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 day I was on the banks with Todd, Renee, Alec, and Mollie. I was scratching my head wondering where did the fish go? That’s Mollie above with her first red salmon.

The four of them fished hard in the morning and took a much needed lunch break at the cabins. This is Alec and Mollie with the results.

After lunch, we went back out and caught these. 

Would the action improve on their second day on the river?

It did not.

We fished on the banks and decided to spend time in the boat too. Despite another solid effort we ended up with a couple of red salmon, pink salmon and a trout.

On day three we ditched the waders altogether and stayed in the boat. It was a steady day of bites from nearly every species swimming in the Kenai River. A salmon Grand Slam was caught (red, silver, pink, and king). That’s Renee and Mollie in the photos above. The four of them ended up keeping 8 more salmon.  

Catching fish and seeing moose and caribou on the river can be exciting. I’d like to think it was the highlight of Alec and Mollie’s trip to Alaska.

But, it wasn’t.

Before they came to Kenai they got engaged. Congrats you two! Alaska is always special, but now it’s extra special.

Besides fishing with Todd, Renee, Alec, and Mollie, I was able to spend three wonderful days with long time guests/friends Kathy, Karen, and Susie. We gave it a go for reds in our waders and ended up with a couple of them. We spent the next two days fishing from the boat catching and releasing pinks and keeping a couple of silvers. 

Here’s Karen with a nice silver salmon.

Susie, Kathy, Orvis, and Karen with the final silver salmon of their trip. Our conversations were great, the catching not so much….

I almost forgot about this trip. On one of the days I fished Kathy, Susie, and Karen, I snuck in Nere and Tatiana. It was a steady morning of bites and the two of them kept their limit of pink salmon.

For the week ahead I anticipate a building pink and silver salmon run. I haven’t completely given up on red salmon, but there has to be a large school moving through before I put the waders back on.

Come back to the blog next week to see how a grand river that owes us nothing treated us.

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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 year. 

The fishing wasn’t as fast as I was hoping for, but it was a nice beginning to the week. From left to right are Aiden, Adam, and Ashton.

By the way, the young man on the left holds the distinction of being the youngest fisherman to be in my boat. When Aiden was 6 months old, mom and dad bundled him up and brought him out on a king trip. It’s hard to believe it was 22.5 years ago.

The following day I had the pleasure of fishing with Mike, Dick, Gary and Kurt. Here’s Dick with the first red salmon of the morning. 

And then it was Kurt with his first salmon in Alaska.

We gave it a long day and unfortunately this is all we had to show for it. 

The consensus in the community was Tuesday would be the first big surge of fish. It didn’t happen. I netted one red salmon for Scott, Mason, Connor, Megan, and Lindsey. They said it was a good  prep day for all the fish they’d catch at the end of the week. Gotta like that attitude.

Later Tuesday afternoon, I had Mark, Amy, Heidi, Max, and Katherine fishing in the rain. This was the entire catch. Like my morning crew, they thought this was good prep for when they’d fish with me in a couple days.

The Wednesday prediction of a huge push of fish didn’t come together either. Mike, Dick, Kurt, and Gary gave it an all day effort in the rain. We missed a half dozen fish and put 2 on the stringer.

Guess what? It finally happened BIG TIME on Thursday. The first large sonar day of the year arrived. It didn’t take long for Scott, Mason, Conner, Lindsey, and Megan to catch 30 fish. The happy fisherman were greeted at the dock by Kayleigh, who proudly joined them for a photo. 

And, later on Thursday, Mark, Amy, Wendy, Max, and Catherine put 30 fish on the bank as well. 

Friday was a repeat of Thursday. Lots of fish in the river.  In the early, early morning Scott, Mason, Conner, Lindsey, and Megan had no trouble finding their limits.

Friday, late morning Mark, Amy, Max, and Catherine methodically caught their limits as well.  

I can’t say enough about these two families. Everybody pitched in helping me net fish, clean fish, and package fish. I look forward to seeing all of you next time!

The week ended with the annual Matt’s Birthday Trip.  Joining Matt is his wife Kelly, and friends Nolan and Annalise. Always fun to see you guys.

Come back next week to see how this grand river that owes nothing treated us.

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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 red salmon. 

Shortly afterwards Randy got this one. I thought we were on to something, but that was it for the day.  

Here is the whole crew. Sue, Steve, Amy, and Randy are doing their best to catch a salmon.

The next day, I fished 82 year old Bruce and his sons Pete and Mike.  I can’t say enough about the their attitudes. They worked hard for two straight days to land 6 salmon. They were smiling when it started, they were smiling when it rained, and they were smiling when it all ended. They shook my hand before they left and said “we’re coming back next year.”

Pure joy!

The three of them never slowed down. The longest breaks they took happened when we were traveling in the boat searching for a new spot to try. 

Here’s Bruce holding the largest salmon he’s ever caught. It was an honor to be a part of that.

