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There are hundreds of thousands of Alaskan anglers going into the field each season. And they fish just about every fishery in the state. We hope that you, as a sportsman and fellow Alaskan, will help contribute to the value of the Alaska Outdoor Journal's Reports section by providing information on your recent outing....good or bad.
All we ask is that you provide honest and accurate information that will be helpful for others planning a similar trip.
All we ask is that you provide honest and accurate information that will be helpful for others planning a similar trip.
Season's Greetings! Happy Holidays! Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Cheers to one and all and God Bless America!
~Klondike Kid~ n AKJake
ANGLER: Klondike Kid reporting for DRIFTWOOD CHARTERS
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Homer - Kachemak Bay - Cook Inlet
SPECIES: Halibut, Kings, Rockies, Cod
REPORT: Fairly nice weather and good seas on Wednesday. An average day as far as the action and the bite. Steady most of the day. The one surprise was a 40 pound halibut that hit one of the troll rigs and the gal in our crew was up for the next fish. So she had the challenge of battling this fish on light gear. Also got another halibut in the 10-12 pound range, got our king salmon for the fish box and tossed in a rockfish or two to finish out the day.
ANGLER: Klondike Kid reporting for DRIFTWOOD CHARTERS
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay - Cook Inlet
SPECIES: Hefty Winter Kings
REPORT: Well, the fish just keep getting bigger. Typical of the winter fishery actually. Many kings are on their last year of life before heading down south to their home waters to spawn and die next summer/fall. So they are feeding heavily packing on the pounds for that final journey "home." Captain Shane had a couple of Moose Pass anglers on Monday as well as Denny tagging along playing deckhand rounded out this day's adventure. It was a good day on the water with good weather and a great bite.
The largest king of the day was pushing in the 30's. The second best that MasterAngler is holding to the camera was pushing the upper 20's. All in all, five kings, a chicken halibut and a couple of rockfish for their efforts. Shane has a 4 pack on Wednesday so I'm sure there will be more pics and a report from them on how they did.
ANGLER: Kardinal_84
WATER: SouthCentral Alaska
SPECIES: Highlights
I am sorry to hear that life is throwing breaking balls to you. You'll get the timing right and whack it out of the park eventually I am sure! We missed ya buddy!!!!
I saw you back online so I had to send a report though I didn't go fishing this week! Sicker than a dog!!!! But that gave me some computer time.
So I am beginning to put my highlight reel together. Playing with the iMovie trailer function, I made two silly trailers for my upcoming video! Hopefully your viewers will enjoy them. They are pretty silly so don't take them too seriously!!!!! Still there is a 17 minute-ish highlight reel coming!!!!!
Glad to see you back!!!!!!!!
Trailer Ahttp://youtu.be/k7x7hDbFusY
Trailer Bhttp://youtu.be/Ix7SEIeTD1g
[AOJ: Ah yes those curve balls and sliders require some extra time in the batter's cage. Just pulled an all-nighter last night getting a long overdue Photo Gallery set up on Captain Shane's website. Still need to get the navigation links added to get it launched. But that will get done after I get back from another MRI test this morning. Getting too old for these 36 hour nonstop days. That use to be normal for me but I fade quickly before the sun comes up now.
Yes indeed, iMovie has some fun features and capabilities for putting together some "better than home movie" videos. I have seen some guys make full length videos out of the trailer feature instead of just a short set of typical trailer clips. I didn't realize you could do that until I saw a couple done that way. It even has some fairly powerful green screen capabilities I'm anxious to give a try.
I am way behind on my video projects but have had a new ray of light shine on the future of those projects. I've got a means now to upload video files at as much as 23 Mbits/sec. So I don't need to consolidate and summarize as much now on a project. Essentially file size and video length is a non-issue now.
Shane has been hitting the saltchuck just about every day since, well, geez, early October. And limiting out on kings every trip. Some pretty nice fish in the mid-teens to 20's. In fact I had an invite to go out this Monday morning with him and some clients from Moose Pass but I had this test scheduled from a cancellation and couldn't make it to Homer. Was raining all day and night down there Sunday and I suspect the same today since its POURING RAIN HERE IN SOLDOTNA AT 7AM and my gutters are gushing. Not that fun filming in the rain. Suppose to be rain and snow mix in Homer all week long but I've got raincoats for the cameras so its not that big of a deal. Better than 10° above zero. So I might get down there later this week. I need to put a few winter kings in the smoker for Xmas presents to family down south.
Email me your mailing address again. I got something from China I think you will like. ~KK~ n AKJake]
ANGLER: Klondike Kid reporting for DRIFTWOOD CHARTERS
TRIP DATE: 12-9 and a few earlier
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay - Cook Inlet
SPECIES: Winter Kings and a few bonus fish
REPORT: December has started off with hot winter king fishing out of Homer as expected. The numbers of feeder kings concentrated in Kbay and Cook Inlet within reach from Homer are astounding. And even though a few days are a grind and you just need to put in the time dragging your baits to limit out, those days are the exceptions with limits on other days occurring before noon. These photos are from the December 9th most recent trip with Captain Shane. In the FIRST PHOTO its nearing the end of the day and time for photos even though not everyone had limited yet. But Shane is fishing all the rods while taking the photo from the cabin roof. Right after the snapshot Two rods got hit for a Double Takedown and they finished the day with limits for the four anglers plus the Captain got one for dinner. It ain't over til the boat is tied up to the dock with this guy!!!
Here are just a FEW photos of recent trips anglers took during NOVEMBER 2014. (too many to post all of them) Limits of kings on every trip. And a few rockies and hallies once in a while to sweeten the fish box. Fishing was red hot throughout the month just as October was. Captain Shane has hooked up on several hundred kings during this Fall season from September through November with most fish in the keeper size ended up in the freezer of happy anglers. December continues to offer very rewarding fishing even with the shorter daylight hours.
Shane has a SPECIAL on his Facebook Page offering discounted fishing trips through December 23 before he heads out for a short vacation. He is even allowing folks to purchase this Special as a Gift Certificate to be used up through MARCH 2015 if its not convenient to get out before the new year. Round up your fishing buddies to qualify for this great opportunity and START THE NEW YEAR OFF WITH A BANG!
Good Luck and Good Fishin'!
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Scout Lake
SPECIES: Hungry Rainbows
REPORT: Now that ice has reformed on the area lakes I decided to give Scout Lake a try. Ice was about 6 to 8 inches. Rainbows were very aggressive. Caught and released dozens working a tiny rubber tail jig and bit of roe on it. Saved 5 for the frying pan with one hitting 17 inches.
ANGLER: USAFishing
REPORT: KK, good to see you are OK. I actually wrote Val an email a few weeks ago to inquire if you were well. Keep up the great work you do here. It sure makes it easy on your readers and I to stay on top of the fish. I know how much work it can be to keep a fishing site up to date and you must put in a load of time.
I hope you hear nothing but good news from the specialists.
Happy Holidays!Mike from USAFishing.com and both Sebastopol CA and Clam Gulch
[AOJ: Thanks. All this warm weather is definitely a blessing. Go El Nino! Now there is enough ice to get out on the lakes so that will be on my agenda shortly.]
TRIP DATE: Back on 9/09
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward - Resurrection Bay
SPECIES: Coho Memories
REPORT: I just wanted to let you know how amazing this site is and how much I appreciate your time and effort. I have only lived in the Anchorage area for a little over a year, after two years living in the Aleutians, and love to fish. When you do not know the area it can be very difficult. You have given many fishing memories that I would not have had otherwise. My brother graduated college last spring and I flew him up here as a graduation present in September. We were able to head on down to Seward and caught a nice coho run. I first heard from some people and verified on your website what was happening down there. This was his first fishing trip in a decade and it was hilarious watching him snag that first coho and panic when he realized that he was in for a fight! Thank you so much for helping me get to know this area and for the memories.
I hope you figure out your health issues and I wish the best of luck to you.Here are some photos of us with our haul for the day.
[AOJ: Indeed, memories are the essence of life. The more you make the more there is to look back on over the years. Keep taking those photos to document the moments. Glad you found the site helpful.]
ANGLER: Fishingking101
REGION: Anchorage
WATER: Cheney Lake
SPECIES: Rainbow Trout
REPORT: Decided to go out on Cheney lake yesterday, fished about 30 feet from the island and hooked a fish while letting a jig drop down. Tons of fish to be caught there, must of caught and released 30 fish ranging in size from 6 to 16 inches. A good 7 inches of ice on the lake.
ANGLER: icefisher138
REGION: Anchorage
WATER: Sand Lake
SPECIES: Char, landlocked salmon, rainbows
REPORT: Ice is 7 inches, fish are present mostly landlockeds 7-11 inches long. Rainbows up to 14", the char are few and far between but have some heft. Went after dark this last time and it produced well for us. Fishing in about 8' of water. The biggest one this time was a char close to 16".
ANGLER: Salmon Hunter
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Lower Kenai River
SPECIES: Salmon - Rainbows
REPORT: With the mild winter we are having this October-November 2014 the water is not frozen yet and very clear. There is still good catching since the seals don't seem to be chasing the fish up river to Skilak Lake. Flys and small spinners working great!
ANGLER: Fishdoc
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Middle Kenai
SPECIES: Rainbows
REPORT: Mild weather and silvers spawning made for a fun and productive day on the river catching big rainbows. Can't wait until the weekend so I can go again!
ANGLER: ArcherTom
REGION: Matsu Valley
REPORT: So this is not a report but rather a question. Just wanted to make a short post and ask if everything is OK down there KK? As a loyal reader and fan of the site I have noticed little activity on the site lately (not criticizing, just an observation). I know at least Capt Shane and Kardinal_84 have to be getting some action these days.
I can't pretend to know how much work goes into what you do for all of us Alaskans in maintaining this site for us to read, share and gather info from around the state. For that I want to thank you. Many of the tips and articles (not to mention the reports) have helped make successful memories for me and my boys and without this site I don't know if that would have been true.
Anyway, like I said, I hope all is well with you and Jake and thanks again.
[AOJ: 12/5/14 I appreciate your concern as well as from those others who have also sent a note about what's happening around HQ here. Hopefully things will begin providing a little more breathing room and I'll be able to devote more time and effort to
ANGLER: Klondike Kid and the Tower Rock Lodge Gang
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay - Cook Inlet
SPECIES: Winter Feeder Kings
HOMER Winter Feeder King Salmon fishing trip with Driftwood Charters. The crew at TOWER ROCK LODGE on the Kenai have closed up shop for the winter and was ready to wind down and decompress with some fun fishing of their own. Mike, Jason and Money were accompanied by Denny aka master angler aboard the Misty with Captain Shane Blakely. The weather was beautiful, sunny, no wind and light seas diminishing to glassy waters before the day would end. King Salmon, Black rockfish and Pacific cod ended up on the day's menu. Including a Grand Finale at the World Series Hole (aka Quart of Gas Hole aka No Gas Hole) with a Triple King Salmon Hook Up in 30 SECONDS to finish off the day right in front of the Homer Spit.
As they say, it don't get any better than this. You can visit both these operations' websites at TowerRockLodge.com and DriftwoodCharters.com. Both outfits offer the best the Kenai Peninsula has to offer.
ANGLER: Fishdoc
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Rainbows
REPORT: 6 degrees yesterday morning at Bing's making for a chilly morning until the sun came up and the fog burned off. The silvers are now spawning so the "bite" has picked back up again. Bead colors have changed a little since the massive humpy spawn last month so pay attention to what the char are spitting up when you unhook them.
ANGLER: Misanthrope
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Homer
SPECIES: Anything Edible
Date: 14OCT14
Time: 0900-1230
Distance Traveled: 6 miles
Location: Homer Spit, Salty Dawg to tan Condo
Depth: 45-65'
Air Temp: 42F
Water Temp: 49F
Wind: 5kt N wind
Seas: 1-2', occasional 3' breakers 50 yds from shore near skate rink
Cloud Cover: Scattered, 4 out of 10
Hooked: 7 Pollock ~ 12", 3 Kings ~ 18"
Kept: 1 King that swallowed the hook and was bleeding out.
Hook ups were trolling 35' @ 2-3kts in 45-55' water with a flasher and a Coho Killer 816 chasing it, 1-3 hrs after slack on an ebb.. All the pollock and kings had 2-3" sand lance in their throats so keep baits small. These guys were all sitting 100-500 yards off the beach. Marked several bait balls @ 35' at above location. Not a single fish or bait ball marked at over 70' up to Archie Buoy until about 1200. Started marking fish in deeper water about the time I started heading back.
