Fishing Report for the Central Kenai Peninsula for Salmon, Halibut and Trout

This has been an exciting week of fishing on the waters of the Kenai Peninsula.  The king salmon runs continue to build, the waters continue to rise, and the fishing continues to heat up.  Consequently, the fishing effort continues to increase as well.

I want to take a moment in particular to thank those who participated in the Take a Veteran Fishing event on June 1.  This was a HUGE success with over 100 wounded vets participating in, for some, a trip of a lifetime.  This is a very small way of saying a huge THANK YOU for your service and sacrifice.

Kenai River

The early run Kenai River Chinook continues to build on schedule or even maybe a bit ahead of schedule.  As of the end of the day on Saturday, May 31, Alaska Department of Fish and Game recorded a total of 2,590 fish past the sonar.  This is on par with an expected return of around 16,000 fish. With these numbers, the managers have elected to open the Kenai River to bait beginning June 1.

While the effor has increased on the Kenai over the last week, so has the harvest.  Reports are mixed from fair to moderate success.  On the Sunday Take A Vet Fishing event, there was reported approximatly 20% success rate.  That is very good for this time of year. 

There have been several reports of slot fish being caught on the Kenai as well.  The present regulations impose a slot limit on king salmon on the Kenai River for the months of May and June.  This mandates that all chinooks between 46" and 55" must be immediately released.  This slot limit is designed to protect the early run, 5-ocean (spends 5 years in the ocean before returning to spawn) king salmon.  The average early run fish is a 3 or 4-ocean fish and likely a "tributary spawner"; that is they are enroute to one of the many creeks that flow into the Kenai.  The 5-Ocean fish is likely a main-stem spawner, or a fish that spawns in the main part of the Kenai, therefore typically a larger fish. 

These 5-O fish are particularly vulnerable because they are exposed to the tackle/techniques of anglers throughout the months of May, June and then July when the slot limit is lifted (thus making them vulnerable to harvest).  Likewise, it is estimated that catch and release fishing results in at least 7% mortality on these fish.  So the take home message is to land them quick, keep them in the water (regulation), and release them efficiently and gently with the least amount of handling possible.

Kasilof River

The Kasilof River king salmon fishing also continues to build.  While recent reports are mixed, some days are good and others not as good, overall the reports are as expected for this time of year.  The average size of early run king salmon on the Kasilof is around 18 pounds with some reports of fishing in the 30 pound class being taken.  If things go according to historical schedule, we should see the peak of the Kasilof king salmon fishing toward the end of this week.

Cook Inlet

Halibut fishing and saltwater trolling for king salmon has been most excellent this week.  Many boats are reporting limit catches on both halibut and salmon.  The king salmon fishing is best in about 30 feet of water with the bait trolled at about 15-20'.  Plug cut hering behind a flasher seems to be one of the most productive methods recently.  When the tide slacks, many boats will head out to deeper water for halibut.  It seems that halibut are biting everywhere, from 1 mile off shore to 30 miles off shore.  Look for structure, put on enough weight to keep the bait on the bottom and hold on.  The halibut are ranging from between 15 pounds to some reports of 100# plus this last week out of Deep Creek/Ninilchik/Anchor Point.

Area Lakes

Fishing has been very productive on some of the area lakes this week.  It seem that anything that moves is fair game for the trout and char in populated lakes.  The trout are feeding on the surface, consuming black gnats and mosquitos.  They are also feeding beneath the surface on freshwater shrimp, nymphs and leeches.  So, choose your technique and your tackle and you are sure to connect.  This week we found success using dry flies such as the elk hair caddis and black gnat, sub-surface  emergers and bead-head nymphs. For the conventional angler, small spinners/spoons and of course most any kind of bait, from single eggs to cocktail shrimp.