Hundreds and hundreds of flips finally got Mike on board.

Pete was the last to land a red salmon. It was a lot of work, but he didn’t mind.

I finished the week fishing with a high school classmate of mine. Here is Mike with the “one that didn’t getaway.”

We fished and fished and finally perseverance paid off for Sean.

A great family photo. From left to right is Mike, Mollie, Laney, and Sean. I sure enjoyed our conversations and talking about the “old days”.  I’m sure the younguns probably tuned us out more than once.

For the week ahead I’m expecting a lot more action. All ocean indices are showing there are a lot of red salmon staging, but have been reluctant to move north.

Come back next week to see how this grand river that owes us nothing treated us.

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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 people with above average fish. Joining me on this wonderful morning are my son’s in-laws. In the back is Jennifer, and that’s Joe kneeling to my left.

Daughter in-law Addie with my son Mac. That is Addie’s first ever Kenai River red salmon!

With numerous family and friends on the peninsula this weekend, we hosted an impromptu fish fry and gathering.  

It was cool enough to enjoy an evening campfire. Good times!

Well…enough said. See you next week with a fishing update from a grand river that owes us nothing.

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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 significantly. 

ADFG does not summarize the sport fishing season, but they do release sonar and weir counts for freshwater rivers and creeks. 

Here’s a review the Kenai River sonar numbers.

King Salmon

The early run king salmon forecast was 1,531 fish. The actual return was 2,541. This fell short of the  goal of 3,900 to 6,000 fish. If there’s good news about the early run of king salmon it’s that the trend is up. These are the best numbers since 2021.

It was better news for the late king run. The preseason forecast was 8,742 fish. The final number was 15,015 fish, which exceeded the recovery and optimum escapement goal. It’s the first time the goal has been reached since 2018.   

I unfortunately can not report on king fishermen success because the entire season was closed.

Red Salmon

The early red salmon run (Russian River), surprisingly,  has no forecast. It does however, have an escapement goal. The optimum run number is between 22,000 and 42,000 fish. The final count was 37,153 fish. Overall, the fishing was “just okay”.

The late red salmon run was spectacular. The forecast for the entire Upper Cook Inlet was 6.9 million fish. That number was exceeded half way through the season. When it was all said and done the final tally was 12.1 million fish.

Of the 12.1 million reds in Upper Cook Inlet, the Kenai River had 4.25 million fish cross the sonar. It was a record run that exceeded the top end of the goal by 2.5 million fish.

I can’t think of enough superlatives to describe how great the red salmon fishing was this year. As a rough estimate, in a 3-4 week period I cleaned around 850 fish. Considering we practiced quite a bit of catch and release fishing as well, I easily netted over 1,000 fish. Numbers my back surgeon would not be happy to hear of….

Silver Salmon

ADFG does not have a goal, nor do they count silver salmon in the Kenai River. 

The consensus from friends and other river guides is that 2025 was an average run of silvers. Considering how weak the run was the previous year, I was happy for an average run.

Outlook For 2026

I think 2026 is going to be a great year, but I’m clearly biased. In a couple of months, the fish scientists at ADFG will be releasing their salmon run forecast. As soon as they do, I’ll be reporting about it here.

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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 was 34,677. This was an average run, but it felt worse than that. I know the days that I went fishing my timing was off and I struggled to catch many fish.

The late red salmon run had an escapement goal of 750,000-1,300,000. The final sonar count was 1,926,350.  That was way above the top end of the goal and the success rates definitely reflected the high sonar counts. 

The one takeaway I have about 2024 late red salmon run is the timing of it. The run was front heavy with huge numbers showing the third week of July. But, by early August the run slowed down quite a bit. That’s not what happened the previous 4 years. 

During that period the late run of red salmon continued until mid August.

So that meant this year we were back in the boat fishing for pink and silver salmon sooner than expected. 

What about next year?

The forecast for the 2025 Upper Cook Inlet red salmon run won’t be released until February.

I really anticipate a similar forecast to 2024. In other words, a bunch of reds will hit the river once again. How long the run will go is any one’s guess.

Come back next week I’ll recap the pink salmon run.

See you then.

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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 the first silver of the morning.

The second silver of Day 2 was caught by Larry. Unfortunately, that was it for the day.  Sorry, Taylor and Josh…

Day 3, Blinn Week 3.  Jo Ray, Robert, and Taylor.

Later that morning Steve caught this beauty. The lucky yellow rain pants came through once more.

I took Chuck and Kate out in the afternoon and it took Kate about 2 minutes to hook and reel in this beautiful silver salmon.

Day 4, Blinn Week 3.  Kate continued her hot hand and started the morning off with a nice red salmon. Steve followed Kate with a bright chrome silver (sorry Steve, no photo of you and your yellow rain pants).

We ended the day with this. From left to right are Richard, Chuck, and Kate.

