# Cost for trip to Alaska?



## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

I just went through a customer's book of his latest AK and it certainly did get me rethinking that I must get there. In speaking with him, most trips are several thousand dollars, which would mean that it is several years away. The costs seem to be several fold, regular airline, bush plane, lodging, permits, boats,.....etc. Has anyone been recently and been able to do it more economically than "several thousand?" I could see finding a decent airfare, but many of the other costs appear to be fairly fixed. Let me know your thoughts and any specific lodges that you would recommend. Thanks in advance!


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## REPETER (Oct 3, 2007)

Get on an internet dating site, hook up with a lonely cougar sugar momma, convince her to pay your ticket up there and Bob's your uncle! :mrgreen:


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## luv2fsh&hnt (Sep 22, 2007)

Check with Ripndrag Huge he goes every year in fact he is leaving again in a few weeks. He was telling us about it on the sturgeon trip. I can't remember the exact figures but they were fairly reasonable.


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## wyoming2utah (Sep 12, 2007)

My dad puts together a trip to Canada every summer for about $500-700 per person. ON this trip, we expect to catch all species of salmon ranging from about 5 pounds to 40 pounds. We spend several days driving up and back and about 5 days of fishing.

Heck yeah a trip to Alaska can be done cheaper than a few thousand dollars!


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## Catherder (Aug 2, 2008)

A few years ago, my father and I flew to Anchorage, rented a car, and drove to Homer. We had pre booked with a local service 2 days on the ocean and a one day float down the Kenai. We were in charge of our meals and the service helped us find local lodging. It was a bit rushed, with no pampering, but we did the trip for about $1500 each. It did allow us to pursue halibut and both ocean salmon and river kings, along with an afternoon catching rainbows and dollies on the river. If you just wanted to hit rivers, as Wyo stated, you could do-it-yourself and save even more.

I should say though that my last trip there was to a lodge, and the added relaxation and stress reduction of not having to worry about some of the details was worth the expense. 8)


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Good info guys, thanks!


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

Camp instead of staying at a lodge/hotel. Buy/prepare grocery store food instead of eating out or eating at the aforementioned lodge. Some folks rent out their cars on craigslist, it may be cheaper than going with a rental agency.

DIY is affordable/doable. It's just like fishing in Utah, if you wanted to spend 7 days on a private ranch with a guide standing next to you, it would add up too. Remote fly-in trips/lodges are pretty spendy, charters add up too.


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## Packout (Nov 20, 2007)

Here is a breakdown of what we have done several times with somewhat updated prices, per person.

Fly to Juneau - $650
Hotel, double occupancy- $60 night for 4 nights - $240
Charter- $200 day for 2 days - $400
Licenses, food, misc- $150
Rental car- $60 day for 4 days - $120 per person
Fish rivers and shore- free
Total per person= about $1,500

Lots of ways to go about Alaska. Once you know an area then you can rent aluminum boats and do-it-yourself. I have been 14 or 15 times and DIY half the time. You can do the same thing as above in Ketchikan, Seward, Soldotna, Homer, etc. I need to get back up there in the next couple years with my boys.


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## Moostickles (Mar 11, 2010)

We go to Silverking Lodge almost every year. It is on a remote island outside of Ketchikan. 6 days 6 nights are $2000. Price includes fish processing (filleting, vacuum packing, freezing, and boxing), food, boats & fuel, tackle, lodgeing etc. We have been 13 times now and we still aren't tired of it.

Their website is http://www.silverkingalaska.com


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Well, fellars, Im headed out here in a few days for my 3rd jaunt to the KTN. We are doing a DIY trip this year at about half of the cost of the cheapest lodge. With my Delta AMEX card offer my flight will be free and the total should be right around $1,500 for boat, house from VRBO and all groceries, packing, etc.


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Huge29 said:


> Well, fellars, Im headed out here in a few days for my 3rd jaunt to the KTN. We are doing a DIY trip this year at about half of the cost of the cheapest lodge. With my Delta AMEX card offer my flight will be free and the total should be right around $1,500 for boat, house from VRBO and all groceries, packing, etc.


Good luck and be SURE to post some pictures!!


