We’re hitting our stride here in the meat of the early season, and as a result of the chaos, we’re way overdue for a newsletter… so here it is!
Fishing Report
The early season King Salmon fishery has been quite the surprise to everyone so far, and we’ve really enjoyed the best early run we’ve seen in quite a few years. The Kasilof has produced very consistently with a very high proportion of keeper hatchery fish, and the Kenai is seeing enough kings that ADF&G has decided to liberalize the regulations to allow some retention. We’ll continue to stay conservative and release all Kenai Kings, but boy is it encouraging to see a better first run return! As the king salmon run returns to normal, we urge all anglers to avoid the temptation of repeating history. These are truly special fish that deserve to be treated as such. It’s hard not to be excited about the best king fishing on both local rivers in many years!
While the King Salmon run has been unexpectedly strong, the sockeye salmon run has been unexpectedly inconsistent thus far. But it’s still early, and the last few days have seen decent numbers of sockeye entering the lower Kasilof River on the incoming high tides, so I’d be willing to bet that we’ll be enjoying their bounty on a regular basis for more than the next month.
Despite high water conditions, the trout season opened with quite a bang on June 11th! There were lot of fish around and some true donkeys in the mix with the best action being in tight to shore on the swing. Expect the trout fishery to really take off again in a couple weeks when the sockeye fishing gets hot, and the hungry trout congregate below cleaning tables and flesh piles throughout the entire river. Some of our biggest trout of the year are often caught in mid-summer on big, gawdy flesh flies during the heat of the sockeye season.
Cancellation Special
We wanted to make sure you were the first to know that we recently had a cancellation for the Orca cabin during the week of July 7-14. This is right at the beginning of our peak season, and there are lots of great trips to take advantage of during this time-frame, including the peak of the Kasilof sockeye fishery, the potential for some awesome king salmon fishing on the Kenai, and the front end of the Kenai sockeye run that can be caught right in front of your cabin! If you’re interested in filling some or all of this unexpected vacancy, please contact us right away and we’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.
What’s coming soon
The next couple weeks are going to be dominated by some epic sockeye salmon fishing! One of our favorite stretches of river on the whole peninsula is the upper Kasilof, which is about 10 gorgeous miles of drift only water, and the sockeye congregate up there for about the next month. These trips are so special because of the combination of great fishing and spectacular scenery wrapped into one awesome trip.
We often see a short lull in between runs of king salmon on both rivers, but it doesn’t last long… we’re still catching kings on the Kasilof, and the Kenai has plenty of kings to be had once the water drops a bit this week. The first week of July provides some opportunity for Kings, but it can sometimes be the aformentioned lull that occurs just before the big run shows up around the second week of July. Get ready for some world class C&R king salmon fishing!!! We can’t wait!
As stated above, the trout fishing is going to go off once the sockeye run develops on the Kenai. We often recommend turning your salmon trip into a combo trip anytime from mid-July on in order to take advantage of the diversity and fast action that trout fishing adds. And you never know if the next fish you hook is going to be a trophy rainbow that only the Kenai can provide!
The Fishology Team
I’ve gotten into the habit of endearingly calling our Fishology staff “the dream team.” Not very original, I know, but I can’t think of a more accurate nickname. We’re so lucky to have both Brandon and Matt back as our main river guides. These guys are pros, and are great with both people and fish, a rare & valuable combo to a fishing business.
The latest addition to the Fishology team is Brionna, our office manager. We ask A LOT of Brionna, and she handles it all like a champ… It feels like she’s been doing this job for many years already! I can’t tell you how lucky Fishology is to be blessed with all 3 of these awesome people, as well as the many other guides and businesses we work with on a regular basis.
Fishology Swag
FYI, Fishology hats are back and for sale in the office for $15 each. If you’d like us to send you one or more, please send an email to akfishology@gmail.com and we’ll figure out a way to get one sent your way.
Fish for the Future
There will be a whole Fishology blog dedicated to FFTF in the near future, but I want to briefly introduce this king salmon conservation program to all of you here. FFTF is dedicated to allowing opportunity to fish for our unique king salmon while minimizing impact, and returning the vast majority of our big kings to the spawning beds. The main tool of FFTF is a photo contest that challenges anglers to post pictures of them releasing wild kings, and offering some incredible prizes to those that participate! As most of you know, Fishology has adopted a C&R policy on all wild Kenai and Kasilof kings, so this program fits very well with our business philosophy!
Go to www.fishforthefuture.net to learn more about this great program, and make sure you Like the Fish for the Future Facebook page, share the posts, and suggest the page to all your friends.
Speaking of Facebook, Fishology is posting real time reports from the river on almost a daily basis, so be sure you’ve Liked the Fishology page, and set it as one of your favorites. If you’re not paying attention to the Fishology Facebook page, then you’re going to be missing out!
Fishology is still booking trips for this season, so if you’re pondering a little fishing adventure over the next few months and need a Kenai River Fishing Guide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
See you on the river!!!
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