Buddy of mine hooked on 2 Kings using Coho Killers between Breakwater Buoy and the pilings on the other side of the ferry pier fishing "shallow" he says. Seeing as it's about the same depth as the area I was fishing, I'm going to assume he's fishing about the same depth.
ANGLER: Kardinal_84
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay
SPECIES: Kings
REPORT: After the mediocre results, for our crew during Elk's Derby, we hit it again this weekend. We got outfished by a lot of boats I think so we were determined to learn more about this fishery.
I have to hand it to Shane with Driftwood Charters. He is a fish catching machine! Well he was nice enough to give me basic locations and depths. That narrowed down the water column considerably for us. It made a huge difference for us.
Day one, the wind was HOWLING. We slowly made our way south to Halibut Cove. Managed a bunch of shakers and only really one "keeper".
Day 2, we finally got to take advantage of Shane's advice. It made a HUGE difference. Instead of running gear all up and down the water column, we focused on the Intel Shane provided. We ran all three lines fairly close in depth. That resulted in a double hook up (landed both) and a triple takedown (landed 2). Finished the day with 7 kings over 10 pounds for three rods (we had proxies) Maybe 14 pound average. A dozen or more shakers and two in the 5 to 10 pound range.
Hard to complain about that!!! Great day 2, but still lots of room for improvement!!
Slowly but surely we are starting to get this fishery down! Thanks Captain Shane!!!
A little head banging music mixed in to the video so turn down the volume if you don't like that kinda thing! Not sure why the music selection turned out the way it did...lol.
With only three people on board the boat, it made for some tough filming. How I managed to catch the triple takedown as my only decent video clip is beyond me. haha!
With only three people on board the boat, it made for some tough filming. How I managed to catch the triple takedown as my only decent video clip is beyond me. haha!
ANGLER: Ak Fisher
REGION: Anchorage
WATER: Fire Lake
SPECIES: Pike
REPORT:Hey there old timer! Been a minute since I posted a report, been a minute since I seen any new posts! Tried Fire Lake from the shore, threw all sorts of hardware with no takers. How was your moose hunting this year? I was fortunate enough to get a nice butterball fork bull! I'm off for two weeks before . head back to work, How are the silvers on the Kenai or steelies on other KP drainages? What's the word on the trout fishing there boss? Have to give the Sag River a go! Congrats bud those are some beautiful fish! I'm going to try every possible worthy fishery next couple weeks before to cold! Getting old brother the hardware in my body from my younger dumber years puts a damper on my activities! Come now, I know there are still some fellow tail chasers still active out there! Don't be so tight lipped! Have to contribute a little the true Alaskan way! Make the best out of the little open water we have left all! I'm not a big hard water fisher but give it a go just to get out during our long winters..
ANGLER: Sponsored by ohara
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: AnchorKenai River
SPECIES: Dollies
REPORT: First of all I hope all is well with you and Jake.
I have been neglecting the river pretty bad for the last few weeks,Thursday at lunch I drove down to the beach and on my way out saw a angler releasing a really nice steelhead from the hole right below the bridge. I almost went down to join him but had to get back to work. Friday on my way home I stopped at my favorite road side hole,tied on a purple leach with a blood red 8mm bead free to slide the line and it was fish on right away. The sky started dumping sleet and gusting wind making casting difficult but if I could get my fly across the river I would get a fish on. Lots of dollies in the 18-20 inch range a couple tiny ones and one good hookup that broke off quickly.
Lots of fish still in the river if you can stick out the weather.
ANGLER: Salmon Hunter
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Mid-Kenai River
SPECIES: Coho Silvers
REPORT: Last weekend the water lever dropped over a foot and changed the fishing around the Moose River area. The fish were out in deeper water and not so willing to hit spinners but we got some any way. No seals spotted yet but I expect them to be around this weekend.
ANGLER: Kardinal_84
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay
SPECIES: Kings - Elks Derby
REPORT: So I tried the Elks Derby in Homer from a powerboat. I got greedy. What can I say? Well it turns out the advantage of the powerboat was that there were some rough weather.
Ok. So I know other kayakers have tried it and wondered "where are all the little kings Kardinal keeps talking about." Well I think I found part of the answer. For some reason they LOVE the smaller Neddlefish hoochies. First day, we ran two hoochie rigs and two herring rigs. Tally for the day was 14 kings landed. 12 of them under 20" 90% of the small kings came on the needlfish hoochies. Two big kings came on herring.
The fish didn't have needlfish in them. They looked like capelin. But the following day we run mainly herring. Only 5 kings landed on day two. BUT 3 over 20".
Looks like the hoochies are deadly effective but they do seem to catch more little kings AND pollock. Pollock hit the herring but not as often as the needlefish hoochies.
Also having a GPS plotter, I was amazed how many of the fish came from virtually the same exact spot even though we were covering miles of open water.
With this knowledge, I plan to fish my hoochies first. If I have issues with pollock and small kings, I may take a single pack of herring. But I also am going to run something slightly bigger than the hoochies like a brad's cut plug or a coyote spoon.
I know a few boats managed to hammer a bunch of nice fish so they are out there if you either know what you are doing or get lucky!
Not the best video as there was some expectation that I actually help out with the fishing aspect of the trip! Despite the videos looking like decent weather. We battled big seas both days on the run out and in to the port. Crazy stuff. Got snowed and hailed upon in anchor point and the pass driving!!! Get the snow tires ready!!! But for posterity's sake here's the video:
ANGLER: Salmon Hunter
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Mid-Kenai River
SPECIES: Coho Silvers
REPORT: Last weekend the water lever dropped over a foot and changed the fishing around the Moose River area. The fish were out in deeper water and not so willing to hit spinners but we got some any way. No seals spotted yet but I expect them to be around this weekend.
ANGLER: NeverSummer
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Anchor River/Deep Creek
SPECIES: Dolly Varden
REPORT: Another Sunday on the water. Cold temps overnight, and some frost on the shore at the Anchor. Started on the water late--about 10am. Many, many people on the upper river holes. 2-3 cars in places where you can only park 1, so you knew the fish would be a little battered.
Fished Grandstand by myself for a while and hooked some more nice Dollies, still only on beads. Any color, really, but some work better than others when the lighting changes. Noticed some females starting to drop eggs as I released them--so try some 6-8mm yellow clear beads, perhaps? Moved to the Washed Out hole, fished near some other kind folks. One big Dolly there at the deep spot, and some obliging little frantic feeders too. No steelhead at either hole, and many other fisherfolk I talked to said the same for the weekend.
Snow fell for a while, and the sun came and went. Many tackle changes, and nothing really setting the fish off like the last couple of weeks. Sloooowwww compared to how it's been.
Got word that Deep Creek was better, and that the crowds weren't there. Took the advice and drove up. Sure enough, some fish could be seen hovering in the water, and I gave it a shot. Not much luck, however. A few Dollies in small sizes on 8mm beads, and couple on 10mm.
Did see one steelhead caught on the Deep Creek. Sadly, it supported a conversation I had with the local AK Trooper about these rivers the last few weeks--lots of people yanking steelhead onto the banks, and even more people trying for the famed "Steelhead Smile" photos out of water. He's apparently been busy writing tickets, and everyone needs a reminder for themselves and those they see around them to keep those fish in the water from hook to release. Otherwise, you might get to meet a Trooper as he emerges from the bushes behind you. Don't be that guy...
The guy I saw landing the Steel had yanked it onto shore, and I watched it bash itself senseless on the rocks while he tried to get out the hook and prep for a photo. As they were trying for a photo out of water I reminded them about the regs. They begrudgingly obliged and moved off downriver. Sorry if I ruined your day, guys.
It's up to us to keep these fish alive this season, and healthy for the next so we can keep fishing for them next year, and for years to come. Beating up on these Steelhead is a bad idea, and we should be more acutely aware of the regulations to keep 'em wet...and not be afraid to remind others to do the same.
Anyway, it's been a very friendly river this season, and fun overall. Only a few more weeks before closure, and the ice is starting to show in the shady areas. Male Dollies are kyped up, and ready to dance. Here's to more tight lines!
Attached a photo of one of the good-looking Dollies on the day.
ANGLER: Jeffery327
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai Keys Area
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Headed to the Kenai yesterday to track down a few late silvers from shore with my wife and 2 kids. Things were looking pretty bleak for the day, and the wind wasn't helping keep spirits up, but my wife received a text inviting us to a friend of her's cabin just up the river. They came down and grabbed us in their little boat and ran us up to their dock, where her friend had caught a fish that morning in her PJ's. Less than an hour later I had my limit and my wife and son both had 2 each. Mine were all nice and bright but my son's were a little blushed and my wife had one of each. My son's bucks were bigger than any of mine though, so he was pretty tickled! The pic with 3 fish is my limit, and the single is my wife's first one before she landed a buck that knocked all of ours out of the water. Good ol' #5 Vibrax in chartreuse/orange was the ticket for the day. I was surprised at some of the puncture marks on the fish, but my friend's husband said there are lots of seals around, so I guess that explains it.
ANGLER: ChiefWalkara
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River - Soldotna/Moose/Bings
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Had a few extra days to fish after the hunts and decided to try a late run to the Kenai. Fished at Soldotna in the morning with no luck. Went to the confluence of Moose River with no luck either. Ran to Bings Landing and it appeared to be a repeat on the first two places. Stuck it out with no fish (other than half dead snagged pinks). Then at about 6:00 pm a run came through and I caught Fish on almost every cast. It only lasted about an hour, but one of the best hours of my fishing life. Just goes to prove that sometimes it's best to stick it out. Thanks for the site and your work.
[AOJ: Glad you had one of those "Moments" to remember. I had one of those "Last a Lifetime One Hour Coho Memories" myself. Klamath River, early September before school started, 1964, fishing with Grandma and Grandpa. Had been no fish all day long. Then as soon as the sun dropped over the mountain tops the hole I was fishing came alive with every drift resulting in a silver hookup. Got my 3 and CNR'd for that hour, then it was over. I recall that moment like it was yesterday and can even see the log beam bridge I was fishing next to.]
ANGLER: Vi4Kings
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Upper Kenai (Skilak to Rapids) (plus tidewater pic)
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Had a great week of silver fishing with guests from the lower 48 plus a few locals. From Wednesday through Saturday, the fresh silvers were loaded up above the rapids and catching them on vibrax of any sort was a blast as they were running in the 12# - 15# class and dime bright. We limited the boat on Wednesday and Thursday but fell a little short on Saturday as our lines and patience didn't work for us. By Sunday things had slowed down considerably and on Monday we went up river to the Killey looking for the mass of silvers and never found them - guess they had moved through to the lake already. Tried drifting some shrimp for trout but could only manage one nice dolly and a bunch of dying pinks. Has been a great year for silvers both in August in the Lower River and September up above.
[AOJ: The Kenai River has really made up for some pretty lame silver returns in the past few years with a bumper crop of truly awesome sized coho this year mostly during the month of September. And it appears there are still some fresh fish still pushing up the river each day.]
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai Middle river
SPECIES: Rainbows & Coho
REPORT: The middle river is fishing as well as I have ever seen it. I think there is the perfect conditions right now as far as abundance of eggs in the river, the clarity and temperature to create the perfect Bite! Silver limits taken care of in the first part of the morning at first light then on to rainbow fishing. On both Saturday and sunday we caught over 40 fish each and I caught a new personal record 31 inch rainbow weighing an estimated 16 lbs. I lost a bigger one that I can only guess how big he was(34-36inch 20 plus pounds! This was one of my best days on the river in 48 years of fishing the mid river. My advice to you is get up there today and have a ball! 11 foot leader 1-2 small split shot 3 feet up and large strike indicator with 15 lb fluorocarbon leader and apricot bead will be deadly! Have fun and practice Safe release techniques,Fshdoc
[AOJ: Without a doubt that was an epic Fall day on the middle Kenai with a Trifecta of trophies. And add to that the perfect weather. Postcard stuff!! Thanx]
ANGLER: Salmon Hunter
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Mid River Kenai
SPECIES: Coho Silvers
REPORT: The Kenai River water was clear this weekend unlike last weekend that was like mud making the Silvers school up at the mouth of the Moose River in Sterling which made it a catch fest for anyone that wet a line with a fly or spinner. And the conditions of a life time were going on all day Saturday for us, everyone limited and even let the little ones go! But Sunday was a different story, the water got cloudy from the Saturday rain in the mountains and the bite was off but a few were to be had but not even close to the fish fest Saturday. Well that goes to teach you one days great fishing may be gone the next so don't count on getting the same good or bad fishing from one day to the next!
