UTERAlaska's salmon runs come in a fairly reliable order. Kings arrive first, from May to July. Sockeye run from June to August, pinks and chum fill the creek mouths in midsummer, and coho (silvers) come last, from late July through September and into October on the Kenai. July is the only month when you can catch all five in the same week.
The exact timing shifts by a week or two from river to river and from year to year. This guide uses the month-by-month calendars inside Fish Scouter for Southeast Alaska, Southcentral Alaska and Alaska fresh water, built from ADF&G's own run-timing tables. Links to those tables are at the bottom.
What Fish Scouter covers in Alaska, honestly
We want to be clear about this before you plan a trip around it. Our Alaska coverage is narrower than our Lower 48 coverage.
- Salt-water calendars: two regions. Southeast Alaska (Ketchikan to Yakutat, including Sitka, Craig, Juneau and Petersburg) and Southcentral Alaska (Cook Inlet, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak and Prince William Sound).
- Fresh-water calendar: one statewide row per species. Its notes focus on the road-system rivers: the Kenai, Kasilof, Russian, Susitna drainages and the Copper River.
- Not covered with their own calendars: Bristol Bay, the Yukon and Kuskokwim, Norton Sound and the Arctic. Those are huge salmon systems with their own timing. Use ADF&G's run-timing pages for them.
- Spots and tides: NOAA tide stations work in Alaska, and charted wrecks and obstructions come from NOAA's charts. But we have far fewer ramps, reefs and access points mapped in Alaska than in Florida, Texas or the Great Lakes. Expect to add your own marks.
If you fish Southeast or the Kenai Peninsula, the calendars below are solid. If you're flying into Bristol Bay, treat this page as general background.
Alaska salmon run calendar
A = arriving, P = peak, L = leaving. Blank means the run isn't the story that month. King "feeders" (resident immature kings) are around all winter in the salt, which the table leaves out.
| Species | Southeast Alaska (salt) | Southcentral Alaska (salt) | Alaska rivers |
|---|---|---|---|
| King (chinook) | A Apr · P May–Jun · L Jul | A May · P Jun–Jul · L Aug | A May · P Jun–Jul · L Aug |
| Sockeye (red) | A Jun · P Jul–Aug · L Sep | A May · P Jun–Jul · L Aug | P Jun–Aug · L Sep |
| Pink (humpy) | A Jul · P Aug · L Sep | A Jun · P Jul–Aug · L Sep | — |
| Chum (dog) | A Jun · P Jul–Aug · L Sep | A Jun · P Jul · L Aug | — |
| Coho (silver) | A Jul · P Aug–Sep · L Oct | A Jul · P Aug–Sep · L Oct | A Jul · P Aug–Sep · L Oct |
King salmon (chinook)
Kings are the first and biggest fish of the season, and the most restricted. Many king runs have come back weak in recent years, and ADF&G has restricted or closed king fishing on a lot of Alaska waters. Everything below assumes the water is open. Check ADF&G emergency orders the week you go.
Southeast
Winter feeder kings stay around Ketchikan, Sitka and Juneau all year. Fish them with downrigger herring deep. The first spring returning kings show at the capes off Sitka and Ketchikan in April. May and June are the heart of it, with herring on a flasher at the points on the tide change. June is the peak month: Sitka, Craig, Ketchikan's Mountain Point and Juneau's derby water. By July, kings are thinning out and coho are taking over. Southeast king limits are set by emergency order each year. Southeast Alaska kings by month.
Southcentral
Kachemak Bay and Resurrection Bay have winter feeder kings on calm days. The returning runs start in May, with the Deep Creek saltwater early run from early May and Homer Spit and Halibut Cove kings from mid-May into early July. June is the peak: trolling off the beaches at Deep Creek and Anchor Point, and the Homer Spit's Fishing Hole for terminal hatchery kings. The Deep Creek late run goes into early August. Kenai late-run kings pass the mouth in July, but the river closes at the end of July, so check emergency orders. Southcentral Alaska kings and Alaska river kings.
Sockeye (red salmon)
Sockeye are the fish most people come to Alaska to fill a cooler with.
- May: Kodiak's Buskin River sockeye from mid-May. Resurrection Bay saltwater reds run through July.
- June: The Russian River early run starts around mid-June, with its midpoint in late June. This is the famous combat fishery at the confluence. Kasilof sockeye run from June through August. In Southeast, early sockeye show at the terminal river mouths: Chilkoot, Klawock and the outer-coast systems.
