One of the biggest draws of Alaska, however, is its unparalleled fishing opportunities. Alaska features some of the best fishing in the entire United States. Indeed, if you’re used to fishing in the lower 48, you’ll have to create new criteria as to what constitutes a “good” day of fishing after trying out Alaska. The fish are bigger, more bountiful, and put up stronger fights than anywhere else in America.

The images below will give you just a taste of what Alaskan angling is all about. Everyone has their own favorite method of fishing, so come up to Alaska and discover your own preferred style of this hobby that can last a lifetime.

Fishing is one of those pastimes with endless minutiae that will hold a person’s interest for decades. This flybox displays just a fraction of the types of patterns anglers use on Alaskan rivers. (Photo: Wikimedia)

A beautiful Rainbow trout with its famous multi-color sheen. (Photo: FishEyeGuy)

Fishing is the ultimate hobby to share with your children. Lake fishing offers an ideal setting to get your kids hooked on this awesome sport! (Photo: Wikimedia)

Anglers jockey for positions along the banks of the Kenai River near the Kenai Princess Wilderness Lodge as they engage in what Alaskans refer to as “combat fishing.” Space is so limited, it’s a fight just to have a spot to stand in the water! The annual summer sockeye salmon run is more than plentiful; everyone here will leave with tasty fish. (Photo: jripple)

Humans aren’t the only ones in the know about the annual salmon run! Man and beast share the same goal in this wild photo. (Photo: mpost)

Of course, it isn’t always a mob scene on the river! A majority of the time you can find all the peace and quiet you will ever need on Alaska’s endless streams and rivers. (Photo: Alaska in Pictures)

Lake fishing is the perfect way to spend a peaceful day on the water. Set out in a canoe and roam the still waters for that trophy trout. (Photo: Wikimedia)

Dolly Varden are another favorite target of Alaska’s fly fisherman. Dolly Varden are commonly found lurking amongst the salmon waiting for them to drop their eggs. (Photo: Alaska Fishing)

You knew halibut was tasty, but did you know it’s this ugly? They can be extremely fun to fish for, because these behemoths put up a major fight. The waters around Alaska are home to some of the biggest halibut in the world, occasionally weighing in at over 250 lbs! (Photo: Wikimedia)

A well-known angler-ism: a bad day on the water is still better than a great day at the office. And in Alaska, you’re guaranteed to be fishing amongst some of the best scenery this world has to offer. (Photo: Alaska 411)

Deer Moutain Towers Above Ketchikan (Laura Milholland

In 2002 I retired from my job in City Government and decided to try the adventure of a lifetime, that of visiting Alaska.  Alaska was my homeland for a short period of my childhood, living both in Anchorage and Juneau.  It was a tremendous honor to return to Alaska and my first assignment was in Ketchikan.  I have worked for the company every year since and have had the pleasure to visit a great deal of Alaska.  I have worked from Anchorage to Fairbanks and spent a good deal of time in Denali National Park.  Ketchikan always calls me back and this is my sixth contract in Ketchikan.

The beauty here is unmatched and though all of Alaska holds treasures, I have found a home in Ketchikan.  The people here are so amazing to be around and the mountains of Ketchikan are incredible at any time of year.  Deer Mountain is covered with snow when I first arrive each year and by July the snow is melted.  That allows hiking of Deer Mountain to the top of its 3001-foot peak.  The vistas are incredible and you feel an awe and amazement viewing the world from there that I have not been able to equal anywhere else.

Being the first city of Alaska, many of the ships stop here first and it is up to us as tour guides to present Alaska in all its glory and beauty.  There are so many different tours in Ketchikan that we can participate in that all my days off are filled with excitement and experiences that will last me a lifetime.  I have watched many people of all ages and backgrounds come to Alaska to work for our Ketchikan Division and all of them leave here a different person.  Some are much more outgoing, some are more rounded individuals, and some are persons to be admired leaving me to hope they come back again to work for Princess Cruises and Holland America Line.

