The Essentials Alaska Package, Kenai Peninsula

The sampler, and the package they recommend for a first trip to Alaska. It is built to give you the broadest possible week: some fishing, some wildlife, some ice, some whitewater, and one unscheduled day on any itinerary of four days or more.

Day one is Kenai or Kasilof river salmon, kings, sockeye, silvers or pinks depending on the date. Day two is a Homer halibut charter that can run as a two-, three- or four-species trip, taking halibut, lingcod, rockfish and king salmon in a single day. Day three is a float plane across Cook Inlet: early season that is beach bear viewing at Chinitna Bay, from June 11 it is Big River Lake with optional fishing alongside the bears, and from about August 1 it moves to Crescent Lake. The rest fills out with a Kenai Fjords marine tour from Seward, an Exit Glacier hike, and Six Mile Creek.

Six Mile is Class IV with an optional Class V third canyon, carries a mandatory in-river swim test, and has a 12-year minimum for two canyons and 15 for three.

Seasons and durations
- Early season, 1 day: May 15 to June 10, from $575 per person
- Early season, 7 days: May 15 to June 10, from $3,025 per person
- Mid season, 1 day: June 11 to July 10, from $575 per person
- Mid season, 7 days: June 11 to July 10, from $3,075 per person
- Peak season, 1 day: July 11 to August 20, from $675 per person
- Peak season, 7 days: July 11 to August 20, from $3,475 per person
- Fall season, 1 day: August 21 to September 30, from $575 per person
- Fall season, 7 days: August 21 to September 30, from $3,175 per person

Days two through six sit on the same ladder. Meals are included if you stay at the Kenai Riverside Resort and not if you stay at the Cabins or the Suites, which have kitchens. Every price above is the Kenai Riverside Suites four-person column, the cheapest of eight lodging columns; the all-inclusive Resort tier runs about 9% higher.

Anglers over 16 buy their own Alaska sport fishing licence online, plus a king salmon stamp on king days. Filleting on the boat is included; vacuum-sealing, boxing and freezing is billed per pound at departure, and they recommend flying fish home as checked baggage in 50 lb cold-storage boxes rather than shipping. River boats take a maximum of 4 anglers, saltwater boats 6.