Some of our guests catch and release, but some choose to keep salmon fillets to bring home. Here's everything you need to know about getting your salmon safely from the lodge to your home freezer.
Your personal guide will fillet and vacuum-seal your fish for you — we have a commercial vacuum sealer on-site. Your fillets will be frozen and ready for transport when you leave.
The simplest and most popular approach. Here’s how it works:
Bring a personal cooler or insulated box as an extra piece of checked luggage on your flight to Anchorage. We’ll store it for you in our locked facility at Rust’s Flying Service while you’re at the lodge. On your way home, pack your frozen fillets into the cooler and check it as your second bag. This works smoothly on nearly all domestic flights.
If you didn’t bring your own cooler, insulated fish boxes are available at our lodge for $20 each. They also can be found at grocery stores and Wal-Mart locations throughout Anchorage — these keep fillets frozen solid for the journey home.
Prefer to travel light? We can refer you to Alaska Sausage & Seafood in Anchorage. This is a costly, but hands free option. Simply fill out an order card at the lodge, and we’ll arrange for your fish to be picked up, processed, and shipped directly to your home or office.
They offer:
Alaska Sausage & Seafood Website: alaskasausage.com Phone: 1-800-798-3636 (for current pricing and options)
Most Anchorage hotels offer cold storage, as does the Anchorage International Airport. If you won’t be flying home for more than a day or two, we strongly recommend using one of these airport storage options to keep your fish in top condition.
Airport Storage — South Terminal (both require a boarding pass or airline ticket):
| Facility | Location | Phone |
|---|---|---|
| Huntleigh USA, 3801 W. 43rd Ave | Level 1, near Bag Claim #4 | (907) 248-0373 |
| Alaska Luggage & Seafood Shipping Services | Level 2, across from TSA check-in | (907) 644-8256 |
As a general rule, salmon yields about 40–60% of body weight in fillets. For example, if you catch your limit — ten 8-pound salmon over five days — you’ll have roughly 32–48 pounds of fillets, which fits comfortably in a checked cooler.
For perspective: 35 pounds of salmon gives a family of two a weekly salmon dinner for nearly an entire year.
We encourage catch-and-release when possible, and invite you to think about how much salmon is truly right for your household.
Our floatplanes carry guests and gear from the lodge to Anchorage with a preferred baggage limit of 50 pounds per person. There’s generally room for your fish, but we ask guests to plan for a maximum of about 20 pounds of fish per person on the plane.
No two groups are alike, and cookie-cutter trips aren't our style. We take the time to understand what you're looking for and tailor every detail of your stay to match.