- July: The Kenai late run, from mid-July to mid-August, is the biggest sockeye show you can reach by road. It's a bank fishery for everyone and a personal-use dipnet fishery for Alaska residents only. Southeast returns peak at the mouths.
- August: The Kenai and Russian late runs taper off by mid-August. Prince William Sound lake systems such as Eshamy go to late August.
Sockeye feed on plankton, not baitfish, so they rarely chase a lure. In most legal fisheries, anglers drift a fly or bare hook through the travel lane close to the bank. Rules on technique vary by water. Southcentral sockeye, Southeast sockeye, Alaska river sockeye.
Pink salmon (humpies)
Pinks are the easiest salmon in Alaska to catch, and the most numerous. Light spinning gear and any pink spoon will catch them.
- Southeast: pinks every year. Schools are finning at every creek mouth by late July. August is the peak, best on the incoming tide. The runs are spawned out by early September.
- Southcentral: Prince William Sound pinks from mid-June at Lake Bay, Sawmill Bay and Whittier. In July they're off the Homer Spit, in Resurrection Bay and at Valdez. Kenai pinks start mid-July, and our calendar notes the big Kenai pink runs come in even years. August is the peak, and western PWS and Whittier pinks last to mid-September.
Southeast pinks and Southcentral pinks.
Chum salmon (dog salmon)
Chum are big, strong fish that get overlooked. In salt water, before they color up, they fight as hard as anything in the run.
- Southeast: summer chum at the hatchery terminal areas, such as Hidden Falls and Amalga Harbor, from June. They peak in July and August. Throw a pink or chartreuse hoochie off the release sites. Fall chum start on some systems in August.
- Southcentral: PWS chum at Lake Bay from early June and Main Bay from mid-June. Resurrection Bay saltwater chum run from early July to early August.
Southeast chum and Southcentral chum.
Coho salmon (silvers)
Coho close out the season, and for a lot of visiting anglers they're the best fishing of the year: aggressive fish that hit spinners, spoons and flies.
Southeast
The first coho show on the outer coast, at Sitka and Craig, in July, mixed in with the last kings. In August they're everywhere. Troll a flasher and hoochie in the top 40 feet at the capes. This is derby month. In September the inside waters peak and coho stack at the river mouths and hatchery release sites. The last silvers are in the bays and terminal areas in October. Southeast coho.
Southcentral
The Homer Spit early run starts in mid-July, Resurrection Bay outside coho from late June, and Port Valdez from mid-July. August is Seward's Silver Salmon Derby month, plus Homer's late run, Fleming Spit, the Whittier shoreline and the Kodiak road streams. In September, fish the Kenai and Kasilof mouths, Kodiak's Buskin and Pasagshak, and the PWS shorelines. The Kenai coho run goes to about mid-October. Southcentral coho and Alaska river coho.
Planning by month: the short version
| Month | What to target |
|---|---|
| May | Early kings (Homer, Deep Creek, Sitka, Ketchikan), Kodiak sockeye |
| June | Peak kings, Russian River early sockeye, first PWS pinks and chum |
| July | Kenai late-run sockeye, late kings, pinks and chum, first coho. The best month for variety. |
| August | Coho derbies at Seward and in Southeast, peak pinks, last sockeye |
| September | Coho at every river mouth, peak inside-water coho in Southeast |
| October | Last coho on the Kenai, in the bays and terminal areas |
Tides, and why they matter here
Alaska's tides are some of the biggest in the world. Cook Inlet runs 25 to 30 feet at Anchorage and 15 to 20 at Homer. Southeast runs 15 to 20 feet through narrow straits. The incoming tide pushes salmon onto the beaches and into the river mouths. Current at the points is what feeds the kings and coho. A big tide also makes beaches and river mouths dangerous, so know the tide before you walk out on a flat.
Fish Scouter shows the NOAA tide curve for the nearest station, the next turn and how strong the flow is, for every spot.
Regulations and closures
Salmon in Alaska are managed in-season. Limits, gear rules, open areas and whether you can keep a king change by emergency order, sometimes during the week you're there. Personal-use dipnetting is for Alaska residents only. We don't print limits here. Use ADF&G's regulations and emergency orders for the water you plan to fish.
Plan your Alaska run with Fish Scouter
For Southeast and Southcentral Alaska, Fish Scouter shows which salmon are arriving, peaking or leaving this month at your spot, with the tide and the week's wind and seas. Try Fish Scouter free and save your marks before you fly up.