I have made friends for life in this job, and have kept in touch with many, many of our former drivers over the years.  It is wonderful to meet drivers from all walks of life and see how they all bring part of their world to show the cruise passengers how incredible Alaska really is.  With what we all take away from Alaska each year, it leaves a profound impression on our lives and makes the path we choose for future adventures so much more rewarding.  I only hope you will come to Alaska and experience what I am talking about for yourself.  I cannot imagine not returning to Alaska and seeing the great land year to year.

If you enjoy adventure, this is certainly the job for you.  The opportunity to fish, kayak, zip line, ride go-karts, travel by jet boat, or float plane, snorkel, jeep the back country, walk the rain forest, or go crab fishing, as well as learn and guide tours regarding native life and totem poles has sold me on Ketchikan.  I hope you will come to Ketchikan and let us show you the experiences of Alaska.

The Kenai River is one of the best rivers for fishing in America

My husband and I went to Alaska for the first time in 1995 when we took 5 weeks off from work and drove up from Seattle.  Ever since that trip, we had wanted to return so when the opportunity to work for Princess came along, we grabbed at it! 2009 will be our 4th summer returning to Alaska and working for Kenai Princess Lodge.  Our son, granddaughter, and daughter and her husband are as excited as we are that we are returning this year. They love to visit us in Alaska.

Our days off are busy,  razor clamming in Ninilchik, picking wild blueberries near Seward, panning for gold near Hope and, of course, fishing for salmon in the Kenai and Russian rivers or just having a relaxing lunch in some spectacular setting.  We also take full advantage of the many tours Princess offers, from river rafting, horseback riding, carriage rides, kayaking on the lake, touring the fjords of Resurrection Bay, or a train trip to McKinley, to name a few. We are never bored!

We have made some very special friendships and met many wonderful people and we look forward to meeting many more this coming season. We feel fortunate to have found such a great place to work (and play) for the summer, and the Management and the team they put together are fantastic.

We love the Lodge. It sets on the Kenai River in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. Wildlife, flowers and natural beauty are endless. The one thing that still impresses us is our guests’ reactions to Kenai Princess Lodge. They love it and often comment that they‘d love to come back and spend a lot more time with us.

Since Bob retired in 1998 we have been fulltime RVers. We hear comments and concerns from guests and fellow RVers who have not made the road trip up on the Alaska Highway or Cassiar Highway and believe us, it’s one of the most exciting parts of the Alaska experience. Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon are unparalleled in beauty and the people you meet along the way are very friendly and helpful. It’s part of this experience that draws us back time and again.

This first summer as a whole has been like a dream come true for me. Better still is the opportunity to share those experiences with new people every day, which is the best part of my position at the tour desk. Being able to connect with guests, get to know them, and be able to recommend a trip you know they’ll never forget is so rewarding. I feel as though I’m given the opportunity on a daily basis to make a guest’s trip remarkable – something they will share stories about at home, and maybe even come back and do it again. It’s also great to be on the front lines, personally driving guests to and from tours, so I’m the first person they can tell about the 45 lb king they (nearly) brought in, or hear about how seeing the mill at Kennicott was the most amazing experience of their lives.

The best part of working in Alaska, though, has been the new friends I’ve made. I couldn’t ask for a better working environment, knowing that all the people around me are there for me, to do whatever it takes to make things right both at work and off the clock. Alaska has been life changing – the landscape, the adventures, but it’s the friends I’ve made here that will keep this experience fresh in my mind forever.

My first year, I will always remember how I hated salmon before moving to AK. The Alaska Salmon Bake venue gave us a free comp ticket to try their food so we could give our guests the suggestion to dine there while in town. I was impressed they actually got me to try salmon and surprisingly I loved it, because of their brown sugar based secret sauce. Well, I got so excited about the food, I did tell the guests about it and sold a bunch of dinner vouchers, as well as tickets to see the Palace Saloon show (since I’m the theatre buff). To my surprise, at the end of the season, Alaskan Experience (who owns the Salmon Bake and Palace show, as well as another dinner and show venue in Ester that I sold) awarded me with 2 round trip Alaska Airlines tickets for being the top seller in Fairbanks! Wow! What great perks at this job! The connections with our vendors are awesome! A few years later, I also worked for Alaskan Experience partially because of that connection!

