First of all, I’d like to thank all of you that chose to hire me as a guide and stay at our cabins. If it weren’t for you, I’d have nothing to blog/brag about.
I’ve been asked by a lot of people how the season went. My response has been that Jane and I had a great year. We had consistent fishing for much of the season and that makes for happy guests. The weather on the other hand, well, it was flat out wet. Even the ducks were getting tired of it.
Here’s the breakdown.
KING SALMON (May thru mid July)
The king salmon season started out with a bang. My first trip in May was as good as it gets. Multiple fish caught, and multiple fish lost. I was hoping it would continue, but neither the early or late run materialized. Both runs were eventually closed to fishing.
This is very concerning. If only the Kenai River had trouble with the return of king salmon, shutting it down completely to let the run rebuild would solve the problem. However, all watersheds in Alaska have had poor king salmon returns, and that points to a much bigger problem with marine survival. Trawler bycatch, Orca predation, hatchery fish outcompeting wild stocks, rising ocean temperatures, who knows. I sure hope Alaska Department of Fish and Game gets a handle on this sooner rather than later.
RED SALMON (mid to late June, mid July thru early August)
In June, the red salmon fishing in the lower Kenai River was spotty. However, by the time the salmon made it to the Russian River, schools of fish merged and the fishing was pretty good. In fact, it was so good that the escapement goal was met by June 23rd, and the limit doubled to six fish per person.
The late Kenai River red salmon run was very strong. When the reds showed up, they showed up. On July 21st, the daily limit doubled to six. Overall, the run didn’t last as long as the 2021 run, but it ended up being one of the best red fishing years that I’ve been involved with.
Silver/Pink Salmon (August thru September)
The silver salmon run was solid this year. However, the pink salmon run was not. It’s the first year that I can honestly say not a single pink salmon was caught off our dock. On a normal year, the ratio of pinks caught to silvers in my boat is around 20:1. This year I’d put the ratio at 5:1. In spite of that, lots of fish were caught this fall.
OCEAN FISHING (all summer)
I always say if I were to guarantee catching fish in Alaska, I would guarantee the ocean fishing. Homer, Seward, or Deep Creek are all great destinations. A few nice halibut were caught this year, but overall the size was small. Fishing for rockfish, cod, and salmon was very good too.
Conclusion
To paraphrase Parker…it was another summer that didn’t suck in Alaska!
That’s All, Folks….