ANGLER: Kardinal_84
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay - the "No Gas Required" hole
SPECIES: Kings.....little ones
REPORT: So I tried again Sunday off the spit. Got on the water at first light expecting great things. It was not to be. The odd thing was I bet I only caught a dozen pollock which is about a tenth of what I caught last week.
The small one ocean kings are still plentiful Caught maybe a dozen of them. Kept a few of the bleeders and one larger "jack".
The ocean was flat calm until about 1pm and then it got pretty nasty really quick.
What I did notice on the few I kept were that the sandlances inside of them were all miniature versions. Maybe an inch or two max long and super skinny. The large king last week had full sized sandlances in them. Need the adult sandlances to move closer into shore I think.
So here's the quick video. Could have done a little better job on releasing the fish but I didn't want to grip them too tightly.
Minimal editing, only in 480P resolution to document the day. Hopefully we will find the fish on the powerboats a little better this coming week for the Elk's King derby!!!
ANGLER: Pinkgirl
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
REPORT: I may have lost my 6wt fly rod and reel at the landing. Got home and couldn't find it. If found please post here.Thanks
ANGLER: snobrew
REGION: Kodiak Island
WATER: Saltwater
SPECIES: Silver salmon/halibut/lingcod
REPORT: Fished for 4 days limited out 3 of 4 days on silver salmon, assorted halibut. Got a 100lb halibut on the second day. A few lingcod and a couple of yelloweye, good fishing.
ANGLER: GerfsinAK
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai Middle river
SPECIES: Coho Fever
REPORT: 3 of us fished for a few hours under the beautiful sunny fall day. Spinners in green and blue was the ticket.
Landed 5 and lost at least 5 more due to my bad fishing line. Re spooled and will try again this weekend. All 5 fish were females.
ANGLER: NeverSummer
TRIP DATE: NeverSummer
WATER: Anchor River
SPECIES: Dollies, Steel (metalheads)
REPORT: Well, it pays to have some backup fishing holes planned when the word gets out on your favorite! Fished last week on and off with the rain with good luck finding Dollies in the 12-18" range on 10mm beads. Some over 20" here and there, and nonstop action if you get the setup just right. Still haven't had any luck on a non-eggy fly of any kind, so just sticking with the egg imitations/beads worked for me.
Had to switch to a "secret" spot on the upper when I came upon 3 cars jammed into the pull out where I like to fish. Good thing I switched it up, because I found where the big Dollies are hiding! None under 20" all evening, and some had me thinking I had hooked a Steelhead or perhaps a Silver. (Well, a 5wt will do that to you after fishing a 9wt all summer for salmon, right?) Still fishing beads/egg imitation flies.
Finally found my first Steelhead of the season too--a nice 30+" beast. Kept it wet, and longed for someone to take a picture of my ear-to-ear smile from that feeling of reverence for such a great fish to catch and release. Couldn't shake that smile for a while!
29 degrees predicted overnight tonight...so I wonder how long before the ice starts to creep on the river edges? I say bring it on! Tight lines, everyone, and thanks for a great season of updates, KK!
ANGLER: carolinaboy
REGION: Southeast
WATER: Klawock River and Bay
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Here's what's going on in part of the Southeast Region. Prince of Wales Island specifically.
This was a 5 day trip and my 15th to Alaska. The Klawock River and surrounding saltwater estuaries and bays were the main areas I fished although I heard from other anglers that several river systems had either low/no water due to lack of rain in the beginning of September; had good water and fishing or blew out after the rains came.
My river was low with slow fishing in both the river and salt water the first few days. It took quite a few hours of casting to get a limit of six silvers. After the rain arrived, much easier.
Day One - limited. Day Two - only three. I missed the early river bite by fishing the salt and later jigged P-Cod off the dock. Day Three - limit of six and one fish box is at 50#. Ran into some friends who went out on the ocean for rockfish and halibut. I ended up with 14 pounds of fresh halibut. Such nice friends! Day Four - easy limit of six in the river as the rain had brought in the fish. Main lure colors were Pink and later in the week green. Jigs, Jig N Bobber, Vibrax, spinners, adding a hoochie upped the catch rate substantially. Rainbow Trout colors worked well for me and others. Hot orange was hit or miss. Pink was THE color of choice. I used roe in the salt water bays and found that a yarn fly under a bobber was deadly when twitched. Like always the week flew by and by Friday had two 50 # fish boxes to take home. I skipped fishing for keeps on Friday and mostly took pics and hung out.
The dock fishing was mostly for fun to fill the afternoon. The P-Cod were hitting anything dropped down includin my favorite, a bare hook, 2 ounce lead head jig. Just thump the bottom a few times and lift up. BAM! fish on. In fact the biggest cod fell to that jig head more than any other. My buds came over and killed enough for two meals and were pleased as punch to see the cod,sculpin and flat fish come up from just jigging. They'd never thought of it before. Then promptly went back to there cabins and jigged off of their dock. 20 pound spiny dogfish rewarded them. The asked right off are they good eating? I said it's the primary fish in England's Fish-N-Chips. They harvested one and ate it. Said it was great. I might try it next year! I ate the two biggest Great Sculpins I caught. Tasty, Tasty! Tight lines til next year!Steve aka Carolinaboy
ANGLER: wesak81
REGION: Matsu Valley
WATER: Matsu Valley lake
SPECIES: Rainbow trout
REPORT: Caught this big rainbow in the cold shallow water. 30 inch plus fish.
ANGLER: livetofish
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Silver Salmon
REPORT: Thank you for all you do to keep up with this blog, it is so helpful for deciding the best place to spend gas money.
Went down to Soldotna on Thursday evening in pouring rain camped at city campground then went out with a King of the river guide early AM Friday. Fishing was amazing, huge silvers compared to other drainages I have fished recently. We were using spin and glow, beads and a planer with eggs. Hooked up every 5-7 mins, lost a few but limits for everyone, off the river by 12. Which was very chilly, rainy hard and steady the whole time.
[AOJ: Nothing wrong with that "catch of the day" stringer. Glad the rain didn't dampen your spirits or success. Always nice to be limited by lunchtime. Thanks for the photos.]
ANGLER: Lightbite
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai/Moose River area
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Caught a personal best coho yesterday fishing for trout with a articulated brown/olive dolly lama on the five weight. Fishing was tough due to horrible water conditions managed to get him in a slower somewhat better looking eddy and he dragged my outcast cat all the way down to the Moose! My dad was able to put us in the slower water and I landed him, great time! The fish are there your just gonna have to work for them. :)
[AOJ: MONDAY Morning - 10:00AM - AOJ HQ: As I gaze out the window on this calm sunny morning I can see the Kenai River in Soldotna is already starting to "green up" a bit as the amount of muddy water from the Killey diminishes now that the rains have stopped. But water levels are up to the top of the bank and the grassline again so its high water fishing. But visibility for fishing hardware and flies should improve very quickly over the next 24 hours. Only takes about 12 hours at these flow rates to flush from Skilak to the mouth.
AND FIRST FROST ON THE ZUCCHINI PLANTS THIS MORNING. It hit 30°F. just before the sun come up. That is actually very LATE for first frost in Soldotna. Most birch in the area still have most of their leaves but that is going to change soon now. Congrats on the personal best. That's a beaut.]
ANGLER: Kardinal_84
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kachemak Bay - the "No Gas Required" hole
SPECIES: Saltwater Kings
REPORT: I hear the Homer Elks King derby is Oct 4 & 5 so I thought I better go check out the action. I am still not sure whether I am fishing it out of a power boat or a kayak.
Launched by Land's End around 2pm to hit the falling tide. The good news, in the first 30 minutes I pull up a half dozen kings. The bad news, they averaged about 16 inches long. Nice thick chunky, but small kings.
Over the course of the next 4 hours, I manage three solid big fish strikes. Hooked 2, landed 1. As always, the fish I lost seemed much bigger. But I did manage a 10 to 12 pounder plus I kept one of the larger "shakers" that was a bleeder.
The pollock have thinned out but still too many to be using bait or a down rigger, I used a deep six diver, to a flasher, to a needlefish hoochie. Worked great!
Good to see tons of bait and a lot of the smaller kings. I am hoping the larger fish will chase the soon to spawn sandlances closer to shore. I did hear that another kayaker managed a king further North. So they are there and available!!!
Here is the obligatory video. Slightly different angle....
[AOJ: Looks like the weather was cooperating as well as the fish. The word I'm getting from Captain Shane and Denny is the feeder kings are red hot out of Homer right now. The other day Denny boated 9 feeders and 4 of them had clipped adipose fins from hatchery releases. He's saving the heads for me to retrieve the coded wire tags to see which hatcheries they came from. So the fishing for the Derby should be quite productive for anyone getting out on the water. Good luck to you and your team.]
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
REPORT: First time I've posted on here but have got a lot of useful info on this forum. Thank You. It has been a great year fishing. Have been out of the area for the past couple weeks in the lower 48 on business. Are there any silvers left on the Kenai worth fishing for? My wife and I were at the Russian 2 weekends ago & there were still some good #'s going through with a majority of them chrome. Any reports?
[AOJ: The 14 days of continuous rain on the Peninsula has taken its toll on water quality on the Kenai below Killey River. The lower Kenai crested Saturday at midnight and is very slowly starting to drop again. But the amount of mud the Killey River is putting into the Kenai has visibility very poor right now. So coho fishing, at least for a couplemore days, will probably be best with eggs until the river cleans up. We are suppose to get 5 days of dry cold weather and right now at 3:30am Monday I have 35 here at AOJ HQ. As far as rainbows in the lower river, beginning about the 1st of September the rainbows in the lower river start following the late reds, the pinks and fall silvers up the river to the spawning grounds when the "free lunch" all the anglers had been providing with sockeye cleaning scraps run out. So trout fishing efforts need to focus on Skilak outlet or the upper Kenai River and Russian River.]
ANGLER: Whaler31
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Coho/Silver Salmon
REPORT: Centennial Park-Parking lot Ramp Area.
If you can spend a whole day, get there early and use some high-quality eggs, you too shall prevail. Prepare to fish with 50 other people, side-by-side, and use 8 ounces of lead and a cork float about 12 inches from an eagle sharp or Gamu 2/0-3/0 egg hook and egg loop, with a sinker slider swivel.
You should be able to scratch a limit by the end of the day, much earlier if you fish the right distance from shore (close to the edge)!
ANGLER: mstrat2727
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Got a limit of Silvers in about 3 hours by throwing Vibrax #5 Gold, Orange, and green & orange bodied spinners. Anchored and casting upstream toward the shore...not fast action but pretty consistent..weather was good fairly sunny in the later afternoon.
ANGLER: Vi4Kings
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Upper Kenai (Skilak to Rapids)
SPECIES: Trout / Silvers
REPORT: Three of us were out for three hours drifting with beads and shrimp below the Upper Killey and never touched a trout. Got lots of pinks with some spunk left in them. Tried vibrax for silvers at the second Killey entrance and nothing but pinks there either. It was a gorgeous day on the river and no rain and the crowds have thinned but the trout are still stuffed with pink eggs so they aren't feeding. We tried the Middle River (rapids to Funny River) on the 14th and picked up one small rainbow and his belly was about to burst. Again, nothing but pinks after that and we spent an hour casting vibrax in all the likely spots for silvers.
ANGLER: Scottc11
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Silvers and Dollies
REPORT: Have not seen many reports and since I am always looking for info all the time I thought I'd better get my report in!
Me and two buddies were on the middle river from the 13th-16th. The water is still little high and very muddy below the Killey. Hit the Eddies in the clearer water with Orange #5 Vibrax and had a field day with the Silvers. Rainbows were none existent except for the 30 inch Bow my buddy caught. Caught more than 100 Dollies on blushed out peach and orange 8 mm. beads fished under an indicator with 11 foot leaders and 3 bb weights fixed 2 feet up from the bead. I had heard the Silver fishing was tough but we killed them in the evenings. Where are the Bows? Couldn't keep the Dollies off the books. We landed plenty of Fat Dollies between 20 and 29 inches. I got a 29 inch one on my 5wt. (That was fun). I heard the Silvers were hot last week on the Russian, it I was wondering if there are any Silvers in the Upper? Last year it was awesome fly fishing for Silvers last year in the Russian and the Upper River. Anyway, I wanted to get this posted for everybody. Tight Lines!
