In the spring and summer, hundreds of people come to Alaska to go fishing. You can go fishing for salmon right in Anchorage, at Ship Creek. You can see salmon spawning from the bridges in the city parks. Some Alaskan kids have caught fish that are bigger than they are!

There are five kinds of salmon. They all have at least two names so it can be confusing. King salmon are also called Chinooks. Red salmon are called sockeyes. Silver salmon are called cohos. Chum salmon are also called dog salmon because the Eskimos dry them for dog food. Pink salmon are called humpback salmon because once they get into fresh water the males get a big hump on their back.

You can fish for salmon in fresh water or salt water. It is really hard to tell the different kinds apart when they are in salt water, but they change and look really different after they get to fresh water. Red salmon turn bright red. Chum salmon get stripes. The biggest king salmon caught by a sports fisherman was almost 100 pounds!

Other freshwater fish are Dolly Varden, rainbow trout, steelhead trout (which live part of the time in the ocean), and grayling. Grayling have great big fins.

Other salt water fish are halibut (which get to be hundreds of pounds), cod, and rockfish. If you come to Alaska, you can go on a charter boat to catch fish.