Expert Q&A

Guided Fly Fishing in Juneau

The rivers and shoreline around Juneau host a wealth of fly fishing opportunities. From sea run Dolly Varden in the spring to pink and chum salmon in the summer and ending with silver salmon in the fall, there is something to cast a fly to from early May until late September.

If you are looking for a guided fly fishing trip, at this time there is only one outfitter in Juneau.

A fly out fly fishing trip with Bearcreek Outfitters. www.juneauflyfishing.com. Bearcreek predominantly works with anglers arriving by cruise ship. They supply rods, reels, waders and flies along with a snack. The guides are good, they are helpful with novice anglers, and the trip is a lot of fun. Just the flight itself is amazing. If you are traveling alone they can often fit you in with a group. They also can do custom trips if you have 3 or more anglers. See their website for current pricing and booking information.

We should note (since we get asked this a lot), there is no river oriented fly fishing guide service that operates in Juneau that guides via car or boat. Most of the streams that you can drive to in Juneau are on U.S. Forest Service land and commercial permits are not available for guiding on them. However, you can bring your own rod, reel and waders and fish any number of these streams. We are more than happy to suggest places to go and flies to use. Add a comment

Rod Terminology

Good question! The first number is the line weight of the rod. The second and third numbers are the length of the rod in feet and inches. So for instance, a 590 is a #5 fly rod and it is 9 feet 0 inches in length.

In terms of the line weight and what that corresponds to:

A #5 rod is an all around trout rod.
A #6 rod is a slightly heavier trout rod that casts trout streamers more easily. It is also ok for small salmon such as pinks.
A #8 rod is the all-around salmon rod that can handle silvers, pinks, steelhead, pike and other large fish. You can trout fish with it but the fight won't be as exciting when you get a small fish on the line.

Hope that helps decode some of the fly fishing terms you see on a fly rod! Add a comment

Reel Size for an 8 weight switch rod

If you are matching a Rio Switch Chucker 8 weight line with an 8 weight switch rod you need a reel with plenty of capacity. The Rio Switch Chucker 8 is a large volume line, so a reel that is designed for a 9/10 weight is ideal.

A Redington Behemoth 9/10 would be an excellent match. Add a comment

Adding Tippet to a Polyleader

The end of the Polyleader terminates with a short section of monofilament. From this point you will want to add some more tippet material before tying on your fly. You can either create a loop in the monofilament of the Polyleader and then loop on tippet or you can use a blood knot or albright knot to join the two.

In terms of the length of tippet to add, keep in mind that you want your sinking Polyleader to pull the fly down in the water column. If you use too long a section of tippet then the Polyleader goes down and the fly stays up. Not good.

In general, 3 - 4 feet of tippet is ideal. It is long enough to separate the fly from the Polyleader but short enough to get the fly down. Add a comment

Fishing License

Thank you for the inquiry,

We do not sell Alaska Fishing Licenses, but they can be bought online through ADF&G's website. Here is the url: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/Store/ . Copy and paste this and it will take you to their web page. Add a comment

Sockeye Lantern Material List

Here is a link to all the materials to tie the Sockeye Lightning fly in Green.

With this list, you can change quantities, add other items, delete items you don't need and check out when you are ready.

Have fun tying! Add a comment

Sizing Simms Wading Boots

When designing their wading boots Simms has already taken into account that you will have a 4mm neoprene bootie on. The boots are slightly longer and wider to accommodate this bootie. When ordering Simms wading boots, we have found it is best to go with your straight street shoe size. In other words, if you wear an 11 shoe, then order an 11 boot.

On a related note, wading boots don't come in half sizes, so if you are a half size then go up to the next size. If you wear an 11 1/2 then get a 12. Add a comment

Prince of Wales Silver Salmon Flies

Prince of Wales (POW) has great runs of silver (coho) salmon. A variety of colors is often needed to catch them. We often start off with pink or chartreuse, but as the day progresses purple, black and other color combinations become more effective. The following list has a variety of colors and flies to cover your needs.