ANGLER: Chuckamo
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers / Coho
REPORT: Need a bit of help from those recent Seward beach fisherman.
1. Can you tell us what size weighted snagging treble(examples: 5/0, 7/0,or 9/0)hook appeared to be landing the most Silvers this month of September so far?
2. Also, can you tell us what size and weight Vibrax Spinners (example: size: 4, wt. 3/8 oz.) and Pixee Spoons ( example: size 4, wt. 7/8 oz.), appeared to be landing the most Silvers as well this month of September so far?
[AOJ: Ah, I think you are over-thinking this fishery. Snagging success depends on whether a fish is lined up with your hook while you are swinging. Makes little difference the size as long as its sharp. I have done just as good or better taking a 5/0 treble and tying a couple ounces of pencil lead to the bottom of it. Maybe more important - many folks claim the fish move closer to the beach during the high tide and therefore there will be more fish within casting distance. As far as lures, you named the traditional ones. As far as size and color, it can change from day to day, just like in our freshwater streams. The bigger the lure, the further you can cast, meaning the more fish you may expose your lure to.]
ANGLER: Whaler31
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Myself and some local friends have been using eggs from shore as of late. I wish I could say fishing was off-the-hook, but you have to put in some serious time if you want a few. Every now and then we'd get a flurry of bites (in-between hours of enjoying the beauty of Alaska)
It HAD been a fairly reliable pick the first few weeks of this month.......then came the "united fleet of harbor seals", and I don't mean one or two. From Centennial Park, all the way down to Cunningham, there has been a serious seal party going on. Things were so crazy that on Sunday evening, I counted 14 (fourteen) harbor seals over about 1/4 miles of river off of Cunningham Park. They consisted all the way from a mother & pup, to rowdy teens, and as few of the old, big, knuckle-headed ones They were working as a tag team to eradicate any silvers in their immediate area. They shared their success with plenty of "hey look at me, sucker!" slapping of bright fish.
I could see silvers running up the edges of the river, with frightened looks on their faces, and even had one big seal chase one all the way to the mud. When the seals are actively feeding, the silvers are not taking the time to eat anything....I guess I can't blame them (fight or flight and all.)
Let's hope the seals get their fill, and we can fish the lower Kenai into September.
p.s.: The fish we do catch are all very healthy, with some very fat hens.
[AOJ: Several years ago I was running from the Kenai City dock up to the Pillars in the early evening in mid-September and counted just a little over 50 harbor seal heads above the water as I motored upstream. That did not count those seals that were underwater hunting and tracking down silvers as I passed over them. AOJ HQ is upstream of the Soldotna Bridge and during this month I can go down to the riverbank in the evening as the sun is going behind the treeline and watch a dozen or more seals drift by with their heads bobbing along getting a free ride downstream with the current heading back to the Inlet for the night. They have been observed all the way to Skilak Lake chasing silvers in late August and all through September. These critters are taking a huge toll on the silver runs when they congregate in such large numbers.]
ANGLER: Hunt&fishak
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai Peninsula all over
SPECIES: Silvers, Dollies, rainbows
REPORT: Fished the snagging hole in Seward Sunday Sept 13-14. Caught 2 saw very few caught. It's over folks. Lots of law breakers fishing above the marker and their kids pushing fish down from above the bridge to be snagged. Found over 50 usable snaggin hooks in the creek after dark below the bridge at low tide! Funny River mouth at the Kenai was unproductive. High water. Murky. Saw a few rollers.
ANGLER: JediMasterSalmonSlayer
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Lower and Middle Kenai River
SPECIES: Coho Salmon
REPORT: 2 day trip for coho on the Kenai with fellow angler, AKnook, was nothing short of spectacular. Weather forecast showed 90% chance of rain and high wind for the weekend, and we almost canceled the trip (which was for a planned product testing with Kodiak Custom Fishing Tackle.) We fished the lower river and the middle river casting skirted size 5 spinners in various colors and found good results of bright silvers spread out in both sections of the river.
Personal highlight for me was catching a personal best coho that bent the scale at 17 lbs. The fish was caught using a KCFT size 5 orange & chartreuse colored GI skirted spinner. The weather prediction was off because we had only a little rain on the first day we arrived and sunshine for the remaining time.
Might have to plan another outing for this year for the Kenai River.
ANGLER: Angler
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
REPORT: Hope you and AKJake are doing OK. Not like you to be so quite for so long. Best wishes to yo both.Sincerely,
[AOJ: Thanks for the concern. He is doing fine physically but changing out his leg dressing on Monday at the vet now has him on two different pill antibiotics, one creme antibiotic for incisions and one ointment antibiotic for a recovering ear infection, not to mention a pain pill every day. So with a big club foot bandage on his front paw we are really limited in our travels lately especially with all the rain. As far as quiet on the Northern Front, there hasn't been anything coming in as of late. Except I do have one to post later tonight from JediMasterSalmonSlayer and his trip to the Kenai for coho recently complete with some photos. I might have to get AKJake out in the boat if we get a dry break in the weather and track down a silver or two myself. Working on some new engineering design projects lately to build this Fall for slicing up meteorites. Steep learning curve and lots of trial and error.]
ANGLER: madmikw
REGION: Matsu Valley
REPORT: SO where does one find KKK flies?
[AOJ: See the home page of AOJ for details to the article and recipes.]
ANGLER: MoellerMom
TRIP DATE: back in 7/17
REGION: Prince William Sound
WATER: Valdez, Shout-out to RaffPappy and spouse
SPECIES: Pinks, Silvers
REPORT: Hey KK (and the recovering AKJake), Hope all is going smoothly for Jake!
I know this site is specifically for fishing reports...BUT can this message somehow get passed along to RaffPappy and his very gracious wife?
My husband and I are fairly recent transplants to Alaska having been relocated here three years ago, and with three kids to get settled let's just say fishing and learning about salmon fishing here has taken a back seat to life, and it's been sort of hit and miss for when we could get out.
This summer we were finally able to get some parental "alone time" and headed to Valdez to try things out at Allison Point. The first day we didn't do well, OK but not well. We watched as the couple just down the way from our spot had regular hookups and landings of nice fish.
When they were packing up I approached them and asked if they would have time, or minded a few questions. Well heck KK, they nearly dropped everything they were doing and spent about twenty minutes providing all the tips and advice anyone would need to be successful!
I thanked them profusely and returned to our spot to share what I had learned with my husband. While I was filling him in I heard someone approach behind me, when I turned around it was RaffPappy who had come over to give us a few of his lures since they were done and headed home! Following their advice we had a very successful trip. What a true sportsman and gentleman. Thanks for everything RaffPappy, we appreciate everything you did for us!
[AOJ: Always nice to hear of a Happy Ending.]
ANGLER: Nushagak transplant
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Good day all. It was a bright beautiful Saturday morning on the 6th. I had just gotten off work at 7am and was salivating at the posts for Seward going on. I said 'what the heck' and hit the highway. Left Anchorage about 9 and was down in Seward about 11. Never been before, what a beautiful drive, and not as long as I thought it would be. So I pull up somewhere they have RV parking (maybe a mile or so down from the harbor) and I observe for a good 30min. I see a few getting pulled in, along with a huge sea lion having his fill with some chrome beauties..I fish for a couple hours and nothing. Vibrax, pixies, that's all I had, no snaggin hooks. So I pack it in and drive along the coast toward the harbor....then I see the mass of humanity at the outlet of that little creek draining from the lagoon. Wow, what a meat fest, a freezer fest, silvers getting snagged left and right and left again. I watch in amazement for a few minutes before I need to go find some "Seward flies". I head back to Anchorage with some new knowledge. Forward to Tuesday 9/9... get off work 7am...leave Anchorage at 8...down to Seward at 10. Six fish in about an hour. Visit with some other anglers for a few minutes and back in Anchorage at 2pm. Awesome trip... looking forward to one more before the season is over. Thanks for the posts AOJ.
[AOJ: Ah, you should have run up to the Fish House tackle shop right there across from the bathrooms at the harbor. They have every kind of fishing gear you could possibly imagine and even rent rods the last time I was there. You would probably have 12 in the freezer now. HA. Glad you got your feet wet in this fishery. Some purist anglers scoff at Alaskans and tourists engaging in this kind of legal saltwater snagging but it is a sport (a gruesome one at that) like dipnetting but more so its a method of HARVESTING when its time to reap the excess bounty Alaska has to offer all of us. I would take bets that no one at the dinner table will be able to tell which silver was snagged and which hit a lure or troll herring. :-)]
ANGLER: AK River Rook
REGION: Southeast
WATER: Gastineau ChannelCowee/Salt Chuck
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Was in Juneau for a couple days, heard they were also having some decent coho numbers in this year. Stopped by Alaska Fly Shop and he said just about any color has been working as well as any type of fly.
I started up at Cowee Creek, it was slow only saw one on a stringer. Then headed down to the Salt Chuck saw a number of them rolling about, saw one caught with a blue vibrax.
Next I headed to the Gastineau channel & nine mile creek @ low tide, managed to pull out one (coho kryptonite) the other four fishing nearby seemed to catch about 2 in the time I was there.
It was great to fishing somewhere new! Now back to Anchor town!
[AOJ: It sounds like the charter boats are fairing better out in the saltwater....or were just a week or two ago. I'm not good at Southeast run timing as they don't do daily weir counts or at least make them public. The good news is you are back in time to hit some of those silvers in Seward. Getting some blush to some of them but still chromers in the mix for the freezer and the blushers for that last of the season smoke out in the smoker for your winter football snacks.]
ANGLER: Klondike Kid reporting for Captain Shane at DRIFTWOOD CHARTERS
TRIP DATE: September 5-6-7 & 10
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Homer - Cook Inlet - Kachemak Bay
SPECIES: Kings and Halibut
REPORT: COMBOS are still the name of the game for Captain Shane aboard the Misty down in Homer. Even though the halibut are "backing out" of Cook Inlet for their wintering grounds in the North Pacific, there are still plenty of nice to big size fish still hanging around. Some days are better/luckier for the anglers than others but there isn't any problem finding fish. These photos are of anglers and their catches from last FRIDAY thru yesterday (Wednesday).
King Salmon are thicker than fleas on a dog and there is no stopping the trolling action once Shane has zero'd in on the baitfish. Find the food source and you are home free and "in the money" so to speak.
This year there has be NO SLOW KING FISHING. From New Year's Day right up to this writing Kachemak Bay has been packed with feeder king salmon there for the taking. And I can guarantee there is not one skipper in the Homer charter fleet that has put more king salmon on his Charter Log Book required by ADFG than Driftwood Charters. Sorry if I may have offended some of those decades long skippers in the fleet but the Charter Log books turned into ADFG don't lie.
This year Shane has worked with the ADFG Homer biologists for collecting DNA samples and recovering coded wire tags from hundreds of king salmon he has caught. And the findings don't lie. 15% of his king catches are coded wire tagged fish from many different hatcheries. These feeder kings ARE NOT KENAI KINGS and those kings caught during the summer months when our Cook Inlet runs are moving through are NOT Cook Inlet kings either. This biological evidence can now support proposals during the next Board of Fish cycle requesting a change of the saltwater king salmon limits south of the Anchor Point light to two kings per day year round with NO recording as part of the five "summer season" king limit. Facts are facts. These are not Cook Inlet's fish stocks. So who knows, maybe we can pull that one off. Hard to argue with facts and proof and no justification to not make this new allowance. Hatcheries are stocking one quarter BILLION kings a year in the Pacific Ocean not counting all the wild kings from those streams. This is what is accounting for this incredible fishery in our backyard right now. And those hatcheries do not intend to reduce their stocking numbers.
Some of you readers may recognize the little angler in two of the photos with the thumbs up sign at the fish rack and then posing with a nice halibut. Alexandria is her name and she asked her folks for a fishing trip with Captain Shane this spring as her birthday present. Her dad hooked and landed that 57 inch 95 pound halibut on salmon trolling gear while Captain Shane was targeting king salmon at the time. Nothing like the thrill of a lifetime landing a fish near 100 pounds on a salmon rod and 20 pound test line. That also says something for the captain and his boat handling skills and fish landing expertise for light tackle hookups.
