i am looking to go to alaska or canada and am looking for information on the best places to go for big kings in the salt. all info appreciated. thanks in advance.

We go to North King Lodge every other summer... Its in Northern BC... We catc h lots of big fish

Your best shot a huge chinook in the salt would probably be Rivers Inlet. For good numbers of 25-40 lb fish try any of the lodges at Langara Island or the west side of the Charlottes. I have been to pretty much all of them and would recommend West Coast Resorts Englefield Bay operation. I will be there June 10-13.

Fishing, so far, has been slow in the Charlottes, with maybe two or three fish a day fron 25-35 lbs. But it should pick up rapidly any day now.

If it is only big fish you are after and not lots of fish then I agree with Mr Vedder. Say hello to John Beath for me.

if price plays a factor in this, around Prince Rupert can also have very large fish. Try charter boats out of P.R. or a placed called HaNeeNaa lodge on Dundas Island. they usually get a fish or 2 around 70lbs every year with lots of 40+. Rivers Inlet will have your best chance at a whopper in BC but like mentioned you are fishing for 1 or 2 bites a day so don't screw up.
Nothing beats the Kenia for the jumbo's though.

For Big Kings, Waterfall Resort on Prince of Whales Island is hands down the best Saltwater Salmon in the world for numbers of fish and large fish! Got a buddy that is a guide up there and just left, i believe they still had a few openings! Lots of 50 plusers caught up there and the biggest is 79lbs! They also have and awsome bottomfish fishery as well!

Not sure what your definition of "big king" is but I consider anything over 50 as big, that being said, Craig or Sitka are hard to beat.

Chinook,
You are probably a tad bit late this year to fish the two best spots.
Most of the BIG King Records are help by the Kenai River in Alaska. Generally a King Salmon there is not considered a trophy unless it weights 70 lbs. You need a guide & boat to fish the big Kings. LOTS of Sockeye Salmon.

Numbers wise, the Nushagak River near Dillingham, Alaska is hard to beat. Barged a sled up there and sports fished it for 10
years. A large King would be about 60 lbs, and the average about 20 lbs. It was not unusual for 3 of us to catch 100 salmon a day.
The Wood River River Drainage is near by & the Dollie, & Artic Char fishing is unsurpassed. There are Dollies, Artic Char, Rainbow,
Greyling, Pike, Kings, Chum, Sockeye, & more. Usually the 3rd week in June is the best. Again you need a boat, & maybe a guide. We never had a guide. You MUST learn to fish with either hand because you get cramps and may lose you rod & reel over board. A few bears to help you with your fish!

Raft-Cat

When fish are in schools they sometimes take.......debate

Big kings in the salt are a prize. I know Chris Seccions has a handle on them. He owns a Lodge on Kodiak. They pick off a ton of Skeena fish in the salt. His info is available on "ifish".

Those Skeena fish are as big or bigger than Kenai fish, and not near the crowds in BC, as Alaska.

North King is probably full, but they have huge silvers too. High teens to low twenties when I was there. Tackle busters. The kings can get to the sixties too. I think a 64 and a 65 weere the biggest when I was there. Rivers Inlet Kings possibly?

I've gone to Haneenah lodge several times and love it (floating fishing lodge in the middle of no where)

We timed it for silvers though so I think it was early August or late July...

50 fish days with most fishing going 10 lbs some silvers tipping the scales at 17-18 inches....

My dad went last year and some of his buddies got some around 50 lbs and lost bigger ones....

The week before we got to N. King this year there was like a 74lber caught... They still had it at the lodge waiting for it to be mounted.. . That friken thing was a monster...

Thanks Dave,

Your comment only reinforces the buzzing in my groin. I'm looking forward to my June-6/10 visit to the Langara tip - taking dad up for some hopefully memorable stuff.

Check out the current issue of STS. They have a decent article of where to go for 50 lb kings.

wodawic:

Here is a link to a report from the Lodge at Englefield Bay. http://www.westcoastresorts.com/lodgereports.cfm

I know you will have a hoot at Langara, but remember that big numbers of big chinook are not a gurantee anywhere that I have ever fished.

I have been to the Charlottes roughly 30 times. I have never been skunked but have come close. The poorest trip I ever had produced about one nice chinook per day. The best was with Sebastes to Hippa Island. On tha trip we literally hooked one big chinook after another for three days. We kept our four fish each and released many 30-50 pound fish. Twice we were bummed out when our huge halibut jige were inhaled by agressive chinook.

On the last day I had four double headers in three hours, while fishing alone. The lodge used this photo of me in their ad the next year.

Dont forget to try Langara Rocks for lingcod, rockfish and halibut. It's perhaps the best bottom fishing area I have ever seen. Yopu can often take rockfish on a fly aat the rrocks, and when they are on the prod I have taken them on dry flies.