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| General Fishing Information |
| purchase an alaskan fishing license online |
| kodiak area sport fisheries |
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| salmon run chart around kodiak |
| 2006 Salmon Forecast |
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Who is Dolly Varden? Not only are folks who fish characters, some of the fish are too. Dolly Varden was a character in a Charles Dickens novel - Baranaby Rudge. Dolly wore colorful dresses, one of which was green with pink polka-dots. Somehow the name was passed on to a fish from the Artic Char Family who has the same color scheme. Dolly Varden are dark in color with light colored spots. |
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There are less than 100 miles of paved roads around Kodiak, but they offer access to some of the most abundant fishing anywhere. Rivers, lakes, streams and ocean fishing are all reachable from the road system. Within the system, every salmon variety is available, as well as Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden and Coho. |
Each species of salmon has a different lifecycle, and each returns to its spawning grounds at different times.
The table below displays approximate seasons for salmon and other sport fish varieties on Kodiak.
| June | July | August | September | October | November | ||
| f | Dolly Varden |
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Pinks |
f | ||||||
Reds |
f | ||||||
Silvers |
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| f | Steelhead & Rainbow Trout |
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Pink, Red or Silver?
Aside from the time of year when you are likely to encounter the different varieties of salmon around Kodiak, identification can sometimes be difficult.
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Red (Sockeye or Oncorhynchus nerka) Reds are the slimmest and most streamlined of salmon species. Up close, Reds are nearly toothless with prominent, glassy eyes. |
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Pink (Humpback or Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) Male Pinks can be easily identified by their hump. In general, Pinks have tiny scales and a tail marked with large oval spots. Pinks are the only salmon with no silver in the tail. Up close, mouth is black with a black gum line. |
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Silver (Coho or Oncorhynchus kisutch) Silvers have a wide tail base, a metallic blue dorsal surface and a few spots on the top of the tail. Up close, the mouth is white with a white gum line. |
Salmon images from "Inland Fisheries of Washington" by Whitney and Wydoski, ©copyright 1979,
University of Washington Press.
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