Well folks, most salmon runs are over except for the huge return in Resurrection Bay, some fish in Valdez and now starting to show some good numbers in the Kenai River. But I do want to remind all of you that have never done a feeder king salmon trip in Cook Inlet, there is going to be some incredible fishing this fall out there especially in October and November. Beginning OCTOBER 1st the limit is Two Kings per day with NO RECORDING on your license. This regulation runs through MARCH 31st so there is plenty of king salmon fishing all winter long. And believe me, Shane fishing ALL WINTER LONG! As long as the weather permits and he has clients to take fishing he is out there hammering, whacking, sacking and filleting kings. And there is always combos to include rockfish if anglers opt for that. Yeah, I PUMP Shane's operation and services. But unlike other peoples' promotions I am personally staking MY REPUTATION AND WORD on this recommendation. He's not only a good friend, hunting and fishing buddy but I've not run into any better angler with this kind of dedication and love for the sport. He may be running an Internet Winter Special this season to get more folks out there enjoying this unique opportunity to fish Alaska salmon in the middle of Winter!
JUST IN @ 4:58PM: Captain Shane had another six pack of anglers today (Thursday) and is heading back to port right now with a fish box full of limits - two kings per angler and two halibut per angler. Ah, and here is the fishbox before it is even back to the dock!! There is even ONE COHO in the bunch. Fine catch by Dennis, Laura, Brenda, Dennis, Lori, and Stephan.
ANGLER: H. Huester
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Spent 7-10 Sept at Seward - lots of rain. Limited out every day - most others did as well. Fish are all along the beach, from the RV parks up to the harbor. Fished the creek outlet at the small boat harbor with 30-40 of my closest friends. The fish just stack up there - everybody is snagging. Saw some pretty blushed fish, but most we're still shiny/chrome. My RV freezer limited out, many jars have been canned, and the wife says "STOP". Time to head home!
ANGLER: Jefery327
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward Lagoon for Kids, outfall and Harbor
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Well I was stuck at work on Saturday, but my wife(who hates touching fish) took my son, his friend, and our nephew who landed from Oregon at 1:00 this morning to Seward to get in on the sliver action. Last weekend my son and his friend were down fishing in the lagoon outfall, and each caught their limit (2) Sat and Sun. The fish must be getting smarter, because they weren't biting nearly as well. My son and his friend each got 3 silvers for the day; my nephew put one on the bank from the ocean side by the wood pilings, and my wife not only nabbed her first AK silver, but managed to pull out a limit, her first ever, even though her reel broke halfway through the last fish and she had to hand line it in.
I was very disappointed to hear from my son about adults helping their children fishing in the lagoon and outfall, and telling my son that it was OK to keep the silver that he had snagged in the dorsal fin; which he released anyway. These fishing opportunities are to provide youth a way to be introduced to fun, ethical fishing, and don't need to be ruined or taken away because of "adults" who can't mind the rules.
[AOJ: Congratulations to Amanda for nailing down the technique and limiting out. Always nice to show up the boys!
Indeed fishing violations can be observed just about anywhere you fish in Alaska. But its a teaching opportunity for parents to educate their kids on what regulations are and why we must stay within those laws for the future health of the fishery. What gripes me most is when I see an adult/parent teaching their children illegal fishing techniques deliberately. I've had more than a few "words" with those adults to shame them in front of their kids!]
ANGLER: Bluelight
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Deep Creek
SPECIES: Silvers/Dollies
REPORT: Water still pretty high and off color. We fished a combination of beads on the dead drift and streamers on the swing. Caught dollies on the beads, a couple silver takes on the streamer pattern. Landed one. Big hen, covered in sea lice. No steelhead.
ANGLER: Bluelight
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Upper Kenai River
SPECIES: Rainbows/Dollies
REPORT: Fishing was good and crowded. Fished various bead sizes from Sportsmans to Jims. My buddy caught a ton of small rainbows on a 10mm. I caught fewer, but bigger fish, on a 6mm (three rainbows over twenty and a bunch of upper teens). Several big dollies too.
ANGLER: Nick78
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Mid River Kenai
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Three reports in one:
1.)Hit lower Kenai by boat on Sunday. Started fishing at 9:30am and by noon had my limit. Fishing partner not so lucky. Between noon and 4pm only hooked up with two and landed neither. 7 hours and three silvers=not so hot.
2.) Hit mid river bank fishing hole between 9am-12:00 noon. Landed two red-colored silvers. Seen some more jumping but they seemed to be "off the bite."
3.) Spoke with a private boater loading up after he had a 9-hour jaunt by boat on the lower Kenai. Between two anglers they brought in 5. Not bad at all, but again not "hot."
Question: Could we be between the first and second run...a "lull" if you will? Historically, when is the peak of the second silver run?
[AOJ: I had a friend out last Friday with other anglers down at Eagle Rock and they hooked 9 and landed 7 to the boat starting at noon. Then the boat owner fished Saturday with two gals and they hit nice silvers as well as seeing other boats catching fish including some boat limits. Then my friend went back out on Monday with the gals and guy and they almost got a limit for everyone with the largest running 14 pounds. Several boats limited and left that day. Silvers are running very big this year. The numbers of silvers entering the Kenai right now is kinda unusual. August is usually hot for the early run but it tapers off at the end of the month and usually the second run doesn't get into big numbers until close to the middle of September. So with the very poor "early run" showing, who knows if these are late early fish or early late fish. LOL. I will say that based on ADFG research and tagging programs from years ago that 20% of the silvers entering the Kenai River were headed for the MOOSE RIVER drainage to spawn. That's a pretty fair number turning into the slackwater at Izzac Walton.]
ANGLER: Angler
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Kenai River
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Got on the river around 8:30 (late start). Fished from a skiff about a mile below Izaak Walton Park. Very slow fishing for most of the day. Seemed to be the general rule for most everyone we saw. Lots of spawning pinks and even on hold out king. Managed 4 coho to the boat in 6 hours. 3 of the 4 were 12-14 lbs. very nice fish.
Watched a lot of folks drifting flesh flies for rainbow with regular success. Husband and wife team really getting into the rainbow but they did not handle them well before releasing. They would net them and hold them out of the water in the net while they fiddled around unhooking them. These were not large fish for the most part and should not have even been netted. If you are going to catch and release all day long please work on your release technique as much as your catching to insure the future of the resource.
ANGLER: Jonathan
REGION: Matsu Valley
WATER: Fish Creek
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Giving away my trick at Fish Creek. Limited my last 4 trips. Go to normal 16.1 mile marker spot on KGB and walk up stream about 1-2 miles. Fish every hole you see and you will eventually find one. Just hit it today and pulled my 3 "Silver" silvers also hooked into about 4 red/pinkish ones I just tossed back. I would predict there is another good week a fishing there. Don't get caught up right there where everyone is fishing by the bridge and first bend. You can pull them but you would be better walking up creek aways.
[AOJ: Hmm, it appears your trick to catching salmon in Fish Creek is highly illegal. There is a reason all the anglers are fishing in that one location. The ONLY area of the creek open to salmon fishing is from an ADFG Marker 1/4 mile upstream of the KGB Rd bridge DOWNSTREAM to the mouth. Shame on you!!
ANGLER: This Butt's For You
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: After showing my wife two days of texts about good fishing in Seward, my wife finally caved in and agreed to a quick trip. We went Sunday afternoon and got to the beach (near the culvert) about 4. It was fish on almost immediately even though my hooks only had 2 barbs versus 3. Earlier in the summer while snagging reds at Seward, I'd throw my broken hooks in the tackle box. I didn't realize I had only broken hooks (2 barbs).
I didn't get there early enough to pick up hooks from the beach as many had done. I've seen a kid make a good amount of money selling the hooks people lost in the rocks or kelp when he did his environmental clean-up at low-tide.
Anyway, I managed 5 around 5PM. My wife landed 1. As the tide started moving in, the fish seemed further out. People were catching but not as frequent. I didn't stay long enough to see if the fish came in closer during the tide.
There are still some chrome fish to be had, but many are blushing. The chrome fish seemed to be farther out than the mass of fish nearer the beach.
As the ADFG report shows fish farther out at Cheval Narrows, I would expect fishing to continue for another few weeks. That's my best guess.
Last note: Trooper was out counting fish and enforcing 6 in possession. If you are there for more than 1 day, ensure your prior catch is counted towards the "in possession" count.
It might be a useful discussion to define "in possession." A friend got nailed with a ticket. Fish from a day prior, in the cooler on ice, headed and gutted, still counted towards the current day's in possession limit.
[AOJ: Yes that Possession Limit vs Daily Limit is something a lot of anglers don't pay attention to. And its a common "discussion" or reminder here on the reports every year.
The Seward salwater coho limit inside Resurrection Bay is Six per day, Six in Possession. As long as your Possession Limit is max'd out, you are not allowed to retain any additional fish until you have preserved those fish so as to remove them from your possession limit, thereby providing "space" in your quota for additional fish. Here is the quoted Definitions straight from the Southcentral Regs Booklet, PAGE 5:
Possession Limit the maximum number of unpreserved fish a person may have in possession.Preserved Fish fish prepared in such a manner, and in an existing state of preservation, as to be fit for human consumption after a 15-day period, and does not include unfrozen fish temporarily stored in coolers that contain ice, dry ice, or fish that are lightly salted.
So that's it in a nutshell. Anglers on multi-day outings need to take their fish to the local processors and have them frozen or can them or smoke them but the last two aren't usually convenient options on short camping trips.
The NEW regulation passed by the Board of Fish this past spring did change the laws for the KENAI RIVER which now allows anglers to possess TWO daily limits of sockeye during their summer trips to the Peninsula. 3 reds per day, 6 in possession. That also helps those on two day trips to the Russian/Kenai sockeye fishery.]
ANGLER: Raffpappy
REGION: Prince William Sound
WATER: Valdez
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: My wife and I just returned from our annual week long trip to Valdez. We knew it would be tough fishing, as the previous weeks' reports had indicated, due to the hatchery fish not showing up. But geez, it sure beats another week of work! Many kudos to my wife, a relatively new fisherwoman, who was as fired up as me while charging all over the Valdez area in search of the few and elusive silvers. Her passion was evident, and that was AWESOME!!!
In the end, we managed just 16 fish, roughly 2.5 fish a day. Heck, we got that many fish in just a day and a half last year! We fished many high tides, getting 3 fish once, 2 fish another, and blanked the other times while fishing the rocks off Dayville Rd. and Allison Point. We also fished a few morning/early tides with nothing to show for our efforts. We fished the harbor several times, getting a few there. All these fish came by way of spinning rods and vibrax spinners in various colors. Man, to use the word "slow" would be an understatement!
What salvaged our trip was the "fly fishing only" Robe River, which proved to be the best gig in town. After a scouting trip, a few conversations with some helpful locals, a review of the regs, and a quick run to town to become gear compliant (I did not bring any of my fly fishing gear - face palm), we were set. Over the course of four days we were each able to to get our 1-fish daily limit with relative ease once mama got past the learning curve of a new style of fishing, the near-constant rain for a couple days and accompanying chill.....and that brownie that showed up directly across that little river from her! Coho flies were the ticket there, with the fish seeming to want a different pattern every day. We didn't get our "road fish" on the final morning though, despite our best efforts, as the rain had caused the river to become very murky and high, the only day were were skunked on the Robe.
In the end we had a great time, enjoyed the friendliness of the locals, and as always felt welcome in the Valdez area. And I got to watch my wife gain a bit more experience and a few more skills while becoming as passionate about Alaska fishing as I am! Oh yeah, and I'm definitely taking my 8 and 9-weight fly rods next year for that little river!
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Hit Seward by the footbridge, hot fishing, caught 2 regular limits, and my friend had his proxy limit in 3 hours. Pic to follow, Tyler is holding up the 2 biggest. Some are starting to turn but plenty of fresh ones left. Get to go fish Whittier for work this week. I'll post my results if there are fish to be had.
[AOJ: For some reason the run at Whittier....and Valdez...just hasn't turned up the expected performance like so many other coho fisheries in Southcentral this year. BUT, the Kenai River is seeing some very fine numbers of BIG, I mean in the TEENS and heavy TEENS entering the river since last week. That is totally inbetween the August early run and the mid-September 2nd run. So hard to say if these are early fish VERY LATE or late fish VERY EARLY. If its the former then there is hope for Valdez and Whittier fisheries which may exhibit an unusually delayed timing. Time will tell.]
