If you watch travel channels and sports fishing shows you will probably have seen quite a bit of footage on Alaska. Being that Alaska is part of the US, much of the attention is given to Alaska. Well, I am going to give you a little information about salmon fishing along the coast and hopefully persuade you that salmon fishing in British Columbia may be better than Alaska.
One thing I will concede. If you are wanting to catch salmon in the river, Alaska is probably your best choice. Let me explain. Alaska is known for the Kenai river producing some of the largest salmon in the world. There is no other place where you can have a very good chance to catch a salmon larger than 50lbs. However, once you have experienced the elbow to elbow fishing with people buzzing their lures past you, you may decide to go try something a little more remote. (Some people do like this kind of fishing, so this article is not for everyone!)
If you want to catch salmon that are fresh, meaning salmon that are not close to the river, you will have to run to some feeding grounds that have salmon swirling around like people on the Kenai river. The reason it is better to get salmon away from the river is that salmon close to the river are only a month or so away from spawning and dying. Their skin turns color and the meat texture is not near as nice. This is not to say that the salmon are completely useless if caught near a river. There are things you can do to make them worth eating. Okay, enough of that. If you have made the decision to go ocean fishing, you have to ask yourself what you want to do. The two main salmon targeted by sport fisherman for both sport and quality of taste are Chinook (Kings) and Coho (Silvers).
Chinook (King) salmon are the largest salmon and most targeted by sport fisherman wanting a good battle. A large Chinook can have a fisherman in battle from half an hour up to an hour. Coho (Silvers) are not as large, however they are quite energetic and can be fun to play on light tackle. There is one third factor that I haven