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Awesome Huge, if you don't mind as you do this if you could give us some kind of itinerary of the trip and how it works out. It may help several of us that may want to do a DIY trip.

I am in the planning process right now for my next trip in July of 2018.

I have used a guide the last couple of times and they were $3500 and $4000, the second one was more customized which the lodge was very willing to accommodate for me and let me pick and choose what guided ventures that I went on. I did like where I didn't have to worry about anything except showing up at the right place at the right time with my license in hand. I don't know if that is worth twice the cost or not.

The $4000 trip, we had 1 multi species out of Seward, 3 fly outs to to fish on rivers or remote lakes, two for silvers and one for reds. 1 upper Kenai River float trip for reds, rainbows, and dolly's, and one Kenai for kings, but we had so much fun on the upper Kenai float trip that they let us cancel the king trip and do another upper Kenai. 

We arrive on a Saturday and leave the lodge on a Saturday so 7 nights and 6 days of fishing. The lodge is right on the Kenai so we had private fishing for reds during off times, and with 20 hours of day light there is a lot of off time. Also we would drive up to the Russian and join in the combat fishing for a kick in the pants adventure.

I would like to know how yours works out or if it is worth it to me to pay someone else to set up all the guided trips and just tell me when and where to be.

Hope you have a great trip.


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## Kingfisher (Jul 25, 2008)

My dad puts together a trip to Canada every summer for about $500-700 per person. ON this trip, we expect to catch all species of salmon ranging from about 5 pounds to 40 pounds. We spend several days driving up and back and about 5 days of fishing.

Heck yeah a trip to Alaska can be done cheaper than a few thousand dollars!

so - wyo2 Utah... what does it take to become a good son to Dad? or his man Friday?

Like


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Kingfisher said:


> so - wyo2 Utah... what does it take to become a good son to Dad? or his man Friday?
> 
> Like


Not much. Just the time off and the willingness to pitch in and help with whatever needs to be done. A good attitude helps -- nothing worse than being 1500 miles from home with someone who's miserable!

Seriously, though, if you cut out the airfare (ie: drive your own vehicle), use your own equipment (rods, boats, etc.), and sleep in a tent -- salmon fishing trips can be very affordable.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

It would be an adventure to drive especially if you had time to spend exploring.

But for me just to go fishing, Utah to Anchorage is about 5 to 6 days of travel round trip with no overnight lay overs, just driving straight through. About $500 to $1,000 in gas depending on whether you take the KIA or the F350. Meals for the 5 or 6 days. And hopefully no break downs. So even with 4 guys you're probably $350 to $400 per person.

Round trip Flight is about $440 and two days travel. About $100 to $200 in car rental per person depending on how many guy go.

If I had the time and my buddies had the time, driving could be a blast, but with limited time I will fly if it is just to fish. Also you would have to keep buying dry ice to keep the fish frozen for 2 or 3 days. Plus finding a place to process your fish and keep it frozen until you are ready to drive home.

I think I will pa;y the extra $1 to $2 K for the convenience.

Of course you don't have to go all the way to Anchorage.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

bowgy said:


> It would be an adventure to drive especially if you had time to spend exploring.
> 
> But for me just to go fishing, Utah to Anchorage is about 5 to 6 days of travel round trip with no overnight lay overs, just driving straight through.
> 
> *Of course you don't have to go all the way to Anchorage.*


Ding, ding. We have winner.

the trip we do is an 11 day trip. It's a 33 hour drive (2,000 miles) 1 way.
We do the trip up in 1 shot -- stopping for fuel and food. By the end of the 2nd day we are in camp.
We spend the next 7 days floating and fishing.
The return trip home is broken into 2 days, with 2 nights in hotels.

Our shared expenses on our 4-person trip a couple years ago were as follows:
Groceries: $504.17
Fuel: $1107.39
Camp and park fees: $193
Motels: $302
Car Rental: $353.48
Tire: $170
*TOTAL: $2,630.04
Total per person: $657.51

*(Of course, there were other expenses as well. Licenses, personal items, snacks, etc.)

