– Mark’s Blog –

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.

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.

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.

Reds Wane, Silvers Shine and more Giant Trout! As we move toward the middle of August, there are a number of changes happening throughout our fishing destinations.  On the Kenai River, sockeye salmon are definitely reaching the end of their run though scattered reports of fresh reds still being caught by those willing to put in their time have been reported.  We have turned the page to silver fishing and it has been nothing short of spectacular.  So far the run and the fishing is shaping up to be one of the stronger returns we have seen in recent memory and if it keeps up, it may just be one of the best ever!  Our boats are seeing limit catches of big bright coho's in short order and from the lower river all the way to Skilak Lake, silver salmon are present everywhere!

Peak season brings a flood of reds, giant rainbows, a trickle of kings and the first silvers of the season. I will begin this fishing report by saying this is by far the most favorable weather season we have ever experienced here in Alaska.  We have had week after week of beautiful bluebird skies accompanied by warm comfortable temperatures and little to no rain.  I keep expecting to see the forecast make a change toward the more normal weather like rain and clouds but as of today they are predicting another week of absolutely beautiful weather.

A great week of fishing for Sockeye, Trout, Halibut and even a few Kings! The past week has a been a very steady week of fishing on the Kenai river with our first decent push of sockeye salmon arriving and also phenomenal trout fishing along with some decent action for king salmon on the lower river.  With the variety of options on the table, we have been able to send people home with plenty of fish, smiles and great memories of fishing the Kenai River and surrounding waters in July.  While our king salmon return still looks to be well below average, the numbers did spike slightly this week and this has allowed managers to hold off on any restrictions, at least for now.  Unfortunately this has also allowed regular commercial set gill netting to continue on the beaches leading to the river and this has made for sporadic fish movement with good fishing when the nets are removed and slower fishing in the day or two following their openers.  If the king counts continue to be below average it does seem likely that the river will see restrictions sometime this coming week and this would include either a step down to catch and release or a complete closure.  Only time will tell and we should have a much better idea as to what will happen by the middle of next week.

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.

Out with the Early Run Kings and in with the Sockeye and Trout. As we move into the last week of June, things are definitely changing on the fishing front.  Our early run of Kenai River kings was disappointing to say the least with just over 1000 fish counted via sonar as of June 20.  This makes this return the worst ever recorded and has thus prompted an emergency order closing the Kenai to all king fishing until July 1.  This much needed and welcome management action was taken to ensure every king salmon making back to the river is allowed free passage upriver as with the count being this low, sustainability of future returns is a major concern.  Before the closure, river conditions were extremely poor as the two week stretch of uncharacteristically warm weather has created extreme snow melt and runoff and the river was super high and very dirty.  Despite the poor conditions we did manage to fish a couple of days on the Kenai last week and had some success catching and releasing some chrome bright Kenai kings.

More Kings on the Kasilof, More Options on the Kenai. As we move into the middle of June, fishing remains steady on the Kasilof River for king salmon as well as sockeye and a few remaining down river steelhead.  Our boats have been finding reasonable success on both wild (naturally-produced) and hatchery king salmon as we move into the seasonal peak for this early run king salmon fishery.  Most of the kings are still bright chrome and covered in sea-lice indicating there are still a number of fresh fish entering the river daily.  We are also seeing and catching a fair number of sockeye salmon on the Kasilof and this run should only continue to build and improve well into late June and early July.

Good News and Bad News First lets talk about the good news as it has really been a very good week for our guests.  King fishing on the Kasilof River remains steady with multiple opportunities for king salmon on every trip.  The ratio of wild (naturally produced) vs. hatchery fish has been 3:1 in favor of wild fish but we have been able to keep several nice hatchery king salmon in the last week to ten days.  Seeing more naturally or wild kings first is pretty typical for this run and we should expect more hatchery fish to show up very soon.  The Kasilof is also seeing a huge push of sockeye salmon right now so that is also a very good option for those wanting to float from Tustamena Lake down and pursue a limit of red salmon.