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
REPORT: Speedy recovery to AKJake -- hopefully he doesn't have to wear the "Cone of Shame" for long!!
[AOJ: He is such a champ. Hasn't wanted to chew at his bandages, or lick his other incisions and doesn't even seem to care he has a club foot of ace bandages around one front leg when he is walking around. Like there is nothing going on different. So he has been coneless the last few days but even that didn't bother him to wear it...other than getting hung up on a few obstacles now and then. Real Trooper. He's missing duck season now with his recovery but maybe there will be some goose movements going on after his stitches are out. And always a spruce hen or two to track down for catching up on the season. Thanks for your Well Wishes. He says thanx.]
ANGLER: FishOn
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward Youth Fishing Days
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: We had a great day with the kids on Saturday! There were a lot of fish in the creek down from the lagoon! My son caught 2 and my daughter caught 1 though we could have easily limited out if we wanted! I am glad fish and game has these youth days, it is a lot of fun to watch the kids! Unfortunately it was not all fun! While we were there we got to experience the ugly of sportsmanship! There was an older man (probably late 60s to early 70s) fishing. Several parents told him that it was a youth only fishery and he blew them off. There were also a few kids using the big weighted snagging hooks. For such tight quarters it was quite dangerous! One caught my sons line and actually snapped it when he pulled back on it. It would be nice to see more enforcement at these events!
[AOJ: It just so happens truenorthed sent in a photo of the culprit as show here with your report. Thanks Ed. There are always a few of these guys at the bottom of the barrel of humanity. HA!]
ANGLER: n8ivflav
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: Hello all, longtime lurker, 1st time poster here. Started fishing around 7pm got the 1st two fish in 10 minutes, lost quite a few fish and lures there by the boat harbor. Not bad fishing. They are definitely coming in schools - hot one minute then dead for a while then hot again. Ended up with 4 my buddy got one I am sending pics. Was a blast, took a buddy who has never been snagging before.
[AOJ: Always nice to see someone come into the light from the shadows and pull up a stump around our campfire. Always nice to break in a friend that is new to these harvesting tactics. It may not be glamorous but those fish taste JUST AS GOOD in the smoker and on the table as any sport caught silver. ]
ANGLER: truenorthed
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward Lagoon for Kids
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: After reading the EO for the Seward lagoon, we headed to Seward with our 6 and 9 year old. They had a blast catching silvers in the lagoon inlet. We even spotted 'Benjamin Button' fishing in the youth only area. LOL. He was puffing on a cigar and working his way along. Obviously he didn't know it was kid's only. He lucked out, because just 15 minutes earlier, there was a fish cop observing the fishery. Thanks for the good reports. (Will email you some photos from the trip).
[AOJ: From all the other reports that will be posted after this one it sounds like the kids all had a great time catching fish and the adults had their chances to load the stringers over on the beach in saltwater. Gotta love a BUMPER CROP YEAR of Cohos for a change. Especially a late run like this which gives Valley and Anchorage anglers one more shot at filling the freezer before digging out the ice fishing gear.]
ANGLER: 86Alaskan
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward Small Boat harbor
SPECIES: Coho Salmon
REPORT: Hit the outflow from the lagoon today starting at morning high tide. Fishing was OK with the school of silvers swimming around. Best was to wait for them to circle around then snag like crazy then take a break until they came back around. Hooked up a couple then moved around to the shore right next to the creek, and man it was on. The fish stacked up thick right off the end of the freshwater flow and it was heavy buck on every cast. Biggest was around 14lbs and hooked in the tail. It was an epic fight. They even claimed 2 of my older snagging rods. Anyway, hit it on the outgoing and near the creek, and it shouldn't take more than 30 min. to load up on big bright silvers.
ANGLER: FishingPapaBear
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Centennial Park - Kenai River
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Been fishing here off and on from 8/28. Definitely started to heat up this week. Got back here on 9/3 and limited within an hour on vibrax. Fishing from the shore with bait is doing great too, saw folks catching some whoppers, who look like they just came out of the ocean. Nice silver color and nice weight, saw a 17 pounder yesterday along with a bunch of 12-16 pounders. Today, 9/4 along with the rain, doing well from shore on bait as well as casting.
[AOJ: Glad to hear the Kenai silvers have improved. I'm hoping these are AUGUST fish arriving behind schedule and there will still be the second run of September fish turning up a bit later in the month to give us a nice long season...finally!]
REGION: Anchorage
WATER: Campbell Creek
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Still pulling nice bright ones out of the creek. It's pretty much in my backyard so I'm able to check everyday. They're in there just a matter of getting to them and getting them to bite. Eggs and pixies have both worked for me. Good luck out there.
ANGLER: AK Mark
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Got a day off mid week and hit the Russian after lunch. Not too crowded, more people than I thought though. Went to one of my favorite Silver holes, no one there. My wife and I had an hour and a half to ourselves, sun, little breeze to keep the white socks away...who could ask for more. It was paradise for the day!
Using the KKK with bigger gold chain eyes and Chartuse over wing and a tail and body from pearl mylar, we hammered the silvers! I squarely got hammered by 7 Bucks and one Hen, my wife a Buck and Hen. Course it was hard to keep the Pinks off, but the silvers were hot on the trail until we decided to keep one each and leave. It was an awesome day. Oh, caught the same Pink for times in a row...moved even, but couldn't keep it off my fly. Going to fish the Rainbows Friday. The river is loaded with bigger than normal Bows. Lots of pressure on Bows today.
Some pretty rough individuals who need to learn proper catch and release on the Russian today. One picking an eighteen incher up, holding it under your arm pit so it won't squirm and hand twisting the hook out is not proper catch and release technique. Buy a cheep net and forceps if you can afford it, You take off the protective slime and rip the maniple of the mouth off twisting the hook out. Oh, just dropping the beaut from the knee to the water is really nice on the fish too. Just my observation of someone too lazy to do it all right. Sorry, my pet peeve on the Russian...jerks.
By the way, the pay booth at Russian River campground is not charging for the trail parking, but they said they would be there until the 15th of September charging for Grayling and Pink Salmon parking lots. Cheers!
[AOJ: Thanks for the update on the Toll Booth fees and calendar schedule. Seems they usually cut off the fees on Labor Day but maybe because it was the first of September they decided to extend the date.]
ANGLER: Joe
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Coho
REPORT: I can confirm that silvers are hot and heavy in Seward. Got my limit in an hour this morning.
ANGLER: Jimbo
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River
SPECIES: Silvers, 'bows and Dollies
REPORT: Lights-out on the Russian over the weekend. Cottonwood Hole, Grayling Hole and a few other spots so full of silvers you couldn't keep them off fishing for 'bows. Hooked up and landed two chromer silvers on my trout rod - they were crushing 6 mil beads. 'Bows and Dollies were especially turned onto fresh milted 6 mil beads. Lost a Jurassic 'bow after a lengthy fight when a zombie sockeye charged up the river, slammed my line at the tippet and ripped the bead out of the trout's mouth! Good times! Fish on!
[AOJ: The Russian is shaping up to have a very fine fall fishery for both trout and silvers so far. No complaints for sure! Should be a GREAT WEEKEND PROSPECT for a road trip.]
ANGLER: FishingDisciple
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Just read your report from Sunday and wanted to give my report from this past weekend.
First time out was on Friday 8-29. Started about 2pm on the shoreline by the lagoon outlet. Got my 6 in about 3 hours (pic of 6 together). Fish were in good and jumping all over into the evening.
Second time out was on Sunday 8-31. Started about 2pm again, was along the shore below the campers. Picked up 3 fairly quick (pic of 3 held up), but it slowed down after that. Not many being caught nor many jumpers and I could tell the fish weren't in like they were on Friday. About 4pm saw a Sea Lion not too far from shore heading out. Not sure if that's why the fish weren't in. Started to pick up a little after 6pm with more and more fish jumping. Got my last 3 in about a half hour (pic of 3 on the shore).
This was my first time fishing here so I don't know if the one or more Sea Lions would have pushed them out further or if that is a regular cycle for the fish to move from deep water to the shore and back. Anyway, hope this helps and thanks for the great site!
[AOJ: HA! I checked your photo data and the pose with 3 fish was at 5:10pm and I was just to the left out of the picture over towards the harbor mouth around that time. Had been trolling back and forth outside of the pilings several times. Never saw a fish landed on the beach in all that time. So all you folks sending in these fishing success photos are BLOWING MY MIND. It wasn't like I didn't have plenty of time at 2mph trolling parallel to the beach to NOT see someone catch a fish. But there was a LOT of fish caught off the beaches that very day right under my and AKJake's nose. But we were on a scientific mission testing new trolling lures so the day was not lost even though we went home empty-handed. Thanks for the nice pics.]
ANGLER: TraumaMedic
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: My family and I were in Seward over the weekend and caught a total of 13 silvers over the weekend. The best success fishing was at slack tide when all the fish hit the lagoon entrance and it was fish on all over the place. On Labor Day there was one time that 8 of us all had fish on at the same time. Here is one photo of 5 of the 13 fish. It was awesome.
ANGLER: Terry
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward beaches
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: I just saw your posts on the Seward beaches and thought I'd report on my trip on Sunday/Monday (9/1 and 9/2) and send a picture or two. My wife and I arrived about 1 in the afternoon on Sunday and found a campsite right on the water. I hadn't planned on fishing but had brought some poles just in case. When we were unpacking I could see jumpers within casting range so we decided to give it a try. We got 4 silvers snagging in about 2 hours until the tide came in and pushed us out of the zone where we could cast to the fish. My wife got a very nice chrome buck (15 lb?).
On Monday morning we started fishing about 8 am and by 10:30 we both had limits of silvers. Lots of fish jumping and lots of anglers all along the beach. Most everyone I saw was getting hookups and landing fish. Even saw one fish jump into a small boat that was trolling just off the beach. I think this is like most fishing in that you have to be in the right place at the right time with the right equipment. The next day could be entirely different.
PS. Thanks KK for the AOJ site. It is the most informative place to go for fishing tips and where the fish are biting.
[AOJ: I guess I should have bit the bullet and grabbed my snagging rod that day.]
ANGLER: captainjimmy 73
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River FFO
SPECIES: Silvers, Rainbows, Dollies
REPORT: Ok we started a little late got too the river around 3:45-4 pm parked at the grayling parking lot only 3-4 vehicles parked very nice! Went down and the 4th staircase towards the Kenai it was on I saw some nice silvers from the trail !! And I couldn't believe it but when I was walking towards the river a lot of anglers were complaining that there was no fresh fish !! I couldn't understand I showed them and in 5 mins really big chromers !! And not too mention this I my favorite time of year because less people and lots of dollies and bow feeding frenzy !! Lets just say that dollie after dollie and bow after bow and silver after silver it was A BLAST !! Me and my buddy helped those out of towers for what and where to look for silvers and sure enough they had tight lines in 30 mins. Pretty cool guys they gave us a few beers and they got to see actual live wild bears! So all in all awesome day on the water going back again today. Have a good one everybody! CaptainJimmy
ANGLER: Fishwhacker
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Seward - Resurrection Bay
SPECIES: Silvers
REPORT: Silvers are in by the boatload around the stream they shoot up outside the harbor with additional jumpers scattered well across the breakwater. Saw hundreds of fish pulled out by happy anglers today and the water was black with fish in some areas. Good fishing!
[AOJ: Geez, what a difference a day or two makes. I trolled the beaches for 4 hours on Sunday and never saw a single angler drag a fish on the beach nor seen even one troller with a net in the air while I was there. I wonder where they were hiding over the weekend? At least some folks are putting some fish in the freezer which is great. Wish we could see some pics.]
ANGLER: Kera
REGION: Arctic
WATER: Sag River - Prudhoe Bay
SPECIES: Grayling & Huge Arctic Char
REPORT: A coworker of mine went out to Sag River ~10 to 20 miles down the Dalton highway and obtained some monsters (pictured fish broke the pole)! I was not able to have the same success; however the pictures are all the motivation to go fishing after work :)
[AOJ: Oh boy, that one fish is a real bruiser. And definitely incentive to take the ride outside the gate. Nice to just get out of "town" now and then anyway. I've put in a fair amount of time in the past, with little luck, on the Sag but all my fishing was around the bridge and a little downstream.