After working a few seasons, I finally took advantage of the space available cruise program for employees. It was unbelievably inexpensive and my first request was confirmed a month in advance to be on the brand new Island Princess’ 3rd voyage through the Inside Passage in August 2003. I worked right up until I started to see guests arrive in Fairbanks who would be on the very cruise I was going on! I ended up finally doing the exact tour that I had been a part of on the other side. Now I could truly put myself in the guest’s shoes! I took the train to Denali and McKinley, stayed a few nights, and did a bunch of comp tours. The cruise itself was an amazing experience and even living in Alaska, I had never been to all the little southeast towns. Snorkeling in Ketchikan, Hiking in Juneau, and catching a Salmon bare handed out of a stream running with tons of them in Skagway were among the highlights of my ports of call! The ship was beautiful, the food was superb, the staff was friendly and knowledgeable, and the theatre shows were so vibrant and intriguing!

When I got back from my trip, I felt even more prepared to answer the guests’ questions since I had actually been through the whole tour myself. I loved telling people about other things to look forward to at our other lodges, on the ship itself, and neat things to look out for on their ports of call. I had a wonderful sense of my job being a breeze, with each day being another shared experience between the guests and I. Although there are days where you juggle lots of issues at once, I always found it to be a fun challenge, and being busy makes the day go by quickly. I even took on a position one summer of being a Luggage Liaison between the company and the Airlines. I helped track down any delayed luggage and worked any issues guests had with their luggage. I know it may not sound like fun, but working with a good crew out at the airport made it easier! I also implemented an organized system with detailed notes and a log book that is still being used today. I think it wasn’t always that scary when I had to tell a guest their bag didn’t make it on this flight, because my confidence and knowledge of the system left them feeling like they were in capable hands and they would soon receive their bag in their room.

Getting off work (as much as I like being there) and doing things around Fairbanks is a nice change of pace. Go canoeing on the Chena River, have a BBQ with friends at Pioneer Park (or Alaskaland as it will always be remembered by the locals!), catch a summer movie, go for a hike, relax at Chena Hotsprings, go on a 4-wheeling adventure, horseback riding, ride a bike, try rock wall climbing, go out dancing with friends, a baseball game, the Solstice celebration, Golden Days festivities, go to the Fair in August, etc…play in the midnight sun! At the end of your work day or work week, you should definitely take the time to put aside a little of your hard earned cash and enjoy yourself. There’s so much to do outdoors and the friends you make here, how could you not enjoy the summer!

I continued to work almost every summer since I first began, but being out of state for most of college, I skipped a summer or two. One of the summers I skipped was to actually take another space available cruise with my mom in Europe. (She worked as a driver guide one summer and loved it!) My mom is from Denmark, so going round trip Copenhagen for a 10 day cruise through the Baltic was awesome! Again the cruise ship never ceases to amaze me with gorgeous accommodations, awesome staff, delectable food, and great entertainment! The ports of call included Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany, Estonia, and Russia. There are too many fabulous experiences to reflect on, but I love telling friends and family all about these foreign countries and our adventures there! We also stayed in Denmark for a full month visiting family I hadn’t seen since I was a young girl. I was so grateful that my job with Princess had led to me seeing parts of the world I may not have experienced and family I may never have met had I not taken advantage of the perks; memories I will cherish for a lifetime!
After graduating with my BA in Theatre Performance and Youth Drama from Central Washington University, I worked for a bit there in Ellensburg before hearing my Fairbanks summer calling to me! I decided I would move back and have my summer job back. I drove the AlCan (Alaska-Canadian Highway) and survived with a small chip in my windshield. It was fun driving up with a girlfriend of mine and seeing part of the trip I took back in ’99 to move with my family from Tampa, FL to North Pole, AK. It took 3 days from Seattle to get to Prince Rupert, we took the ferry for 2 days to Haines, and then made the last overnight right outside the border with only a handful of hours to drive the next day. It was the first week of March and there in the sky, the beautiful Northern Lights were dancing, as if to welcome us back to the great north, the last frontier! After dealing with a flat tire, we rolled into town and I was so excited. There’s that strange feeling that nothing really changed, the people with their small town friendliness and the Alaskan wilderness backdrop, and yet at the same time so much has changed with so much build up in the town as little as Fairbanks grows by leaps and bounds!