That's a pretty good deal. 7 days fishing, and 4 days driving through some of the most beautiful country in the world. That's not bad.
When we do an 8-person trip, the costs per person go down.



bowgy said:


> If I had the time and my buddies had the time, driving could be a blast, but with limited time I will fly if it is just to fish. Also you would have to keep buying dry ice to keep the fish frozen for 2 or 3 days. Plus finding a place to process your fish and keep it frozen until you are ready to drive home.


That depends too. You have to remember that you still have to follow local rules and regulations, which include daily and possession limits. Too many people from the lower 48 assume that salmon season is a free-for-all and you just get to bring home boxes and boxes of fish. Of course, there are loop-holes: when processed, fish come off your possession limit and thus boxes of fish can be brought home if processed.

Where we fish in Canada, the campground has a freezer. It's "first come, first serve". We have never had a problem getting our salmon frozen. We only keep what we legally get to keep under our possession limit. We eat like kings while there, feasting on fresh daily salmon catches and dungeness crab from other campers (we provide the bait, they provide the crab!). The return trip home (2 days) has a cooler packed with frozen fillets and ice. You can't find dry ice in Canada. But it isn't an issue.

Canada offers the exact same Pacific Salmon that Alaska does. The coast of Canada isn't much different. The crowds are less. The costs are less. The Canadians are more friendly. The Russians sing all night. What's not to like?

And, just for arguments sake: Canada, contrary to popular lower 48 thinking, has airports too! Who would have ever thought to fly to Canada to fish for Pacific Salmon???

(I don't know why I can't just keep my mouth shut some days! You'd think I'd just keep letting all of you go fly to Alaska and compete in combat fishing...)


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

That sounds great PBH, what varieties of fish did you catch?

Could you do the same trip to Washington for even cheaper? Of course less than $700 per person is quite a deal. I am planning on about $4,000 for my next trip.

Most of that is guided trips and tips. It would be less than half that cost just to fly up, rent a car and camp in campgrounds and just fish the rivers without buying any guided trips.

We bring back 75 to 100 lbs of fish per person.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

bowgy said:


> That sounds great PBH, what varieties of fish did you catch?


We time our trip to hit the peak of pinks (8 - 10lbs) and chums (15 - 22 lbs). This provides opportunity to catch late springs (30lbs) and early coho (12 - 20lbs). We catch these 4 species in one river. We also hit another river that includes sockeye. Basically, we get all 5 species of Pacific Salmon. We have also caught small sea-run cutthroat.



bowgy said:


> Could you do the same trip to Washington for even cheaper? Of course less than $700 per person is quite a deal. I am planning on about $4,000 for my next trip.


Honestly, I don't know if you could do that in Washington. I'm not aware of any runs in Washington that compare with the runs where we go in Canada.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

bowgy said:


> We bring back 75 to 100 lbs of fish per person.


Bringing back fish is not our intent. However, like mentioned previously, we bring back what we legally can. This usually means 2 chum salmon and 1 silver (I'd have to lookup the regulations to know for certain what the possession limit is...). We usually are too late to harvest any springs. if we get into the sockeye, we try to keep a sockeye as well.

Some of what we keep depends on what day we catch it -- we try to eat what we catch early in the trip, then take home some of the last days catch. Sometimes that means only chum salmon come home. that's OK, because fresh chum is good!!


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

Just got home this morning at 3am. 
Here are our total costs, we had 4 of us.

