If you have the desire to see Alaska or revisit it and have not been to Yakutat, it may need to climb the ranks of your possible destination picks. I personally had wanted to visit this small community on the northern coast of the Gulf of Alaska with its world-class steelhead river for several decades. I made the journey to fish for Coho salmon and was delighted with the fishery and even more enamored with the town, its people and the lay of the land.
Yakutat comes from the native Tlingit tribe’s dialect meaning “resting place for canoes.” I can see why — because of the calm waters of YakutatBay. The glacier back drops and views of Mount Saint Elias – the scenery is breath taking. It does rain over 150 inches a year, so getting sunny weather to take in the sights is not a daily occurrence. The town, if you can call it that, has a couple of lodges, a restaurant or two, a general store, a hardware store and a surf shop. Yes, Yakutat has world class waves if you can handle cold water. Yakutat is the smallest community in Alaska to get commercial jet service at its air strip and maintains a population around 650.
Wildlife abounds with both black and brown bears; we also saw moose and many bald eagles. The forest is thick with spruce, hemlock, cedar trees and heavy underlying vegetation. Some of this shelter gives aid to protect the small black-tailed deer and mountain goats are found at higher elevation.
The fishing was all that I had dreamed of. Our first casts were greeted by aggressive Coho salmon. The small streams that had foot access were a joy to fish and very productive as pods of fresh silver salmon coming in from the ocean were happy to bite. We floated the famous SitukRiver by drift boat and found its 14 miles of navigable water to be full of pink salmon with pods of silver “Coho” salmon around every bend. We spent one day fishing the saltwater and had no problem catching Pacific halibut, lingcod and Coho salmon. If Alaska is on your list I hope you consider Yakutat and all that its people and surroundings have to offer, it is a magical place.
n Mike Baxter has fished in the Monterey Bay Area since he was a boy and has been a licensed charter boat captain for more than 20 years. Contact him at [email protected]. He also hosts a fishing show on radio station KSCO (1080) from 8:06 to 9 p.m. Thursdays – April through the end of August.
