Holy cow. It was a wild and wacky week. The lower Kenai River red salmon run went from white hot to ice cold. And it happened quickly. The week started with mayhem and chaos. In a couple of hours Dave, Lindsey, Ken, and Sue were back at dock with their limits. Always fun to see you guys… The next …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/26/26
The run of red salmon took awhile to develop this year. I won’t say panic set in, but the community collectively held it’s breath waiting for it to begin in huge numbers. We’re all breathing a lot easier now. I started the week fishing Team X. Dad Adam and youngest son Ashton with the first double of the …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/19/26
I had a really great week with great people in not so great conditions. Low fish counts and daily rain didn’t seem to affect anyone’s attitude. Every trip we caught enough fish for the grill. But, we couldn’t find enough fish to fill the freezer. About 5 minutes into the first trip of the week Sue caught this nice …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/12/26
It’s happening. The second run of Kenai red salmon has begun. The run is barely underway but the fish returning have been larger than normal. Many have exceeded 10lbs. I’m sure the entire run won’t continue this way, but right now I’m going to enjoy the above average sizes. Here are a couple of above average …
2025 Fishery Summary
It’s that time of year. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) has released a summary of the 2025 commercial fishing season in Upper Cook Inlet. The total harvest was 41% greater than the recent 20 year average. While king, pink, chum, and silver salmon numbers were down, red salmon numbers were up …
2024 Red Salmon Recap
The best run of salmon in the Kenai River in 2024 was the red salmon run. Specifically, the late run of red salmon from mid July to early August. It was an incredible time to be fishing. Let’s review the data. The early red salmon run (Russian River) had an escapement goal of 22,000-42,000 fish. The final weir count …
Fishing Report Week Ending 9/1/24
This was the first full week of a reduced silver salmon limit. I was hoping that the run was late, but clearly ADFG made the right call. The fishing this past week was steady. Steady slow. Day 1, Blinn Week 3. Larry, Steve, Jo Ray, and Josh. The extra fish is a bonus red salmon. Day 2, Blinn Week 3. Robert started out with …
Fishing Report Week Ending 8/11/24
Usually, the transition from red salmon fishing to pink and silver salmon fishing is seamless. Not this year. It’s been a struggle to find good numbers of salmon all week. Rising and dirty water doesn’t help either. I’ll start out the blog post with the first silver caught this year from the boat. I think Dennis …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/28/24
There were a lot of fish in the river this past week, except for Monday. I have no idea why so few came in that day, but that’s just the way it goes. On Sunday, it wasn’t fast fishing, but boy was it steady. Here are Greg, Rick, Hunter, Tanner, and Quinton with their haul. I have no fish photos for Monday. Instead, I’ll …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/21/24
It was a fun week of fishing. Great people and a strengthening run…what’s not to like about that? The week began with a trip with my son Mac, and his friends Hellen and Vern. What cracked me up about this trip is a fellow boater yelled at us and said, “hey, if you guys don’t settle down, Fish and Game is going to cite you …