I went in for my interview with a manager, who offered me my seasonal position with no reservations, but mentioned that I might check out a position that was open for year-round full time and fully benefitted. I figured why not give it a shot since I enjoyed working seasonally, a full time position could be full of rewarding experiences! Having been around for many years, my knowledge of our operations and my eagerness to dive into a new position apparently rubbed off on my current bosses. I am now the Administrative Assistant for Interior Operations. I help manage our fleet for Alaska and cater to a senior level of executives. I work in Fairbanks year round and I really enjoy the position so far. The office staff and their constant buzz during the busy season around the office, makes for a great work environment. There also seem to be as many perks as the seasonal jobs and more! I’m guessing that the next chapter in this story of mine will be a fun, challenging and a great life experience just as the past years have been! So come join us for a great seasonal job, you never know where it might lead you!

Christina – Administrative Assistant – Fairbanks, Alaska

I wear a uniform. I provide my own black shoes, socks and pants, and they provide the royal blue shirts, charcoal gray vests, Gore-Tex blue and gray jackets, and Aussie-style black rain hats. (I wear tennis shoes, jeans, t-shirts and sweatshirts on my day off)

There are laundromats at the end of each building. The housing is on two separate levels. One is referred to as “the park” (that’s also where they park the ten coaches.) I live on “the bench” down the hillside. There are approximately 300 employees at this location alone. We walk ten minutes downhill to the Lodge. The employee cafeteria is downstairs, where they also have 8 computers to share, half of which are always out of order. The food is about the same as I would fix myself at home; sometimes worse and sometimes better. It’s a busy place!

The Lodge is situated to have the ultimate view of Mount McKinley. It is awesome and people are disappointed when it is covered in clouds, as you can imagine. It is cloudy this morning. Yesterday was clear as a bell. Last week it was obscured by smoke from distant lightning caused fires, and then bad weather.

I get up around 5:30 a.m., and leave my roommate to sleep. She works from 2 – 10:30 p.m. I put my Bible in my backpack and walk on the trails in the fresh air. (It’s always light here!) If it’s too cold, I sit by the fire in the Lodge with a coffee or cocoa. As it warms up, I sit on the deck getting inspired by the mountain.

I get on the 9:30 shuttle for the one hour ride to Talkeetna. Because I travel this route twice a day six days a week, I ride with different drivers who are also guides and they give their individual talks. I have come to know them better by hearing the bits about themselves which they inject to add a personal touch. What a great variety of personalities to entertain me! My perspective has expanded considerably!

I open the office up again, because by now the staff is at the depot. They arrive early with all the orange flags, cones and magnetic bus letters; arranging the coaches to line up with the Princess train cars at the end of the Alaska Railroad train. There are also cars for Holland America and Royal Celebrity (a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean.)

The coaches take up to 400 people to the trains and pick up as many from the train. Many disembark in Talkeetna for a few hours before going the hour ride up to the Lodge. I work in the Guest Services Office in Talkeetna, where they come for information about the town, and or book the various tours. I coordinate calls between the Lodge, the train depot and the coaches, when communication is out of range. There are two trains a day, except only one on express days, Saturday, Monday and every other Wednesday, when the ships arrive in Whittier. The express train has an engine on each end. It brings passengers to the Talkeetna depot, where they get on the coaches. The people on the coaches get on the train and the other engine takes them to the ship from which it just came.

Every passenger receives a personal packet with room key and itinerary, and luggage is in their rooms when they arrive. It is an amazing process and for the most part it really works. We hear lots of raves about the service, but inevitably we have some who have had a bad experience. Lost luggage, misinformation, cancelled tours, bad weather, etc. I enjoy helping people. Sometimes I drive the van to the Lodge for special needs people.