A few of NORTH SLOPE - Prudhoe Bay Factoids that only us oldtimer PB startup employees from the late 70's know about...well until now.
ONE: The Sagavanirktok River supports the NORTHERNMOST run of PINK SALMON on the North American continent. It is a small run that enters the river in August.
TWO: Angus Gavin was the world-renown Arctic explorer and biologist who was retained by ARCO at the beginning of Prudhoe Bay (and for 13 years to his death) as our Environmental "department". He had stocked 5000 rainbow trout fingerlings in the drinking water supply lake that supplied ARCO Base Camp with water pumped from the Sag River into the lake. This maintained a static water level all year long. The idea was to provide us employees an opportunity to go trout fishing as part of the recreational opportunities provided by the company while in camp. The project failed and all the fish died. WHY? Turns out the pump discharge going into the lake was creating too much saturated oxygen in the water which caused stress on the fish and messed up the environment for maintaining a healthy aquatic food supply. So for us anglers it was back to the river.
THREE: There is a little drainage creek on the left side of the road for the causeway running out to STP. Every spring when the shore ice in the Beaufort would melt back at the beginning of breakup the Dolly Varden (Dollies are searun fish, Char are fulltime freshwater residents) would congregate around the mouth and anglers after work would nail some nice 5+ pounders for a while and then they were gone. I suspect the runoff from this tundra stream into the saltwater was either supplying some kind of food source or it was attracting an ocean food source drawn to the fresh/salt mixing zone.
FOUR: The summer SNOW GOOSE breeding colony on the small island out in the bay going to the Endicott Island facility is the ONLY snow goose population breeding on USA soil. All others breed in Canada or Siberia.
Thanks for bringing back some long ago memories from my 17 years on the Slope. ~KK~]
ANGLER: Mike
REGION: Matsu Valley
WATER: Willow Creek
SPECIES: Silvers & FOUND FISHING ROD
REPORT: Was able to land a couple late season silvers up at Willow Creek on Sunday early afternoon in blue bird conditions--quite surprised! One was still bright while the other was a little rosie but they are apparently still biting on flies up there.
To the couple in the black truck that never got the tent set up at the Willow Creek campground, we found your rod on the way out of the campsite. Contact me at my email address to provide details to claim. mareid2 AT asu.edu
ANGLER: Kardinal_84
REGION: Kodiak Island
WATER: Various
SPECIES: Halibut and Coho
REPORT: Hey KK!!!!Well we went out to Kodiak as planned. 6 days of fishing! Here's my report! Sorry it's a tad long!
Kodiak 2014 report August 24-30
I was fortunate enough to fish with Kokatat Pro staff Allen "Polepole" Sansano, Allen "Bushy" Bushnell, Mark "Spot" Veary, and Chris Mautino from Liquid Adventures. Jeff and I were the Alaska representatives of the NorthWestKayakAnglers.com team (Polepole and Bushy run that site along with KayakFishingMagazine.NET). I can't believe I had the opportunity to fish with people of this caliber! Even if I don't catch a fish, I am sure I would have come back with knowledge and connections worth every penny of this trip and then some!!!!
We took two vehicles via Ferry from Homer and rented a house. Cost for 5 people on a ferry plus two vehicles and berths for six one way was roughly $1,600. The house for the week was $1,400 making the cost $3,000 or $600 per person for a entire week of unguided fishing. Pretty dang reasonable!!!
Day OneWe try Kalsin Bay. Silvers are jumping but generally speaking no love. Bushy hammers a nice 13-15 pound silver but that was the only fish for the entire day. Hmmm this is going to be hardcore than we thought. Maybe not though I used my "new" reel today and left my girlfriend's (and MY lucky reel) back at the rental house. switched out to the pink avet sx on day two.
Day TwoThis time we get a tip from local fishermen and we try Pasagshak Bay. Weather is beautiful AND we find fish. I manage a 40'ish pounder and a 20 pounder. I release another one. The other team members land 4 other fish. The biggest was Polepole's 51 pounder. I'm feeling ya!!!! It's the pink reel! lol.
Day ThreeWeather is blowing hard. It looks like we might not get on the water. We try Kalsin Bay a little further to the East. We fish in pouring rain and 20 knt winds. Fortunately, I was wearing a new Kokatat Hydrus 3L SuperNova Angler Paddling Suit and Kokatat SeaO2 PFD. The Hydrus 3L kept me bone dry and with a few layers of fleece, I fished comfortably all day! The SeaO2 is a new design with 7.5 lbs of flotation but you can inflate it (CO2 or manually) to get 22.5 lbs of lift. Super comfy! Highly recommend!!!
I troll looking for anything that will bite. 10 minutes from launch I troll up a 25 pound-ish halibut. The rest of the day almost nothing until once again I am minutes from the launch and almost in the exact same place I manage another 20 pounder. Hmmm what's that saying Never leave fish to find fish? Well I guess we are exploring Kodiak so it was OK, but I was the only one lucky enough to run into the fish that day.
Day 4We head back out to Pasagshak Bay. Half of the group opts to fish silvers in the river even though it is a touch early in the season. They manage two SUPER nice silvers.
Out in the Bay, Spot, Jeff, and I fish in shifting winds. I miss four or five good takes because I had switched over to a circle hook. I HATE THOSE THINGS!!!!! Missed every single one despite letting them take the bait for 10 seconds or longer and engaging the drag as they are just ripping out line. I am sure its operator error since many many people are successful with the circle hooks, but I didn't lose a single fish after a solid takedown using the Gamakatsu 12/0 Big River hooks.
Spot manages a nice 65 pounder in very challenging conditions. His fish would win the "fight of the week" award. His fish manages to take down an A2 Buoy for over 30 or more yards while 12 pounds or more of drag was also being applied. We aren't talking "surface skimming" take down. We are talking "no wake" completely submerged takedown. His buoy was nearly twice as large as the buoy I was using. Just AWESOME show of power.
I think the biggest disappointment was our failure to find Silvers in the salt. There were enough fish jumping and in the streams that we thought we could have hooked a few of them. From the launch which is right next to the river mouth, to the halibut grounds was roughly 3 miles each way. I trolled a dodger and hoochie on both days to and from halibut fishing and did not get a single strike! Not even from cod or pollock. Inside the Bay seemed fairly void of life.
Day 5Well we got to try Pasagshak again after that nice fish. I pedal 3 miles out and in the first 15 minutes I am hooked up. The area we were fishing was super rocky and snaggy. Over the course of the week, I had to cut my line several times and I was actually running low on line for my "lucky" reel OK, ok it's my girlfriend's but I think I am taking it back! I drop my bait to the bottom and immediately it seems stuck to the bottom. I yank on it several times thankfully I had switched back to a J-hook. All of the sudden the "snag" starts throbbing! NICE!!!!! The battle is on.
After a few mistakes, I manage to harpoon it, bleed, and apply the club. But now what? I can't get it into my kayak so I pedal what turns out to be a mile back to find a suitable beach. I finally get it strapped onto the back of the kayak. Hmmm. It rides nicely. Limit is two. I am going back out again!!!
Bad idea that I was fortunately saved by luck. The halibut was so heavy, it was causing my rudder line holes to submerge under water. Fortunately for me the group was already headed back since I had taken so long dealing with this one fish. Once I got back to the launch, there were several gallons of water in my hull. ACK! I have closed cell foam noodles and empty gatorade bottles stuffed into my kayak so it wouldn't sink. But it would have made a long pedal back a WHOLE lot longer if I had fished longer. Lesson learned.
I didn't think the fish was that big but on tape it came out to 59.5 inches. 59 inches was 103 lbs and 60 inches was 108 pounds. Not the weight length I had so I am calling it 105!!!! WOW!!! mission accomplished for a triple digit 'butt from a Kayak!!!! SWEEEEET!!!!!!!!!
Day 6, the final day.We are too tired. We had to check out of the house so we fished the Buskin River. LOTS of pinks and a quite a few silvers. They weren't hitting though and I was a little disappointed to see the method of choice for 90% of the Anglers was the "flossing" method....especially in such beautiful clear water stream. I did manage one on a pink fly, but I think I flossed that one too. They just weren't taking.
Summary:So the trip was pretty dang good given that none of us had fished Kodiak from a Kayak before. It was just an awesome trip. I want to thank the Polepole and Bushy from KayakFishingMagazine.net and NorthwestKayakAnglers.com, Spot, and Chris Mautino from Liquid Adventures out of Seward and Baja. To be able to fish in the company of such skilled Kayak Anglers really gave me the confidence that much more can be done from this platform.
We fished some very challenging weather days. But the ability to launch from virtually anywhere gave us access to water that even power boaters would have had a difficult time fishing. In the 6 days, we saw two trollers on Day one in Kalsin and one troller who was waiting to pick up passengers in Pasagshak fishing the entire time we were there. It was amazing!!!!!!
We set out to catch a 100 pound halibut. Mission accomplished. I am pretty fortunate to have been the one to get that lucky strike. It wasn't easy trying to learn all of the spots. Of course we all have our favorite fishing holes that we know like the back of our hands and that consistently produces fish. We had a lot of good assistance along the way. I want to specifically thank Hank and Abel who gave us TONS of good information and frankly made the trip for all of us.
In some ways you could sense the disappointment that more and larger fish weren't caught. But we walked away impressed with Kodiak's potential. With a kayak we could launch and fish in semi-sheltered areas no matter the wind direction. A few more trips and I think I could get Kodiak dialed in. Hmmm maybe next spring? I hear they catch big kings in Kodiak in the spring time. I LOVE BIG KINGS. The wheels are already turning.
Here is the video compilation. It's not all the days since the weather was just down right nasty on a few days. But it's longer than usual at about 11 minutes. But it shows roughly half of the fish we managed to land.
ANGLER: pezgallo1
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Upper Kenai
SPECIES: Dollies and trout
REPORT: Floated the upper Kenai on my little cat had great weather and caught a lot of rainbows and dollies.
Up above Jims Landing I dropped my Sage RPLXI-690-3 with a Tibor reel. If you catch it please contact me (907) 227-5927. Thank you
ANGLER: Klondike Kid n AKJake
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Resurrection Bay @ city beaches / Glacier outfall
SPECIES: Silvers and Ice Worms
REPORT: Dumped the boat in the drink about 1pm after scouting along the city roadside beaches to see how the beach bunnies were doing. Plenty of jumpers at low tide, just no one hooking them. And all the fish I saw where chrome bright. This Sunday there was a full mid-summer compliment of campers and anglers in Seward getting in that one last camping trip.
My mission: Try some experimental trolling lures that I put together last year and hadn't tried yet. Because the water conditions were not friendly to a 16 foot flatbottom I decided with all the jumpers everywhere close in that there was plenty of targets right outside the harbor and along the beaches to work my magic on. And there were a number of boats trolling the same area for me to see how they were doing too.
Well the wind increased, the seas turned to 2 to 3 feet with the occasional 4 foot series from Fjords tour boats and the 50 foot fishing charters all coming back to the harbor to roost for the night. It wasn't pleasant but somehow Jake got in a nap on the floor boards for short spans. Worked out past the harbor to the east towards a group of power and sail boats trolling one area. Never saw a net in the air so moved back towards the beaches. Ran up and down on several passes along with a number of other trollers and well within viewing distance of all the 100+ folks on the beach getting bruised ribs yanking on their treble hooks. Thought of a good video for next year. :-)
Anyway I fished from 1pm to 6pm through the high tide and lumpy seas. I saw one anchored up boat just out from the beach in 15 feet of water tossing lures and they landed one fish. I never saw anyone on the beach hook anything but the bottom. Geez there must be a lot of line and hooks out there just below the low tide mark. I went through 3 sets of experimental gear. Two of them got some taps which I'm sure were salmon hits since I was over 135 feet of water and only trolling 20 feet down. But they must have been hitting the stuff with no hooks. (Hmm, a hint?) So it was time to head back to port dejected but what a wonderful blue bird day in Seward without a single cloud in the sky after 2pm. And then I finally spotted a small group of snaggers on the breakwater sight fishing casting to silvers they could see from above that were swimming right under the surface. And sure enough, this guy spots one, scampers down the rocks a level or two, casts his treble hook, times the sink and fish movement and first yank Fish On! And he was obviously an expert at this method along with his buddy and girl friend using the same tactics. I might have to give that sight fishing a try one of these years.