$2,500 flights (not sure where people get these $300-$400 flights, they seem to always be a minimum of 600 in August and September
$2,050 6 days of boat rental for about a 20' alaskan style boat with 150 HP outboard
$300 6 days of boat fuel, only charged us $3.26/gallon I was expecting much higher
$351 fish processing for 176 lbs to do everything, filet, vacuum pack, box in to 50 lb boxes and strap, a bit disappointing in this amount. Run was a little late. All silvers couldn't get a halibut to save our lives.
$200 luggage, Alaskan air charges $25/piece. They had no issue letting us carry on our poles in the cardboard tubes they were shipped in, they were only 51" long to fit our 8' shimano rods. This had us worried, but they are very use to this, one time the flight attendants placed it in their own closet for their luggage and other times we just placed it in the overhead.
$75 for herring, our primary bait for silvers.
$150 in tips for drivers, dock helpers and such
$1,350 for two bedroom cabin with 4 twin beds for 7 nights
$467 in groceries
$48 in ferry fees from airport
So, about $1,800 each, which is barely over half what it would cost for the cheapest lodge we could find last trip, but this had an extra day of fishing and a real boat, not a tiny 14' skiff with 11mph max speed with no protection from wind and rain. this could do 30 mph and had two downriggers, which we double stacked to have two poles on each unit and cover the whole column. we caught fish from 20' to 70' and dialed them in a little more once we got some hits. we travelled about 25 miles on two days to get out closer to open water to the source of the salmon run as there wasnt much happening close by. 
We had a handful of 12 lb silvers, but lots in the 9 lb range. This second run is known for being the much larger sifh and they were, but ill bet next week they are a lot more successful. when we got out to the edge of open water, as compared ot being in the inside passage, the trawlers were out there like crazy, so the fish were just starting in from open water. 
It was a great time, but I echo what someone else posted about knowing who you are going with, you spend a whole lot of time together and those who are bad at netting, bad drivers (cant read the sonar to know 30' water ahead means you will lose the downrigger ball twice...for example) or just lazy so same guys have to reset the downriggers every time. I have a friend who keeps asking about going, just not a real friend who I know to be very ornery, not someone I want to spend 16 hours/day with 7 days in a row. I think next time I will spring the $300 for a day charter for halibut, I really want to learn how to do it and need a halibut to feel complete. 
We learned a few different ways to fish them including using what are called anchovie heads, also use little piece of herring on a hoochie, Brad's lures that imitate a cut plug, whereas a lot of guys only use cut plugs. The anchovie head and BRad's both worked really well.


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## bowgy (Oct 10, 2007)

Thanks Huge, sounds fun.

Was all your fishing by boat and on the ocean? Did you do any river fishing?

I am getting stoked, still planning on going next July to catch the second run of sockeye.

If we go in July, we catch halibut, reds, silvers, various rock fish, like ling cod, yellow eye, sea bass, etc., rainbow, dolly varden, a chance at Kings, on even years the pinks will be running, but they are more in August. I will spend $1800 on the 6 guided days of fishing alone. I'm still looking at about $4k with everything.

We start checking flights 12 months in advance, and check every so often and different times of the day and night, when we feel good about the flight price we book it. It can vary from day to day. 

The lowest I found so far to Anchorage from Las Vegas was $375. We hadn't finalized our plans so I didn't book it. The same one today was $475. For example.

Juneau is a little more expensive to fly to than Anchorage and sometimes it's cheaper from Salt Lake but most of the time it is cheaper from Las Vegas.

We paid a little more the first trip because it was non stop from Salt Lake and that was nice.

I'm still a little lazy in some things so it is nice to have someone else do all the planning and set up the guided trips and I just have to show up.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

We did by boat every day. We went about 20-30 miles out towards the end to get closer to open ocean as teh warm weather seemed to delay their move towards streams and finally found them out there as did all of the sein and long line commercial guys. 
Seems like the very best deal would be a southwest flight from slc to seattle for $59 and then taking Alaskan for around $375. I read not long ago that late August for booking is the best time of year as bookings are way down from kids back in school. Not sure about that. They also say on PFD day (october 31) when all Alaskans get their mineral royalty payments they have specials, but I dont see that and prices did not go up right after that. 
We always catch a few rockfish, but not what we are targeting. We caught a few ling cod, but all below the limit. We caught lots of kings in that 2-3 lb range, seems to be the 2 year old kings, of course had to release all of them as the king season was closed on 8/10 in addition to them all being way below the 29" minimum anyways. 
Not a single halibut again, not for a lack of trying almost every day. Did catch a rat fish the one day when trying for the butts. September is a little late for the buts according to many, but we saw several coming in every night at the docks. The charters were killing them, but they go like 50 miles out getting way out into the open water. 
We had a lot of our silvers injured by sea lions, nothing major.


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

Those pfd payments just came out a few days ago (Costco was a zoo on Saturday). I've heard of some great deals on flights.


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