Let me start out by saying it was an awesome summer for temperatures in Alaska. We had three days in Kenai/Soldotna where temperatures broke 70 degrees. Three whole days! And, would you believe I wore wool socks every day on the river?
Lower 48 triple digit temperatures versus wool socks. Hmmm, I think many of you reading this would gladly take the hardship of wearing wool socks for the summer.
Weather and socks aside, how was the fishing this year? I’ll break it down by species.
King Salmon
There was no season for king salmon fishing on the Kenai River.
In February, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) forecasted the early and late Kenai River king salmon runs would not meet the escapement goals. ADFG preemptively shut the entire season down.
Their decision was correct.
The early king salmon run optimum escapement goal is 3,900 to 6,600 fish. The final count was 1,975.
The late king salmon run optimum escapement goal is 15,000 to 30,000 fish. The final count was 13,922.
Sad to say, but the likelihood of fishing for Kenai king salmon in 2024 will be remote.
Red Salmon
As bad as the king salmon run were, the red salmon runs were that good. Both the early and late red salmon runs exceeded the escapement goals which resulted in lots of action. The runs were so strong that ADFG increased the daily limits. The early run tripled to 9 per day while the late run doubled to 6 per day.
Although the runs were huge, not all of my red salmon clients had great fishing. Like a lot of things in life, timing is everything. Trips in early July and mid August struggled to catch fish.
But, if you fished somewhere in between, limits were the norm. There was a three week period were I netted and filleted a lot of salmon.
Silver Salmon
It was a decent run this year, but compared to seasons past, the run was below average. So were the average weights.
I would love to tell you how many silver salmon came into the Kenai River this year, but silver salmon are not monitored like the other salmon species. The good news is ADFG has taken steps this year to study the silver salmon run. Hopefully, they’re not too late in managing future returns.
Conclusion
All in all, when we were able to fish, the fishing was pretty good. My prediction for 2024 is that the action will be even better. That’s not much of a stretch on my part because in the mix of red and silver runs will be millions (yes, millions) of pink salmon.
Whiteboard Wrap Up