At Rainbow Bend Lodges on Alaska’s Naknek River we’re fortunate to be able to catch all five salmon species during the course of our fishing season. When it comes to king salmon fishing, late July is prime time for us on the Naknek River.
The king salmon or Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is Alaska’s state fish and is the largest of all Pacific salmon with weights of individuals commonly exceeding 30 pounds. A 126-pound king salmon taken in a fish trap near Petersburg, Alaska in 1949 is the largest on record. The largest sport-caught king salmon was a whopping 97-pound fish taken from the Kenai River in 1986. On the Naknek River the king salmon we catch commonly range between 20-30 lbs.
In North America, Chinook salmon range from the Monterey Bay area of California to the Chukchi Sea region of Alaska. Adult king salmon are distinguished from other salmonids by the black, irregular spotting on the back and dorsal fins and on both lobes of the tail. King salmon also have a black pigment along the gum line, making them easy to identify.
When king salmon enter the Naknek River in July they are chrome bright and fresh from the ocean. Like all species of Pacific salmon, Chinook salmon are anadromous, meaning they hatch in freshwater and rear in main-channel river areas for one year.
Like other salmon, king salmon die after spawning. A female, called a hen, deposits 3,000-14,000 eggs in several gravel nests, called redds, which she excavates in relatively deep, fast moving water. In Alaska, salmon eggs usually hatch in late winter or early spring, depending on time of spawning and water temperature. The newly hatched fish, called alevins, live in the gravel for several weeks until they gradually absorb the food in the attached yolk sac. These juveniles, called fry, wiggle up through the gravel by early spring. In Alaska, most juvenile king salmon remain in fresh water until the following spring when they migrate to the ocean as smolt in their second year of life.
Juvenile Chinook salmon in fresh water initially feed on plankton and later feed on insects. In the ocean, they eat a variety of organisms including herring, pilchard, sandlance, squid, and crustaceans. Salmon grow rapidly in the ocean and often double their weight during a single summer season.
King salmon are considered by many to be Alaska’s best tasting salmon, and a lot anglers who fish with us at Rainbow Bend Lodges, tend to agree. Then again, many of our anglers love eating sockeye salmon, too. King salmon is known for having quality oil content and fairly firm meat when compared with other salmonids.
At Rainbow Bend Lodges we typically troll spinners and backtroll plugs for king salmon. Targeting fresh king salmon on incoming tides is our specialty, and we have all the gear you’ll need to experience a successful day of king salmon fishing on the Naknek River.
