07 Jul Alaska Fishing Report, July 7, 2013
Out with June and in with July…
The summer is definitely moving by at an incredibly fast pace and it is hard to believe that we are already headed into the second week of July. Despite another roller coaster year for king salmon, fishing has actually been very good for our guests with lots of chrome bright sockeye, trophy rainbow trout and even a few kings!
The Kasilof river was a great option for the last week of June and into early July with excellent pulses of sockeye entering the river daily. This began to wane slightly when commercial fishing in the Kasilof sub district began but on the days after the nets are lifted, this has been an outstanding trip with limits being the rule. As of July 1, the Kasilof single hook and no bait restriction were lifted and this has allowed us to see some decent king salmon fishing, again depending on the regularity of commercial set net fishing. There have been a number of days when king fishing on the Kasilof has provided some great action and we have seen a number of larger, late run Kasilof fish come to the net.
July 1 also re-opened the Kenai to king salmon fishing although despite the river being closed for almost two weeks, fishing was not very productive. While a few fish were taken on the opening day, the low catch rates seem to correlate directly with the records low numbers we saw for the early run. Time will only tell what will occur with the late run but early numbers so far for the first week of July are looking again to be well below average and it seem restrictions and even a complete closure of king fishing may be a reality sooner than later. Meanwhile we have largely avoided fishing for the king salmon on the Kenai as good numbers of big, bright sockeye salmon have been a much better option for our guests and we have also been fishing for rainbow trout after catching our limit of sockeye. It definitely seems early for us to see such strong numbers of sockeye but this is likely an indication of an above average return of sockeye, much like we saw last season.
The fly out fishing for sockeye at Big River Lake has also been outstanding with limit catches every day. Wolverine Creek is swollen from recent rains and fish are starting to depart the lake and go up the creek but new fish are still arriving daily so the number of fish is still sufficient to expect a limit. This will eventually change as the run tapers off and transitions to silver salmon, but so far so good on this fishery. Lots of bears have been seen on these trips including several brown bears, one a sow with three little cubs and also a number of black bears.
The next week will tell us a lot for what to expect for the remainder of the month so for those keeping tabs on the late run fisheries in both the Kenai and the Kasilof here are a few phone numbers to monitor daily:
Commercial fishing hot line: 907-262-9611
Sportfishing Hotline: 907-262-9097
Also check these websites:
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/index.cfm?ADFG=main.kenaiChinook
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishingReports/index.cfm?adfg=R2.reportDetail&Region=2&area_key=5
And finally, my favorite part of the post, the pictures of happy customers in the last week to ten days!:
