Hello Alaskans! I am planning a trip to Alaska next summer. We have reserved accomodations to stay in the Homer area from July 17-24 or so. We are planning to book 4-5 charters and any recommendations are welcome. We have been there before and fished halibut/king salmon out out Homer and floated the refuge on the Kenai for trout. Considering another halibut charter or two, a Kasilof river trip for salmon and maybe a fly-in day trip to see some bears and catch a few fish. I welcome any and all suggestions!

Sounds like a fairly good trip. If you want to change things up from fishing Homer you could try Seward as well. If you want to fish kings you’ll have to fish the Kasilof. This years red run on the Kenai was kind of a bust imo, but flossing for reds is another option.
If you do go to Seward you could also take a glacier cruise, or go out to Exit Glacier and hike around.

I live near Soldotna and work in Seward so if you’ve got any questions message me.

Thank you! I will certainly keep you in mind as it gets closer!

I am jealous! You better take and post lots of pictures.

You know it!

I will suggest Valdez. Charter out of there. Pretty sure you can get halibut and salmon. Maybe that won't work as your staying in Homer. Look in to Valdez if you have time or want something different from last year.

I'm also Jealous!! That is great I would like to do that someday myself. A friend and I applied for jobs in in "76" he got a job and I didn't working on the pipeline. He stayed 10 years and made a lot of money and lived the life in Alaska. I always wondered how my life would have been if I would have got the job in Alaska.
I sure will be looking forward to your pictures.

I am with Marten Trapper, Valdez is the answer. Well not the only answer, but a pretty good one. Only down side is only ocean salmon available. No rivers, creeks close by.

If you go to Seward look up J-Dock Charters.

Wonderful trip... I DO think they've changed the halibut limits since we went.

There are lots of good charter boats out of Homer, and so many places to eat and explore. It's very expensive so be prepared for that.

I would definitely suggest you do a day of salmon flossing out of Soldotna, that's a great time of the year for it. It's an hour's drive but the fishing often starts very early in the morning so I would suggest staying close for the one night before you plan to fish there. (We were on the water at 4 a.m.) We fished with Jim Rusk and had our limit by 5:00 a.m.

Thinking about this really makes me want to do it again!!!

Regarding the fly out for bear watching, I will say that I really regret talking myself out of it because of the price. It looked like a budget buster to me, and my wife told me to go ahead and do it by myself, so it wouldn't cost as much, and she didn't really care that much about it. Really wish I had done it.

When are you planning on coming? June? July? August?

In his post he said July.

This year I fished Valdez. I liked it better than Homer and Steward. You just can't go wrong with a fishing trip in Alaska.

We will be there July 17-24. So far, we have 4 charters lined up. 1 short halibut trip, one long halibut/multi species, and two salmon trips on the Kenai. The day of the longer multi-species trip I will be on, my daughter and my wife will, likely, do a float plane fly in trip to see some bears. We have a couple of open days to rest up or line up an additional adventure. I wanted to do a trip on the Kasilof river, but the folks at the guide service said the salmon run is mostly over at that time on the Kasilof and it would be better on the Kenai. I reckon, we will see... If we can keep the trip under $15k for the three of us, I'll be happy. So far, the booked charters are around $4200 and lodging for the week is $2600. Fish processing is around $2.15/#. Airfare should be around $1,000-1,200 per person. It ain't cheap, but we only plan to go once every 4-5 years. Last trip was fantastic!

Kasilof will be slowing down for reds, but the Kenai would be good. If you've got wheels and rods, you could make a day trip to the Russian. Might even see some brown bears. I'm not sure how tides will be at that time, but you could take a charter across the inlet and dig for razor clams. If you want to see glaciers you could make a detour at Portage on the way up or down from Anchorage or go to Exit Glacier in Seward or take a glacier cruise.

J-Dock that's the one i like, plan on going back July 21