Day 5, Blinn Week 3. This was the final day of three weeks of guiding the Blinn groups. Unfortunately, it was the slowest day of the entire month. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable spending time with Clint, Rick, Jesse, and Jeff. I’ll see you guys in a couple of years!

My final thoughts. Jane and I have had a busy three weeks with the Blinn crew and we’re always sad when it ends. The fishing, the conversations, the shared meals are all cherished. I often tell people when the Blinn crew takes over our place it’s like a family reunion that you want to go to. Not the family reunion you have to go to. We really missed seeing Gary this year, but we’re glad he will be coming our way next season. The makeup trip can’t come soon enough.

See you next week.

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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 and I were both surprised when it hit five minutes after the anchor was set. 

This was the last trip of the year wearing waders. From left to right are Frank, Dennis, Cindy and Steve with a mix of red, pink, and silver salmon. Not a bad way to end the bank fishing part of the season.

Frank proudly holding a nice early season silver salmon.

Cindy and Steve with a couple of hard earned silvers along with a couple of pink salmon.

How’s this for determination? Francis broke his leg at the end of June and wasn’t going to let it get in the way of fishing in Alaska. Francis and his extended family have been staying in the cabins the past two weeks and have been fishing every day. 

Even though he mostly sat in the boat trying to catch pink and silver salmon, Francis couldn’t help himself and decided to get on shore to try his hand at red salmon fishing. Even from a chair he still had the touch. Amazing.

I finished the week fishing Shane, and his sons Colton and Beckett. It was a wet August morning, but that didn’t interfere with them having fun. It was their first time fishing the Kenai River and I bet it won’t be their last.

The week ahead will be Blinn Week 1. Gary, unfortunately, will not be here. He had unexpected surgery on his hamstring and has a long rehab ahead of him. After 26 years of apprenticeship, Jo Ray will lead the group through three weeks of fishing on the Kenai Peninsula. I think he’ll do an excellent job.

Here’s one last photo I’ll share before I sign off. These guys have been hanging out around the cabins lately. I never get tired of caribou.

See you next week!

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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 share with you what I see most mornings, a beautiful Alaska sunrise. I did spend the day with Mark, Ryan, Trevor, and Jay (the ringer) chasing phantom reds up and down the river. Ryan was the only guy to bring one to the bank. It was about as bad as I’ve seen it during the third week of July.

All I can say about Tuesday is what a difference one tide cycle can make. The morning started slow, but around lunch time Mark, Trevor, and Ryan found their groove. It sure helps having a lot of fish moving through the system.

Wednesday was epic for Mark, Ryan, and Trevor. I told my friend Francis about the poor fishing on Monday and he asked if these guys were fishing additional days. I told him 3 days in total. Francis said “they’ll have one epic day in there.”  He sure called it. 

Thursday morning the hot bite continued. Dick, Jake, Jai, and Jenny had no problem catching their limits.

Could the day get more epic-er on Thursday? The last several years I’ve been taking Matt out on the river for his birthday. Along with Kelly, Rick, and Lori, the four of them keep me running non stop. Literally, non stop. I look forward to our trip next year.

What a way to start off a Friday morning. A friend from Anchorage greeted me at 4:30am with a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. He just wanted to stop by and wish me good day on the water.  

It was a very good day. Above is the morning crew, Dick, Jake, Jenny, and Jai. 

The Friday afternoon crew had no problems figuring out the Kenai flip. Thanks, Mike, Lori, Jeff, and Tracy for helping me get my steps in for the day.

Saturday morning the fishing stayed strong. Glad to be back fishing with Tom, Derek, and their new to Alaska friends Rick and Ben.

Saturday afternoon I spent time with people who’ve I’ve known since before I started guiding in Alaska. From left to right are Todd, Renee, and Ray. It was a great finish to the week. 

For the week ahead I expect the same amount of action. It won’t all be red salmon though. We’re starting to see a few pink salmon in the river.  

See you next Sunday for a new report.

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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 guys for having too much fun”.  So true, so true…

I spent another afternoon with Ken, Michelle, and Brantley. Here’s Michelle with a beauty.

And, here are the stars from last week’s blog, Brantley and Grampy Ken, putting on a show once again.

A nice family photo. I’ll see you guys in August!

I can’t say it enough, but the quality of the reds this year has been outstanding. Bigger fish with an increased limit, I pity the airline baggage handlers dealing with the fish boxes.

Another great family outing. Team Minnesota, consisting of Beckett, Eric, Kara, and Cooper, got their limits in no time. Hey guys, thanks for making us one of your stops on your Alaska vacation.

Saturday morning it was great bite for Rick, Tanner, Greg, and Hunter.

Saturday afternoon, the action slowed down a bit, but we still had an awesome time. Here are Brandon, Cindi, Quinton, Lexie, and Kathy. It was a memorable trip for all. 

For the week ahead, my prediction is rinse, lather, repeat…rinse lather repeat. Lots of reds and lots of trips.

See you later. Tight lines everybody!

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