When the salmon fill the creek, the bears come down to fish them, and the whales work the Narrows — a month-by-month guide with the free spots to watch from shore.
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Ketchikan's wild year, month by month — when the salmon fill Ketchikan Creek, when the black bears come down to fish them, when the humpbacks are working the Narrows, and where you can watch from shore without a boat. This is the usual seasonal pattern from past years, not a forecast: wildlife is wild, and timing shifts with the weather and the run.
Give wildlife room — bears especially
Pacific salmon (the summer runs) — Five runs fill the creeks from late spring into fall.
Bald eagle — Here all year; thick wherever the fish are.
Humpback whale — Feeding in the Narrows and outer waters through summer.
Black bear — Down at the creeks once the salmon are running.
Orca (killer whale) — Passing through — more likely, never guaranteed.
Sitka black-tailed deer — In the forest all year; easiest to see in the fall and winter.
Peak · Good · A chance · Unlikely
Five runs fill the creeks from late spring into fall.
Kings (Chinook) build from mid-May and peak late June into early July; sockeye run through July; pinks (humpies) arrive late June and peak late July into early August — strongest in odd-numbered years; chum come in August; coho (silvers) build through late August and September and taper into October. Watch them stack up below the falls from the Creek Street footbridge over Ketchikan Creek.
You don't need a boat to see a lot of this. The best free viewing in and around town:
A pattern, not a promise
Down at the creeks once the salmon are running.
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Bears den through winter, emerge in May for berries, and move to the salmon streams from July through September. Herring Cove, about 8 miles south of town, is the reliable spot when the fish are in. Give them room, never feed them, and keep food and coolers secured — a bear that finds a meal in town becomes a problem for everyone.
Here all year; thick wherever the fish are.
Bald eagles are year-round residents in the Tongass. They gather in numbers over the summer and fall salmon runs and along the waterfront — look over Ketchikan Creek, the harbors, and Tongass Narrows any month of the year.
Feeding in the Narrows and outer waters through summer.
Humpbacks return to Southeast Alaska in spring to feed and are most active June through August, thinning out by late fall before they migrate south for winter. Most sightings are from the water — the airport ferry, a tour boat, or an AMHS sailing — but they occasionally surface within sight of Settlers Cove and the outer shore.
Passing through — more likely, never guaranteed.
Both resident (fish-eating) and transient (marine-mammal-hunting) pods move through these waters, most often spring through early fall. Sightings are a matter of luck and being on the water at the right moment.
In the forest all year; easiest to see in the fall and winter.
Deer are here year-round but spread into the high country in summer. They are most visible in the fall rut (October–November) and in winter, when snow pushes them down to the roadsides and beaches. Watch for them at dawn and dusk along Brown Mountain Road and the Deer Mountain trail, and drive carefully after dark.