Fishing in Alaska can be a complicated endeavor, with angling success often dependant upon several factors—from being in the right place at the right time to having the right tackle. The latter is especially important for Alaska, as this obviously isn’t a state that features a gear shop on every corner. Quite often, there aren’t even corners at all.

Thus, planning takes on added importance for an Alaska trip. Some anglers think they can come to Alaska with hotel and car rental reservations and plan their activities when they get here. This is not usually possible. Popular guides are booked well in advance, while rivers of particular renown are packed with boats and anglers during historically productive periods. Your best bet is to plan ahead.

Planning ahead not only ensures you get to work with the guide or charter you prefer, it also allows you to choose the best of the best. If you use the same charter, guide, or lodge every year, then reserve your next dates at the completion of your annual trip. We all know time is of the essence in fishing, so the best possible dates (traditionally) get booked first.

Whether you are planning an annual Alaska fishing adventure or are an Alaskan looking to fill the freezer for winter, use our complimentary online trip-planning service at www.fishalaskamagazine.com to select the service providers who can best serve you. We’ve built a form that gives you the ability to narrow down the scope of your trip and to begin to get information and talk with service providers specific to your activities. It’s hard to get your arms around all the possibilities Alaska offers, from all the different ports in Southeast to the myriad lodges and rivers in Bristol Bay, or from Kodiak Island and the surrounding archipelago to the endless Interior lakes and the enormous Yukon River with its man-eating pike.

It helps to plan ahead and narrow one’s focus. Not incidentally, the principles used to orchestrate a superior trip are the same ones that allow us to plan and execute a strong magazine.

February is a good time to plan for and finalize your 2005 trip. Many people coming to Alaska start to think about their itinerary in the December timeframe and make decisions and booking arrangements from January through March. We don’t recommend waiting much longer than that. If you happen to be here without plans, it doesn’t hurt to call any of the services in Fish Alaska to see if they have openings. Occasionally they do, and if not, many of our clients are also dialed-in to who else might be available.

But who needs to wait for the groundhog to see his shadow before fishing in 2005? By February, many anglers with a jones for some soft water find that angling out of Homer or Seward for winter kings is a strong antidote. March 19 is the annual Winter King tournament sponsored by the Homer Chamber of Commerce. Now is also the time to break out the reels to service and re-spool them, to check the integrity of your rods, sharpen hooks, make common terminal tackle riggings, and get thinking about that first screaming run as a possible derby winner sprints for open water with the speed of an Alaskan off to Hawaii in the middle of a winter snowstorm. Start calling around and get a boat ready or get on someone else’s; it’ll be worth it.

For those that need a little extra helping hand, feel free to call into the magazine office and we’ll help in any way possible. It’s the Alaskan way to help another person in need, and when it comes to fishing, our job is to help you plan in advance.

—Melissa Norris and

Marcus Weiner

Publishers