly hard fishing to a mixed trip. In order to keep the female company happy we are now going up to the monument at the arctic circle so that we can get pictures and actually claim to have been to the arctic, we will also spend half a day or so in Denali NP. The week I had set aside for the Kenai has now had some time split off for a hike on the Exit Glacier and a day set aside for the Harding ice field trail. Realizing that the daylight will be longer than we are use to was a blessing. Looks like we will be living on cases of Redbull and just enough sleep to keep the rods from falling out of our hands!
-------------------------
3-1-14
Updated some of the individual prices above to reflect the reserved prices that we have. So far our airfare, rental car, guide, arctic circle trip, private cabins, and hotels are booked and locked in for a total cost of $2,500.00 for two people 12 days. We are going to car camp and maybe even hammock camp for about half the trip. All that's left is food and any incidentals that we decide that we need or want.
I'm not sure how it happened but the total trip price is what I consider amazingly cheap.
The prices for airfare and hotels seem to be extremely volatile. We were seeing hotel prices swing $125 + or - from week to week for our trip time frame.
Last edited:
