01 Oct Alaska Fishing Report: October 1, 2014
With the 2014 fishing season largely behind us, it is definitely not over yet and the last several weeks have been very eventful on the river. The late run of Kenai silvers was very strong and fishing was super consistent for these larger, ocean bright silvers. The late run started in very early September and extending right up to now when silver fishing remains very good. The massive onslaught of pink salmon that hit the river in early August has finally waned and their spawn is nearly complete. Their presence did have an effect on our normal late season fishing routines and in late August, and for a good portion of September, we remained on the lower Kenai where heavy pushes of silvers were arriving daily on the tides. We were able to fish below where the pink masses had already moved through and this opened up access to some amazing limits of huge silvers, just hours out of Cook Inlet and covered in sea lice! With a great deal of rain in mid-September, the river was high and remained high for most of the month. This along with the abundance of spawning pinks, made trout fishing a bit challenging for a good portion of September. Over the last week to ten days, this has changed. With more and more of the pinks dying off and less and less real eggs available, the trout are getting their appetites back. That, along with the weather changing and the water dropping, the fish are definitely getting more and more aggressive. We look forward to a gradual transition to winter so that we can enjoy what often can be some of the best trout fishing of the entire season. Silver fishing overall was very good again this year and continues to be very good as we head into October.
Reports for the southern Kenai Peninsula and rivers like Deep Creek and the Anchor are that steelhead fishing has been very productive. With the next few rain events, these rivers should be in prime shape for some great fishing, again weather dependent. The arrival of winter and extreme temps can seal these little streams up pretty quick but we hope to have some days between now and then to enjoy the unique fishing these rivers have to offer.
As we head into fall and most of the leaves are off the trees, one can only marvel at how much great fishing has occurred over the past several months. With winter fast approaching, there will be plenty of time to recount the many highlights of another great season, but for now we will keep fishing and enjoy the colder mornings and shorter days along with the last great fishing of the 2014 season.