With working in the tourism industry myself, I have found that most tourists planning their Alaska dream vacation can become overwhelmed with the thousands of options Alaska has to offer- especially when it comes to the fishing world! So I’ve gathered some simple tools to help this process move along.

Finding the BEST Alaska Fishing Charters requires time, effort, and most importantly thorough research! The Kenai Peninsula- which is the most common place to start your fishing adventure, offers several locations such as Seward, Ninilchik, Kenai River, Kasilof River, and Homer! Within these locations, you’re looking at over 100 charter companies to dig into and filter out the best from the worst. How can we speed this up? As simple as it sounds– reviews!

Reviews, such as on TripAdvisor and Google, can make or break a company in several ways. While you can’t have the good without the bad, the important thing to look for here is how many bad reviews there are compared to excellent AND what are they saying? Do the guests seem valid in their complaints? Did the company take the time to respond? This is vital to filtering out some of the crap (excuse the frank verbiage) to the legitimate concerns.

Once you’ve come to about three to five companies of interest from picking through reviews, you’ll want to move on to figuring out who has the best options available for what you’re looking for! Are you looking for a specific location, boat size, trip length, exclusive or party style fishing, or a specific species? While most of the Alaska fishing charters on the Kenai Peninsula offer roughly the same types of trips, asking these questions amongst your travel companions will help you to narrow down the questions asked when it’s time to make the calls!

Which brings us to the next step- calling around! Most companies do offer online booking, but if you are new to fishing in Alaska, I recommend calling first to narrow down some details. You’ll want to ask important questions like which locations do you offer? Are your trips full days or half days? What times are your trips offered at? What do I need to purchase and what is included? Questions like these are crucial to making sure you are booking EXACTLY what you are looking for!

Once these are answered, you’ll be in a position to make a decision! Go ahead and proceed with the booking process of the charter of your choice and get ready to start the preparation for fishing in Alaska!

Alaska Fishing Prep 101:

– Dress in layers

– Bring rain gear

– Treat sea sickness with a remedy PRIOR to the trip

– Bring lunches and beverages on board to snack

– Purchase Alaska fishing license in advance

– Plan out how you want to get the fish home- with you on the plane or shipping

– Bring a camera

And most importantly, great ready to have a trip of a life time!