This highly prized sport fishing species is fabled for it’s size and strength in northern Southeast Alaska, but grows the largest and is a powerful, enduring fighter.King salmon inhabit the waters of Southeast Alaska year-round. Large king salmon bound for spawning grounds and weighing up to 70 pounds are around from late April through June.Immature kings ranging from 10 to 40 pounds come through the Sitka area and remain in the area to feed during August and September. Persistent anglers can find a few scattered fish throughout winter. Anglers visiting the Sitka area most frequently ask, when ís the best time to fish for king salmon?Fishing improves greatly with spring weather in late April, but the prime time is from late May through the month of June.
SILVER SALMON | COHO SALMON | Oncorhynchus Kisutch Walbaum
also called silver salmon, are found in coastal waters of Alaska from Southeast to Point Hope on the Chukchi Sea and in the Yukon River to the Alaska-Yukon border.
Coho are extremely adaptable and occur in nearly all accessible bodies of fresh water-from large transboundary watersheds to small tributaries.
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SOCKEYE SALMON – Oncorhynchus Nerka
often referred to as “red” or “blueback” salmon, occurs in the North Pacific and Arctic oceans and associated freshwater systems. This species ranges south as far as the Klamath River in California and northern Hokkaido in Japan, to as far north as far as Bathurst Inlet in the Canadian Arctic and the Anadyr River in Siberia.
Aboriginal people considered sockeye salmon to be an important food source and either ate them fresh or dried them for winter use. Today sockeye salmon support one of the most important commercial fisheries on the Pacific coast of North America, are increasingly sought after in recreational fisheries, and remain an important mainstay of many subsistence users.
CHUM SALMON – Oncorhynchus Keta
have the widest distribution of any of the Pacific salmon. They range south to the Sacramento River in California and the island of Kyushu in the Sea of Japan. In the north they range east in the Arctic Ocean to the Mackenzie River in Canada and west to the Lena River in Siberia. Chum salmon are the most abundant commercially harvested salmon species in arctic, northwestern, and Interior Alaska, but are of relatively less importance in other areas of the state. There they are known locally as “dog salmon” and are a traditional source of dried fish for winter use.
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PINK SALMON | Oncorhynchus Gorbuscha in Sitka Alaska
is also known as the “humpback” or “humpy” because of its very pronounced, laterally flattened hump which develops on the backs of adult males before spawning. It is called the “bread and butter” fish in many Alaskan coastal fishing communities because of its importance to commercial fisheries and thus to local economies. Pink salmon also contribute substantially to the catch of sport anglers and subsistence users in Alaska.
It is native to Pacific and arctic coastal waters from northern California to the Mackenzie River, Canada, and to the west from the Lena River in Siberia to Korea.
HALIBUT | Hippoglossus Stenolepis in Sitka Alaska
The Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis) was called “haly-butte” in Middle English, meaning the flatfish to be eaten on holy days.
General description: Halibut are more elongated than most flatfishes, the width being about one-third the length. Small scales are imbedded in the skin. Halibut have both eyes on their dark or upper side. The color on the dark side varies but tends to assume the coloration of the ocean bottom. The underside is lighter, appearing more like the sky from below. This color adaptation allows halibut to avoid detection by both prey and predator.
Marine waters of Sitka Alaska support a multitude of marine fish stocks. Halibut, rockfish, and lingcod are the species most commonly targeted by anglers.
About 75% of the bottomfish effort is expended on fishing for halibut with the remaining effort mostly directed towards rockfish.
Most of the halibut and rockfish harvest occurs from late April through early September.