I walk to the River on my lunch half hour. It’s the confluence where three rivers join together and flow down to Cook’s Inlet and into the Bay. There is a spectacular view of the McKinley range from there. Sometimes I get a fresh scooped ice cream at Nagley’s General Store and sit in the park in the town center. Everyone seems to enjoy strolling the few paved streets and the dirt roads, feeling as though they are on the set of a western movie.

Moose are spotted the most often in this area. Bear, eagles, porcupine, and wolverines are more likely to be spotted at the Denali National Park on all-day excursions. That’s a must see for one of my day’s off!

Available in town are vendors who offer Horseback Riding along the river, the Sundogs Iditarod Demonstration, River Guides do rafting trips, and there are Jet Boat Adventures, Alaska Sports Fishing, and the Flights over Mt McKinley. Besides that, the town itself is authentic and remains as close as possible to its original state, considering the massive influx of summer tourists. (Who, by the way, are always looking for a bathroom!)

I always direct people to the Ranger Station, the film about the famous Bush Pilot, the Chocolate House and the West Rib, which features real Alaskan food. Caribou chili, musk ox burgers, salmon and halibut dishes. The gift shops are tiny, and the museums are informative. Altogether lovely! I am enjoying this amazing experience!

Once on property, I was instantly welcomed by Bonnie. As my immediate supervisor, she encouraged me to make the position my own and supported my ideas. I felt as though 90% of my job was facilitating activities and events for fellow employees and the remaining balance enforcing housing policy, rotating linen, conducting room inspections and running lodge errands. “Director of Fun” may have been a more appropriate title for my position there. Outside of that department, I was able to pick up a few hours as barista and server for Food & Beverage.

Some of my fonder memories from my first Princess summer included listening to maintenance staff discuss their Alaska winter experiences, getting teary-eyed while the Wrangell St. Elias Visitor Center video played, filleting a king salmon fresh off the fishing wheel, hiking in the Kennicott/McCarthy area, flight seeing over Mt. Drum, attending painting workshops offered on property, kayaking out to the Shoup Glacier, rafting 6-Mile, paragliding in Girdwood, and enjoying the float plane ride to Katmai National Park for bear viewing.

It was clear from the beginning that Princess was radically different than any other seasonal employer I had worked for in the past. They really did give all employees the tools to succeed and actually WANTED them to do so. Housing facilities, diversity meal plan and the training program set them apart from my other experiences.

This year I was excited to return in a full-time capacity as the Human Resource Manager at McKinley Princess Lodge. I already adore the managers and supervisors I’ll be working closely with and am excited about the arrival of seasonal employees. One of my plans this summer is to have more recreation opportunities available for all employees living on property!

That answer for us happened with an organization we belonged to called Workampers. We posted an on-line resume and marked Alaska as a place we would like to work . Ann Ely, the HR person at Kenai Princess Lodge in Cooper Landing, AK called us and asked if we would like to go to work for the Princess Lodge. When my husband found out that the lodge is located at the headwaters of the Kenai River, best salmon fishing river in the world, he said “Let’s do it.” We started at KPL in 2004 working as night auditor/front desk and maintenance/ security. We have returned each summer to KPL since 2004 and have no plans to quit anytime soon.

We love the lodge, the people we work with here, and the fishing in the Kenai River. Our jobs have changed slightly, my husband is full time security now, and I am an administrative assistant. Even though we are transplanted Texans (and, yes, we still talk with a Texas twang), we consider Cooper Landing home, as we spend more time here than we do anywhere else.The community is very receptive to summer people who come and enter into the fun things the community does.

I have met people from all over the world and now have friends from every part of the country. The best part of my Alaskan experience so far is all the places I have seen. I go into Denali National Park on tours whenever I get a chance. Mt. McKinley is amazing to see – especially from the air! Traveling to other lodges has also been a highlight.

I went to Copper River Princess Lodge with some friends and had a great time. We went to Valdez for a Prince William Sound Cruise and got to see whales, porpoises, sea otters, and among other things. Alaska is one of the most beautiful places in the world and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life!