Alaska Fishing Blogs & Reports

- Mark's Blog - / 05.11.2013

To my utter amazement, it’s November! Each year time seems to pass by so much faster and this season on the Kenai Peninsula was no exception. With the stroke of an oar we went from cold May mornings on the Kasilof looking for the first kings of 2013 to just recently watching October winds wrestle the few remaining leaves from cottonwood trees along the middle Kenai. Somewhere in between these two perennial events lies an epic season like no other we have ever seen. It helped to have the longest stretch of bluebird skies Alaska has ever witnessed along with huge runs of sockeye and especially silver salmon which arrived in numbers not seen in decades. All this capped off by the added bonus of no freezing weather and no snow headed into November. Indeed 2013 has been a very memorable year but with the season well behind us now it is time to cast ahead to 2014. Lots of great dates are still available throughout the summer but many are beginning to fill. If you are considering a visit to the Kenai next summer now is the time to start making reservations.
- Mark's Blog -, Fishing Reports In Alaska / 30.09.2013

The Kenai River is finally dropping (once again) as yet another high water event moves through the middle river.  After very high water for almost all of September, the river was finally beginning to show signs of setting into more normal September shape when the Skilak Glacier Ice dam began to release and the river once again spiked to just under flood stage. Through it all, late run silver salmon fishing has been very good at times.  Fresh fish continue to enter the lower river so once the water comes back down to reasonable levels, we can expect things to remain well worth the time on the water.  These late run fish are some of the nicest salmon of the season and with the fall colors in full bloom, this is a great time of the year to be on the river.
- Mark's Blog - / 20.09.2013

The first item I wish to introduce to you truly proves that big things can come in very small packages.  It’s called a Slideloc Bead.  Produced by WiggleFin Tackle, this amazing little piece of plastic has a number or very cool salmon and steelhead applications and came in very handy over the course of our 2013 season.  We were first introduced to this handy little invention by fellow Alaska and Pacific Northwest guide Mike West.  Mike stumbled upon the product at a sportsman’s exposition in Portland this last winter and immediately envisioned a numbers of creative ways the Slideloc Bead could be used to improve his angling success in both Oregon and Washington and eventually in Alaska.  Mike chronicled his first use of the product by demonstrating the application in a short YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7a3kRS5K98
- Mark's Blog -, Fishing Reports In Alaska / 09.09.2013

September Silvers, Bears and Trout! As we move into the second week of September, the early run of Kenai silver salmon has definitely passed through and newly arriving and much larger late run silvers are making their presence known. Fishing for these big bright coho has been very good so far and this great fishing should persist well into late September.  Along with the epic silver fishing, we have also seen some great trout fishing.  Recent rains have colored the Kenai some and slowed the trout success in the last few days but we have still seen some very nice rainbows come to the net lately.  As the fall weather gets colder, the river should clean up and drop and this will improve the rainbow fishing greatly.
- Mark's Blog -, Fishing Reports In Alaska / 24.08.2013

Spectacular Silvers, World Class Trout and lots of Wildlife! August can be an unbelievable time to visit the Kenai River and this year is shaping up to be one of the best I can recall in many seasons.  The early run of Kenai Silvers continue to produce limit catches and tons of action.  We have primarily been fishing the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge below Skilak Lake but reports from the entire river indicate good numbers of silver salmon are present throughout the entire system.  This third week in August is normally when we start to see the early run taper off and even though the numbers have slowed just slightly there are still more than enough fresh silvers coming in daily to easily catch limits.  Recent rains have keep the river off color just slightly and still relatively high and this has made the silvers very aggressive .  Blue Fox Vibrax spinners and sardine wrapped Kwik Fish have been the lures of choice.