The Chinook salmon has truly earned the title of Alaska's king. From splintered rods to spooled reels, no fish is pursued more and caught less than the king salmon. Its power, speed and brute, hook-straightening force combine to challenge anglers in the salt or freshwater, conventional and fly alike.

Anglers in Alaska unite in a single-minded pursuit of the state fish and all can expect to eventually feel both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat when trying to tame this supreme salmon. I can remember one big king that felt the hook in Sitka and ran away from the boat on a one-way trip to open water. Its 60-second line-screaming encounter with Wayne ended in broken line. Another night of king fishing that's fresh in my memory was spent hooking seven consecutive fish on the Kasilof River in the People Hole. Each battle lasted from 10 seconds to 10 minutes and they all had the same thing in common - the salmon won and I lost.

As a tribute to the mighty king, we are going to use this month's department as a quick reference guide to the statewide run timing of the Chinook. These conclusions are drawn from personal experience and in talking with fellow anglers. It's meant to be taken as an outline of when the fish are typically around, but salmon are on their own timetable and water and weather conditions can affect when they return. Use this as guidance to determine general times to target king salmon, but realize that other anglers are doing the same thing and fringe times might produce lower numbers of fish but also fewer fishermen.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive report on all king salmon passageways, but a generalized view of some of the major locations at which anglers target Chinook.

Southeast

The Chinook migration to Alaska begins with fish passing by Southeast Alaska ports. It is here you should go if you are looking for early-season king action. Fish can be found in catchable numbers in late Mate and peak throughout Southeast in mid-June. On one memorable day in late April in Yakutat, I was lucky enough to catch a 30-pound king, 75-pound halibut and 10-pound steelhead. I also experienced an evening of unbelievable fishing for kings with my friend Ray Chaikin, owner of Eagle Creek Lodge near Ketchikan, on June 23. On another trip, we caught many kings with Ray from June 1-3 and then spent four days at Waterfall Resort on Prince of Wales Island catching kings each and every day. A trip to Sitka on yet another occasion found us knee deep in the kings in the third week of June.

Fishing for kings in Southeast remains brisk into July. It bears mentioning again that feeder kings can be found throughout the year as the nutrient-rich waters of the Inside Passage hold sizable quantities of baitfish.

Southcentral

Winter (feeder) kings can be caught year-round in Homer, Seward and the waters around Kodiak. It would stand to reason that fish could be found in other fertile saltwater environs in Prince William Sound as well.

Kings are starting to be caught in numbers in Valdez, with confirmed fish last summer. Kings begin to arrive in early May to Cook Inlet on their way to returning to natal streams. Deep Creek begins to look like a big city at Memorial Day as anglers flock to catch the season's first halibut and salmon. The Kenai and Kasilof rivers begin to see fish in mid-May and the first run progresses into June. We have caught kings in the Kasilof on May 17th. Second-run fish arrive in late June /early July and continue throughout the month. Fish are seen in numbers in early June in Ship Creek in Anchorage.

Anglers in the Susitna drainage begin to find kings in May, with lower Susitna River tributaries like Alexander Creek a good bet near Memorial Day. I can still remember the first king I caught on a fly rod was in Alexander Creek trolling an orange corkie upriver on Memorial Day weekend.

Fish migrate up the Susitna system and are highly targeted in waterways like the Deshka River and Lake, Willow, Sheep and Montana creeks throughout June and to the closing in mid-July. The Talkeetna River is another major producer and sees many wading anglers at the confluence with Clear Creek. King salmon are caught in the Karluk River on Kodiak from June through the end of July.

Fish timing varies from year to year, so check with local tackle and fly shops, talk to some guides on the rivers and check some of the more up-to-date websites to get a truly accurate picture of where the fish are at any given time.

Southwest

Kings return to Southwest in early June and return progressively later the farther west you go. Peak time for the Nushagak River seems to be the latter half of June, while the fish are in full swing on rivers like the Togiak and Kisaralik in the first half of July. The Naknek and Alagnak rivers are producing fish in the back half of June and into July. The Kanektok River is another great angling destination for kings and follows a similar pattern to these other western Alaska rivers.

If you're looking for an even later king run, angling guru and editor-in-chief Troy Letherman conveyed to me that he and a friend caught dime-bright fish in the Chignik River on August 7.

In searching for an overall pattern, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game provides historic looks at run timing. For rivers like the Nushagak, ADF&G has a sonar counting station downstream of Portage, and combined with sampling of the fish moving upriver, this allows technicians to determine daily migrations of salmon. Anglers hoping to hit big numbers of fish at the right times would be wise to check regularly with the department for the latest information, no matter where you plan to fish.

- Marcus Weiner, Publisher