Here is a link to my list of the Best Silver Salmon Flies for Prince of Wales Island.

Have a great trip! Add a comment

Bead's for Brooks River in early September

Typically the sockeye salmon are just starting to spawn in the Brooks River come early September. 6mm mottled beads in brighter oranges and reds tend to be the best producers. Mottled Trout Beads in Dark Roe, Mandarin Roe, Tangerine Roe, Natural Roe and Hot Cherry can all be winners. Also check out Mark's Trout Food. These are hand painted and really kick butt. Tryt them in Dark, Natural and Tangerine. They are a bit more expensive than the commercially packaged beads, but worth every penny!
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Hot Fisheries Near Juneau, AK

Thanks for your inquiry with us about roadside fishing in Juneau. Depending on the time you are arriving in Juneau, there is a variety of fishing you could be doing. From salmon fishing to trout fishing, there can be a lot going on. Pink and Chum salmon begin their migration to Juneau in July and August, and the Silver Salmon begin to return late August through September and October. The Dolly Varden and Cutthroat trout around that time of year are often in the creeks and feeding on salmon eggs.

So, that being said there are several road system fisheries you can hit in Juneau as well as surrounding towns and areas. If you have access to a boat or plane while you are here, that opens up a whole world of possibility as well. Juneau road side fisheries include Sheep, Salmon, Montana and Cowee Creek. There are also shore casting opportunites for salmon around Echo Cove, Pt. Louisa, and Fish Creek.

We write weekly fishing reports that we post every Thursday afternoon, and you can follow along each week before you arrive to see what is going on, here. Alternatively, you can give us a call closer to when you arrive in Juneau and we can help gear you up.

Happy Fishing!

-Kayla
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How to fish the Dolly Llama for salmon and trout

The Dolly Llama is a unique streamer in that it can be fished in a multitude of ways. Probably the easiest and most common way to fish the Llama is with a standard streamer technique. Streamer techniques are used when flies are being fished to imitate baitfish, sculpins or as an attractor. Basically it's cast the fly out, rod tip down by the water and strip it back in. If you are fishing silvers, this is your technique! The length and rate of retrieve really depend on the targeted species and situation. Sometimes a strip/pause or a strip/strip/pause rhythm can be deadly.

As I mentioned before, though, there are multiple way to fish this fly. Often when fishing it in a larger river from a boat, anglers will drift the fly before retrieving it. Cast the fly slightly upstream of the boat and use a hi sticking technique to drift the fly along the bottom. After it drifts past the boat, strip it back in and repeat. When fishing it this way, It can pay dividends to lift and drop the fly during the drift. This give the fly a jigging motion that fish die for. This technique can be done from shore too, especially on small to medium size streams. When drifting Dolly Llamas, be prepared to snag up quite a bit.

Another technique popular for fishing Chinook, Steelhead and early season Rainbows is to swing the fly. This can be done with or without a sink tip. With this technique you will be fishing moving water. Cast the fly quartering down and across the run. An upstream mend can be added here to allow the fly to sink. From here allow the current to sweep the fly across until it is directly down stream of you. If you haven't hooked up yet, pump your rod back and forth so that it pulls the fly upstream and allows it to drop back down. You're literally pulling the fly away from the fish and dropping the fly back in its face. Tricky!

Dolly Llamas can be fished with both a straight floating line or with a sink tip. The larger sized Llamas (#4 or larger) are very heavy and can be difficult to cast. Anytime you can get away with using a shorter leader, especially with a floating line, do so. With a floating line, salmon/steelhead leaders of 7.5' to 6' in length are much easier to cast than standard 9' salmon/steelhead leaders. Often the fly will fish better with a 9' leader, but it becomes much more difficult to cast.

We hope that this is insightful.

Best of luck on the water,

Alaska Fly Fishing Goods Add a comment