Customer Reviews

The Highway Angler IV

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This book is best used as a tactical guide for determining stops on a road fishing trip. The author uses some of the same acronyms and tabular formats in his other books (including the 2005 Alaska fishing co-compiled with Limeres). Requiring the reader to learn this layout is not the most user-friendly format; but was intended for cramming as many locations into the book (and onto the maps) as possible. Once familiar with the terms, the book is very easy to use and, I believe, has resulted in cleaner maps and descriptions than otherwise.

What you get out of this book is basically where the rivers are, how to access them, and the types of fish that might be caught, and occasionally (e.g. Delta Clearwater River), location-specific timing. It does not tell you what to do when you get there, but is enough to get you there, which I believe is the purpose (maybe pederson assumed the reader would be driving when reading his book?). The gear and tackle designations (e.g., flies, bait, spin) are not as helpful as would other factors that are not mentioned (like wadeability). But I can see how the book can be very useful in being carried along on impromptu road trips as a directional fishing guide. The tables supplement the fishing descriptions with information on camping and boating access. I wouldn't be alarmed by the large number of fair-poor designations for rivers in the book. While the good-excellent rated locations are quite limited (and not disputed), the others do have their good days(Byers Creek, for example), and it is useful to have a comprehensive book that includes them. The book is limited to the intereconnected mainland roadways and does not cover island roadways of the southeast or kodiak, (these are covered in detail in Haugen's recent book, Flyfisher's Guide to Alaska), nor as I recall, the isolated "highway" which goes from Cordova to Million Dollar Bridge (the local Alaska Department of Fish and Game has issued a guide for this).

I strongly recommend this book, as a complement to both Alaska Fishing and Flyfisher's Guide to Alaska. I found it to be the most comprehensive (although not most individually detailed) treatment of road fishing available.

Another great job by Mr. Pedersen in describing angling opportunities from the road. Bought all of the previous Highway Angler editions, as well as the ice fishing book and Alaska Fishing (co-authored by Rene Limeres). I have lived in Alaska for many, many years and fished a great number of the locations described in the latest edition and found the information given to be very accurate. For anyone planning to fish Alaska's road system, this book is an absolute must. The price is a tremendous bargain, actually. You would have to spend an enormous amount of time and money to get this information elsewhere. Come to think of it, you won't find some of the information anywhere else, including the Department of Fish & Game and the most popular websites on fishing Alaska. A truly "insider" job!

Gunnar has written a comprehensive book in which he covers a *lot* of different fishing across a *huge* state. No matter where you are in the great state of Alaska, if you can drive to a water with fish in it, Gunnar tells you about the fishing there. The descriptions of access to certain streams is very good, especially for someone who wants to find easy access in unfamiliar territory. I just did a road trip from Seward to Homer to Denali and back to Anchorage, and although I couldn't stop very often, I was able to use this book to pinpoint several nice spots to try.

The only shortcoming is that while the seasons of fishing are described for each water, that is, he has charts listing what are the prime species to target at what time of the year, he doesn't give enough detail on how to target them in each type of water. It's a bit too broad. I have seen another book that covers fewer streams/bays/etc. but gives a bit more detail on fishing strategies for different species at different times of the year.

So, perhaps this and another resource are best. I'm glad I had Gunnar's book. Don't hit the Alaskan road without a book like this unless you are going with a guide, or are only going to one specific lodge.

First, I have to say the scope of this book is amazing. It covers over 750 bodies of fishable waters that can be reached by the Alaska road system. There aren't any other books that come close to describing that many locations. Of course the trade off is that the individual descriptions are not very deep or detailed.

I can't say anything bad about this book because I have found it to be very helpful in locating new fishable waters, but I think there are better books out there for those who are going for a once in a life time trip. Try Scott Haugen's Flyfisher's guide to Alaska (even if you don't plan to flyfish) or if you can find it Renee Lemere's Fishing Alaska which Pedersen helped write, there are many others.

So who should get this book? Anyone who will be spending a lot of time in Alaska. If you are cruising the highways in your RV, this is a great resource to find a place to fish within a short drive of anywhere. It also has a place on any resident fisherman's book shelf too. It's an impressive book with great but shallow information, just make sure it fits what you are looking for.

This a great book to have when planning your trip to Alaska. A hoop of information that really helped me put things together.

I live the in the lower 48, and have been to Alaska to fish twice, both times from the road. I am a do-it-yourself kind of guy. I have learned that timing is very critical to a successful fishing trip in Alaska. A week or two one way or the other can make a big difference. The strength of this book (The Highway Angler) is it's many charts which show when certain types of salmon are in the individual rivers and streams. Based on my limited experience, the book looks to be right on in its evaluations. Now I am ready to return and try some fishing in places I found in this book.
Nick Nott, Oregon