Yakutat Itinerary: 7 Day Saltwater and Freshwater

Your Yakutat itinerary begins with your arrival on Alaska Airlines flight 61 from Seattle at just past 11a. Grab your bags and walk 30 yards to the Yakutat Lodge office and check in. Head over to Economy Auto Leasing to grab your rental car. After a bite to eat in the restaurant, head to the city dock for a 1/2 day saltwater charter targeting bottomfish. If kings are around, then trolling for kings might be an option too.

Start your day with breakfast at the restaurant at Yakutat Lodge. You’ll need the energy because chances are good that you’ll be fighting fish soon. Drive from the restaurant to the city docks, for a meetup at the prearranged time on your charter boat. For the next roughly 8 hours, you’ll be targeting halibut, lingcod and black rockfish. Depending on the timing of the tides, your captain will decide which species to target first. Halibut are caught by anchoring the boat, and soaking bait and/or jigging lures. Lingcod are caught drifting and jigging lures. It’s lots of fun, and the fish can get big. Don’t be surprised if someone catches a 50-pound or larger halibut. Sea birds, marine mammals, and amazing mountain views are also part of the experience. And to make it all even better, most of the fishing is done within 20 miles of the dock. Wrap up the day with dinner at Yakutat Lodge and drinks in their bar, then a solid night’s sleep after an action-packed day.

 Today’s Yakutat itinerary treat is a guided float down the Situk River. Yakutat Lodge guides are intimately familiar with the river and will help you catch sockeye salmon. It’s a full-day float, covering 14 miles of river that twists and winds through old growth forest. There’s a good chance you’ll see eagles, and maybe a bear and a moose. It’s a peaceful float through fertile rainforest, and even if you didn’t catch a sockeye salmon, it would be well worth the day. Sockeye are amid the hardest fighting and tastiest salmon species that swim in Alaska waters. Your Yakutat Lodge guides will show you the way to cast and how to hook and land these challenging salmon. There’s a healthy run of sockeye on the Situk River, so chances are good that you’ll connect.

After two days of arm-wrenching action, take a fishing break and enjoy some of the sights around Yakutat. Cannon Beach and Harlequin Lake are two worthwhile destinations. Cannon Beach is a short ride from Yakutat Lodge, and you can see remnants of cannons put in place during World War II to protect the airfield from possible enemy threats. To get to Harlequin Lake, drive out about 30 miles down Dangerous River Road and cross the Dangerous River bridge and arrive at the end of the road. Pull over and hike about 3/4 of a mile in a primordial rain forest and emerge at Harlequin Lake. This will be one of the highlights on your Yakutat itinerary. Scattered amid the picturesque lake are icebergs, some massive, that have calved from the Yakutat Glacier. Bring your camera as this is truly a spectacular sight.

Now that you’ve had a taste of the saltwater and freshwater possibilities, choose which one you liked best and take that for Day 5. Weather is sometimes a factor on the saltwater, so bear that in mind when deciding whether to fish in the saltwater on Day 5 or on Day 6. Your Yakutat itinerary is flexible, but you’ll want to consult your lodge managers and guides for their input on what’s fishing best. If kings are in, and you’ve had your fill of bottomfish, it might be a good idea to troll for kings. That’s often done in inside waters and would give you a chance to see some new scenery, which is always a bonus benefit in Alaska.

Whichever option you chose for Day 5, take the opposite choice for Day 6. Two days on the river and two-and-a-half days on the saltwater is a good mix. You’ll have plenty of tasty fillets of salmon, lingcod, halibut and rockfish, and have caught many fish. You’ll have stories about certain fish and about sights you’ve seen. You’ll be glad to get home and share stories with friends and loved ones over a meal of fresh fish that you caught, but a part of you will wish you were staying.

Sleep in, grab breakfast at Yakutat Lodge, check in for your flight, fill and return your rental car, check out of the lodge and jump on flight 61 when it lands in Yakutat around 11. You’ll end up in Anchorage about 2:30 and can then connect with other flights to start your journey home. If you have some time to kill, there’s plenty of things to do in Anchorage.