My wife and I are planning on driving to Alaska from Wyoming towing our 26' travel trailer. Our rough dates are the last two weeks of August and the first two weeks of September. Our primary goals are to go to the upper Kenai for large rainbow trout and to be available on short notice for a caribou cancellation hunt for my wife. We will be limited to fishing from the road system, on foot and with float tubes.

I'm looking for recommendations for places to fish, things to do, places to stay, etc.

there is great shorefishing for large rainbows on the Russian River, lots of parking availability after the red salmon run dies off. Also, it seems that just about any bank of the mid-upper kenai is great. Here is a 'bow my dad pulled out of there last fall with our friend and guide Steve McClure

~15lbs

Right before you get to TOK, you'll see the Taylor highway going to chicken, border, and eagle. Depending on how the season is going and if the caribou are here yet or still around; you might want shoot a caribou up the Taylor. Give F&G a call and see if hunt is available for non-residents and how they plan on running the season this fall.

When they are coming through, most people set up right off the road; drink coffee and wait.

The silvers should be running in Valdez beginning about Aug. 15. It's pretty well dead by Labor Day tho. Ya might wanna try that.
Bear in Fairbanks

Thanks you guys.

JAH, that fish is a toad, just what we're looking for!

If it is in your budget, consider putting yourselves and your rig on the ferry in Whitier and spending some time in Cordova. Good road system fishing.

We have been fishing in Valdez many times. Always go the 15 - 20 of August.
Last year we brought home 305 pounds of silver fillets. Stay at the Bear Paw Adult Rv park and you can fish right off the shore in front of your trailer. Or from shore across the inlet near the oil terminal. Also good trout fishing in the lakes. Might also get in on the blueberries at blueberry hill.
We are leaving in three weeks to fish Petersburg Alaska for nine days. The kings will be in.
Watson lake..

I had not considered Valdez, but have fished from Ketchikan through Juneau. I have been focused on the Kenai as large rainbow trout are our goal. Are there big Rainbow in Valdez and/or Cordova?

I am not sure about the big rainbows as we always fish for silvers.
A fly fishing friend goes to Cordova to flyfish for silvers.
Watson lake.

I drove to AK in '07 (without a trailer). I'm not a fisherman but here are some thoughts on the road trip itself: if you haven't already, get the Milepost book. It has very detailed info mile-by-mile for all the major routes.

On my way up, I went through Cassiar and coming back, exited through Chicken and Eagle and came around through Dawson's Creek just to see more country. There was a ferry to cross the river at DC so you might want to check on the trailer restrictions there. BC had, at the time, lots of provincially maintained camping spots. They were free and obviously first come, first served, but they were nice. Generally on some water, honey bucket toilets, picnic tables, trash barrels.

We went mid-May thru mid-June so some of the seasonal stuff was still closed but there was enough in the way of pit stops that there were several packs of guys on motorcycles doing that run. I can't remember the name of the cuttoff place but in northern BC or southern Yukon go see the Valley of the Eagles; that's pretty neat.

The river that cris-crosses the BC/Yukon border had some big Greyling. My brother bought a BC fishing license and it was good for that river on either side of the border.

The farther north you go, if you're using a gps, you might notice it getting a bit squirrelly due to the 'double curvature' of the earth (the proper name for that eludes me at the moment).

Watch out for the RCMP. They were quite fond of standing in the bushes and jumping out in the road at the last second to wave prople over for random check points.

Good luck and enjoy. That's an awesome road trip!!

If taking a gun, be VERY aware of the rules when crossing canada.

I drove to Alaska the second week of September a few years ago and it was beautiful. You will be on your way home but be prepared that some of the gas stations that were open on your drive to Alaska won't be open on your drive home.

As for the fishing, look at some of the strams that flow into the Susitna. Talkeetna is a nice town and fishing Clear creek should still be good.


ddj

On that route I would highly recommend visiting Whittier and Homer as well, maybe Seward too. Should be silvers in all three at the end of August. Beautiful scenery at all three.

There are no big rainbows near Valdez. There a a lot of silvers before labor day. I believe the bay gets open to commercial fishing on labor day and it gets cleaned out.

Here is a hog rainbow my friend Jason caught in the upper Kenai a couple years back. 36" long with a 24" girth.

I've seen that photo before. What an impressive fish!