Seeking Juneau Guide Recommendations

Jacob Watrous

Jacob Watrous

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I’ll be in Juneau in mid-late July 2026 and would like to take a guided trip. Ideally for salmon and most ideally a guide who is not only humoring me with 2h rods but loves ‘em.

I’d prefer walk and wade, or float and wade. Any guide recommendations? DIY suggestions are great, too, for the downtime as I’ve only fished the Kenai.
 
J Watrous said:
I’ll be in Juneau in mid-late July 2026 and would like to take a guided trip. Ideally for salmon and most ideally a guide who is not only humoring me with 2h rods but loves ‘em.

I’d prefer walk and wade, or float and wade. Any guide recommendations? DIY suggestions are great, too, for the downtime as I’ve only fished the Kenai.
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Ping me, mang.

July 15-31 is late chum, peak humpy. Limited opportunity for summer coho, all depends on rainfall. The only kings around in that window are saltwater blackmouth or moldy-ass spawners in the estuaries - very few freshwater systems in SE allow fishing for kings.
Shitpiles of char around in that window, and if you're not married to the idea of salmon only, there's plenty of opportunity to catch char up to the mid- 20"s all day long with no other humans around.
As a side note, it's probably best if you disabuse yourself of the notion that 2handers are necessary and/or useful in SE AK - most of the amazingly productive streams in northern SE are less than 150cfs on a good flow, and a lot of the best water isn't conducive to a long spraypole. They're also not the easiest thing to bushwhack with...

At any rate, yeah, drop me a line. At the very least I can squire you around to a few roadside fishin' spots if the idea of paying $950/hr (1 hr minimum) for a Cessna doesn't appeal to you.
 
*2 notes i forgot to add -

1) yer dates coincide with peak dry-fly timing for humpies. Not skaters, not poppers, but dead-drifted dry flies fished upstream like a proper tweed nerd. There are also a pile of opportunities to target nearshore and estuary saltwater humpies on stripped topwaters, which is about the most fun you can have with a flypole in yer hand, clothed or unclothed.

2) check out https://juneauflyfishing.com for more deets and a sexy pic of me on the "meet our guides" page - my bio should be easy enough to pick out, even though it hasn't been updated in about 4 years.
 
G_Smolt said:
...dead-drifted dry flies fished upstream like a proper tweed nerd....
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Humpy fishing using a Humpy...
How positively proper.
 
G_Smolt said:
Ping me, mang.

As a side note, it's probably best if you disabuse yourself of the notion that 2handers are necessary and/or useful in SE AK - most of the amazingly productive streams in northern SE are less than 150cfs on a good flow, and a lot of the best water isn't conducive to a long spraypole. They're also not the easiest thing to bushwhack with...
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Agreed. I was just hoping to scratch that itch one last time before I move to Europe for a long time. Juneau, you see, is my stopover.

I'll be bringing my favorite rods in weights 000 through 12, though, so I'm up for anything and any species. I'll definitely tag you in.
G_Smolt said:
if the idea of paying $950/hr (1 hr minimum) for a Cessna doesn't appeal to you.
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It does not, currently.
 
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