After the boat was on the trailer, tied down, AKJake fed, me fed and watered, it was time to visit Exit Glacier before heading back to AOJ HQ. It has been about 10 years since I was up at the glacier. And my oh my has climate change done its deed on Exit. When I was there in 2004 or thereabouts, you could walk out onto the river bed at the end of the Outwash/Glacier Toe Trail and just a few hundred yards out on the gravel valley floor was the end of the glacier ice. Now I get out there at the end of the trail and there is NO GLACIER in sight. So its time to bush whack and see where it ended up. The "trail" is more like a mountain goat trail along the bedrock valley wall and a thin narrow layer of dirt a foot wide growing enough alders to keep you from falling into the raging Exit River just a few feet below. Once around the point you get back down to the gravel bed and there is the glacier a quarter mile up the valley from where it use to be ten years ago.
Based on my "calculations" the Exit Glacier appears to be retreating at about 130 feet per year or the equivalent of a full football field with end zones attached every 3 years. Lots of dust and dirt on the lower glacier ice making the photogenic nature of this once beautiful piece of the Ice Age a disappointing, lackluster "gob" of dirty snow. There is some of the blue showing in the crevasses at the Ice Falls where it starts to make its sharp drop to ground level from the mountain but at 8pm at night it wasn't worth shooting. I was surprised how many people were wandering the trails at 7-8-9pm at night up there. Many visiting tourists, some from far away origins. All friendly "Howdy" types as we passed each other.
ICE WORMS: Yes I did search for a bit in the glacial dirt on the ice for these mystical creatures but it was so late the lighting was poor. NOTE I said MYSTICAL and NOT MYTHICAL. They do exist. And in fact there is a Chugach Forest Service ranger that gives guided tours over at Byron Glacier a couple times a week during summer to the ice field where they find REAL GLACIER ICE WORMS! Byron Glacier is just off the road that goes to the Portage Glacier Tour Boat dock area. The ice worm hike is just a little over a mile long, very easy trail with not much elevation. Something to put on your Bucket List as a thing few people in the world will have experienced or seen firsthand.
OK, so it wasn't a trip to remember but with perfect weather, very little traffic on the roads when I was rolling in both directions I have no complaints. And those experimental lures? Well there is a LOT of winter Feeder King fishing to try them out on in just a few months. Still plenty of fishing in Southcentral with rainbows and Dollies just now heating up and still a few silvers hitting Little Su and Fish Creek as well as the lower Kenai Peninsula streams, Kasilof and Kenai rivers and nice bright fish in Seward.
Good Luck.
ANGLER: Sponsored by Ohara
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Anchor River / Spit Fishing Hole
SPECIES: Silvers and Dollies
REPORT: Checked out the Fishing Hole Friday after work, still dead. Looks like no big schools of late fish have shown up. Hate to say it but it might be done down there for the year.
Saturday morning we hit the Anchor early, fish were moving through slow and steady but from about 8 to 9 it heated up. I had a lot of weak hits and missed the set but had a nice 12 or 13 pounder hammer a #3 orange vibrax. Between me and a friend we threw quiet a few flies and spinners but it seemed the smaller was better. Seems like a really good year for silvers on the Anchor, it's too bad there's no count.
After the sun came out the silvers got shy so we headed up river looking for Dolly's. The water is up, temp is down and visibility is decent, should be perfect dolly fishing but we couldn't buy a hit on anything we threw. I'm quite perplexed on the poor Dolly fishing, it was great on the lower river in July.
[AOJ: That's a nice bruiser you caught. Pot Belly! Well the Dollies may have run on upstream to their spawning grounds earlier than usual this year. Maybe they know something we don't know....yet! No doubt the cooler weather is bringing down the water temps. Had to put my zucchini plants in the garage last night to make sure Mr. Frosty wasn't gonna end my harvest season prematurely. Looks like I'm in the clear for another week. Need to get out on the Lower Kenai to see how the silver run is shaping up. There had been some improvement in the past week but nothing to write home about.]
ANGLER: Bluelight
REGION: Kenai Peninsula
WATER: Russian River
SPECIES: Rainbows
REPORT: Got up above the falls early in the morning and fished all the way down to white trail. Water conditions are excellent. Saw some actively spawning kings up high and some reds lower. Fished 10mms around the kings and 6mms around the reds. Colors didn't seem to matter much. Caught maybe 50 fish. Nothing over 20. Lots of 15 inch fish in nice shape. A couple big dollies. Saw some silvers moving up. Glad I was first on the water as it started to get crowded later.
Fishing Reports
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I can't pretend to know how much work goes into what you do for all of us Alaskans in maintaining this site for us to read, share and gather info from around the state. For that I want to thank you. Many of the tips and articles (not to mention the reports) have helped make successful memories for me and my boys and without this site I don't know if that would have been true.
Anyway, like I said, I hope all is well with you and Jake and thanks again.
[AOJ: 12/5/14 I appreciate your concern as well as from those others who have also sent a note about what's happening around HQ here. Hopefully things will begin providing a little more breathing room and I'll be able to devote more time and effort to
HOMER Winter Feeder King Salmon fishing trip with Driftwood Charters. The crew at TOWER ROCK LODGE on the Kenai have closed up shop for the winter and was ready to wind down and decompress with some fun fishing of their own. Mike, Jason and Money were accompanied by Denny aka master angler aboard the Misty with Captain Shane Blakely. The weather was beautiful, sunny, no wind and light seas diminishing to glassy waters before the day would end. King Salmon, Black rockfish and Pacific cod ended up on the day's menu. Including a Grand Finale at the World Series Hole (aka Quart of Gas Hole aka No Gas Hole) with a Triple King Salmon Hook Up in 30 SECONDS to finish off the day right in front of the Homer Spit.
As they say, it don't get any better than this. You can visit both these operations' websites at TowerRockLodge.com and DriftwoodCharters.com. Both outfits offer the best the Kenai Peninsula has to offer.
Date: 14OCT14
Time: 0900-1230
Distance Traveled: 6 miles
Location: Homer Spit, Salty Dawg to tan Condo
Depth: 45-65'
Air Temp: 42F
Water Temp: 49F
Wind: 5kt N wind
Seas: 1-2', occasional 3' breakers 50 yds from shore near skate rink
Cloud Cover: Scattered, 4 out of 10
Hooked: 7 Pollock ~ 12", 3 Kings ~ 18"
Kept: 1 King that swallowed the hook and was bleeding out.
Hook ups were trolling 35' @ 2-3kts in 45-55' water with a flasher and a Coho Killer 816 chasing it, 1-3 hrs after slack on an ebb.. All the pollock and kings had 2-3" sand lance in their throats so keep baits small. These guys were all sitting 100-500 yards off the beach. Marked several bait balls @ 35' at above location. Not a single fish or bait ball marked at over 70' up to Archie Buoy until about 1200. Started marking fish in deeper water about the time I started heading back.
Buddy of mine hooked on 2 Kings using Coho Killers between Breakwater Buoy and the pilings on the other side of the ferry pier fishing "shallow" he says. Seeing as it's about the same depth as the area I was fishing, I'm going to assume he's fishing about the same depth.
I have to hand it to Shane with Driftwood Charters. He is a fish catching machine! Well he was nice enough to give me basic locations and depths. That narrowed down the water column considerably for us. It made a huge difference for us.
Day one, the wind was HOWLING. We slowly made our way south to Halibut Cove. Managed a bunch of shakers and only really one "keeper".
Day 2, we finally got to take advantage of Shane's advice. It made a HUGE difference. Instead of running gear all up and down the water column, we focused on the Intel Shane provided. We ran all three lines fairly close in depth. That resulted in a double hook up (landed both) and a triple takedown (landed 2). Finished the day with 7 kings over 10 pounds for three rods (we had proxies) Maybe 14 pound average. A dozen or more shakers and two in the 5 to 10 pound range.
Hard to complain about that!!! Great day 2, but still lots of room for improvement!!
Slowly but surely we are starting to get this fishery down! Thanks Captain Shane!!!
A little head banging music mixed in to the video so turn down the volume if you don't like that kinda thing! Not sure why the music selection turned out the way it did...lol.
With only three people on board the boat, it made for some tough filming. How I managed to catch the triple takedown as my only decent video clip is beyond me. haha!
With only three people on board the boat, it made for some tough filming. How I managed to catch the triple takedown as my only decent video clip is beyond me. haha!
I have been neglecting the river pretty bad for the last few weeks,Thursday at lunch I drove down to the beach and on my way out saw a angler releasing a really nice steelhead from the hole right below the bridge. I almost went down to join him but had to get back to work. Friday on my way home I stopped at my favorite road side hole,tied on a purple leach with a blood red 8mm bead free to slide the line and it was fish on right away. The sky started dumping sleet and gusting wind making casting difficult but if I could get my fly across the river I would get a fish on. Lots of dollies in the 18-20 inch range a couple tiny ones and one good hookup that broke off quickly.
Lots of fish still in the river if you can stick out the weather.
Ok. So I know other kayakers have tried it and wondered "where are all the little kings Kardinal keeps talking about." Well I think I found part of the answer. For some reason they LOVE the smaller Neddlefish hoochies. First day, we ran two hoochie rigs and two herring rigs. Tally for the day was 14 kings landed. 12 of them under 20" 90% of the small kings came on the needlfish hoochies. Two big kings came on herring.
The fish didn't have needlfish in them. They looked like capelin. But the following day we run mainly herring. Only 5 kings landed on day two. BUT 3 over 20".
Looks like the hoochies are deadly effective but they do seem to catch more little kings AND pollock. Pollock hit the herring but not as often as the needlefish hoochies.
Also having a GPS plotter, I was amazed how many of the fish came from virtually the same exact spot even though we were covering miles of open water.
With this knowledge, I plan to fish my hoochies first. If I have issues with pollock and small kings, I may take a single pack of herring. But I also am going to run something slightly bigger than the hoochies like a brad's cut plug or a coyote spoon.
I know a few boats managed to hammer a bunch of nice fish so they are out there if you either know what you are doing or get lucky!
Not the best video as there was some expectation that I actually help out with the fishing aspect of the trip! Despite the videos looking like decent weather. We battled big seas both days on the run out and in to the port. Crazy stuff. Got snowed and hailed upon in anchor point and the pass driving!!! Get the snow tires ready!!! But for posterity's sake here's the video:
Fished Grandstand by myself for a while and hooked some more nice Dollies, still only on beads. Any color, really, but some work better than others when the lighting changes. Noticed some females starting to drop eggs as I released them--so try some 6-8mm yellow clear beads, perhaps? Moved to the Washed Out hole, fished near some other kind folks. One big Dolly there at the deep spot, and some obliging little frantic feeders too. No steelhead at either hole, and many other fisherfolk I talked to said the same for the weekend.
Snow fell for a while, and the sun came and went. Many tackle changes, and nothing really setting the fish off like the last couple of weeks. Sloooowwww compared to how it's been.
Got word that Deep Creek was better, and that the crowds weren't there. Took the advice and drove up. Sure enough, some fish could be seen hovering in the water, and I gave it a shot. Not much luck, however. A few Dollies in small sizes on 8mm beads, and couple on 10mm.
Did see one steelhead caught on the Deep Creek. Sadly, it supported a conversation I had with the local AK Trooper about these rivers the last few weeks--lots of people yanking steelhead onto the banks, and even more people trying for the famed "Steelhead Smile" photos out of water. He's apparently been busy writing tickets, and everyone needs a reminder for themselves and those they see around them to keep those fish in the water from hook to release. Otherwise, you might get to meet a Trooper as he emerges from the bushes behind you. Don't be that guy...
The guy I saw landing the Steel had yanked it onto shore, and I watched it bash itself senseless on the rocks while he tried to get out the hook and prep for a photo. As they were trying for a photo out of water I reminded them about the regs. They begrudgingly obliged and moved off downriver. Sorry if I ruined your day, guys.
It's up to us to keep these fish alive this season, and healthy for the next so we can keep fishing for them next year, and for years to come. Beating up on these Steelhead is a bad idea, and we should be more acutely aware of the regulations to keep 'em wet...and not be afraid to remind others to do the same.
Anyway, it's been a very friendly river this season, and fun overall. Only a few more weeks before closure, and the ice is starting to show in the shady areas. Male Dollies are kyped up, and ready to dance. Here's to more tight lines!
Attached a photo of one of the good-looking Dollies on the day.