Upper Bristol Bay Advice

[MartinBow]

I am new to this site and was hoping I could get some advice. I am going to be moving to the King Salmon/Naknek area and was hoping I may get some information of what oppurtunites are available and what equipment is recomended to bring. I have a ton of experience duck hunting in ND but this is a whole new adventure so any information/tips/help is greatly appreciated. I have more puddle, diver, and goose decoys than a guy should, spinners, dog, boat with go-devil, etc. but only want to bring what would be needed. I thank you in advance for any help that you can give me.

Thanks!!!!!

 

[SkinnyD]

I have to venture a guess that not many folks take off from SD to King Salmon without some reason. Are you taking a job with FWS? That'll be a cool place to live. You should have no trouble finding ducks out there since the whole western half of Alaska is a swamp. A bag of decoys and a dog are all you need, but if you can get the boat out there too..... well, that sounds like a dream duck hunt. There sure won't be anybody else in your favorite spot out of King Salmon.

 

[AK DUCKMAN]

There sure won't be anybody else in your favorite spot out of King Salmon.

Other then maybe a BROWN BEAR. Good luck with that. :lol:

 

[AK Ray]

Only bring a half dozen goose decoys. You might see more specs than canadas. You might see most your geese in the spring. If the geese act like they do in Cold Bay you might get away with silly socks of some kind. Set up out on the tundra where there are good berries near the coast.

I don't know if King/Naknek has a spring subsistance hunt allowed by the Feds. Probably on the list, but you will have to check with the locals when you get there.

Most the hunting in the fall the ducks are brown so bring some extra hen decoys. You will be seeing a lot of pintails since they nest in Southwest AK and then stage along the coast for a few weeks before heading south. Since you will be in the middle of a gigantic swamp it will be hard to determine if two decoys are enough or if you need a 1,000. You are competing with thousands of square miles of habitat. Find the best food and the birds will keep coming around.

In the winter there will be GE's on the river dodging pan ice.

The boat will be very useful on the river for fishing. Useful for moose hunting as well up the creeks. You will need the boat to get away from town and into some of the creeks off the rivers. I know of one guy from Dillingham that hunts the coastal dune ponds each fall, but he has access to those by road. There are beach roads from Naknek to some old canneries, but I have never been on them.

Bring a couple of extra props for the go devil since shipping them up could cost more than they cost to buy. The river is rocky with weeds.

There are a few bears around town, so make sure you have really good obidence on the dog. There also are a lot of fox right in town so make sure your dog is not a chaser.

For the summer make sure you have a head net or six. Long sleeve shirts. Try some of those Buz-off treated T-shirts. Lots of DEET. Get used to having a ring of oozing open bites around your wrists and ankles. Did you know that there are 17 species of black fly/white-sox/no-see-um in Alaska? King Salmon has all of them ......... and mosquitos.

 

[MartinBow]

Thanks for all the advice so far!!! I have already started to plan accordingly. I have some experience with alaskan bugs and bears, so I don't think those things will bother me too much. My dog is entering his senior years and is very well trained so I hope that I wont have any problems, but we will make sure his basic obedience is polished up. Seems like it would be a great place for him to finish up his career. Any body have any information on crane number migrating through that area? I really enjoy hunting them and would like to out there if they come through in any kind of numbers. If anybody has anything else to add please do.

Thanks

 

[Aleutian king]

I also am in the Naknek King Salmon area and do allot of hunting on the waterfowl and fishing on the Alagnak and Kvichak river basin as my house/lodge are on the upper Alagnak River 40 mies NE of King Salmon, Well have to get together this spring. Charlie