Alaska Fishing Reports: Kenai/Kasiloff/Russian Rivers and Area Lakes

[silversalmon]

Fishing Report for July 06-13, 2006
 

 
 

Emergency Orders and regulation reminders

The Russian River Sanctuary Area opened by Emergency Order on June 21.
Also by Emergency Order, the daily bag and possession limits in the Russian River were raised to four salmon per day with four in possession. This Emergency Order expires at 11:59 p.m. Friday, July 14.
Anglers are reminded that, by Emergency Order, they may not fillet a Kenai River king salmon before removing it from the fishing site through July 14. The Emergency Order still allows gilling and/or gutting the king salmon.
The Kenai River king salmon slot limit remains in effect through July 14 above the Soldotna Bridge. The Kenai River from its mouth upstream to Skilak is now single hook, and bait is allowed, except in selected “fly-fishing-only” areas.
Salmon – Kenai & Kasilof rivers

Anglers fishing for Russian River red salmon continue to report good to excellent success, with many anglers catching their limits within a few hours, depending upon their skill.
If you fillet your fish in the Russian River area, we are requesting that you take a few extra seconds to chop up the carcasses into small pieces and toss the small pieces into fast moving currents. This reduces the piles of carcasses which attract bears. Just remember to “Stop, Chop, and Throw” your carcass pieces into fast moving currents.
AM radio stations were installed at both the Russian River Ferry and at the Russian River campground. Anglers can now turn their radio dials to AM 1600 for information about the fishery.
Kasilof River king salmon anglers fishing from boats reported that success rates have leveled out and anglers are looking forward to the arrival of the late king salmon run.
The preliminary estimated number of Kenai River early-run king salmon past the sonar for 2006 was 23,880 fish.
For management purposes, July 1 is the start date of the Kenai River late-run king salmon, and through midnight, July 4, an estimated total of 2,036 late-run king salmon have passed the sonar station.
Angler reports and the ADF&G creel survey indicate that many Kenai River king salmon are caught daily. Recent fishing has ranged from slow to fair during the last week. Anglers experienced good fishing conditions on July 5 with many boats reaching their limits. Angler success should improve as the late run begins to develop.
Kenai River water levels are near average for this time of year. Water clarity in the Kenai River was considered good to excellent on July 4.
Resident Fish — Kenai River

Anglers fishing for rainbow trout in the Kenai River above and below Skilak Lake have reported good success. Many anglers targeting king salmon in the lower portions of the Kenai River are incidentally catching rainbow trout.
Fishing for Dolly Varden is also now open in the Kenai River watershed.
Many streams have special tackle restrictions, so please check the regulation booklet before fishing.
Lake Fishing

See below for links to stocking information, as well as maps to the area lakes.
Johnson Lake in the Kasilof area is a great place to take a break from all the salmon action and try for stocked rainbow trout.
Northern Pike

Try Stormy Lake, Arc Lake, or Union Lake.
Many other area lakes have northern pike, but public access is limited. Private property owners may allow access, but get permission first.
Pike can be taken using spears, bow and arrow (with arrow attached by a line), bait, spinning, and fly-fishing gear. Try fish-shaped and fish-colored lures and flies.
There is no closed season for pike, and the bag limit is unlimited. Wanton waste laws apply, so be sure to use, or donate to charity, all the pike you harvest.
Personal Use

The Kasilof River personal use dip net fishery opened June 25. Complete regulations are on pages 16 through 18 of the Southcentral Alaska regulation booklet. A free permit is required, in addition to an Alaska resident fishing license. Permits are available from many grocery stores, tackle shops, ADF&G offices, and even some gasoline stations.
Kasilof dipnetters reported slow to fair catch rates. Dipnetting success should continue to improve as the salmon run continues to develop.
Remember that regulations require that the tips of the tail fins must be clipped off immediately after a salmon is retained, and that the fish is immediately recorded on the your personal use permit there on the beach.
You must hold an Alaskan resident sport fishing license (or ADF&G senior license or ADF&G Disabled Veteran’s license) in order to participate in dipnetting.
A very informative personal use website has been set up, with information from both the Division of Sport Fish and the Division of Commercial Fisheries. Go to the Sport Fish home page and click on “Cook Inlet Personal Use.”

Thanks to ADF&G for that report
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Region2/weekly/update.cfm?area_key=5

[silversalmon]

BEAR ADVISORY:
7/07/06 10:00 AM Update - Thursday night game biologists were called in to haze the cubs that were getting too bold around the parking area at the Ferry. Shotguns with rubber bullets were used. ONE HOUR after the biologists left the bears were back again, undeterred. The Refuge Manager has issued an Emergency Closure Order affecting the wooded property adjacent to the Ferry and highway and no public entry is allowed now until after July 28th. If anglers want to fish that stretch they should walk downstream along the river from the Ferry parking lot. The sow's two year old cubs (1 runt 2 normal size) continue to rummage through the tent site area (closed to camping now) and travel through the Ferry parking area looking for pack sacks, coolers, and people garbage carelessly left out where they can get to it. Keep all fish, coolers, packs, and food out of reach of the bears!

I am going to be there on the 28th, this is where I need to emply my attacking the stoopid tourists who decide to leave there trash all about the banks and send them to the 

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  7/9
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Russian River
SPECIES:  Reds

REPORT: The bear viewing was better than the fishing. Some people caught their limit, but others like myself went home with one redish sockeye.

Yogi was making his rounds. What in the world is wrong with the tourists? One guy asked my fishing buddy and I if the bear would bite. Can you believe that? Once again, backpacks, picnic baskets, and fish carcasses still littered the banks.

FYI-Don't get caught fishing in the handicap area even if no one is fishing.

That is the same    that leaves his  around the banks and needs to be fed to the bear, does it bite, well, hmmmm.....not sure, lets go and see shall we   

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  9/1
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Lower Kenai River
SPECIES:  2nd run silvers

REPORT: My wife and I fished for four straight days, not hard, (getting up early fishing except sunday due to rain wearing me down and fishing being slooooow.) The majority of our sucess came for one glorious two hour period monday afternoon at the beginning of the horse pastures when we hit four 12 lb beauties with sealice on them. It was about 2 1/2 hours before high tide,a low 17 fter. Used eggs,sardine strips and a clown corky. They preceded the tide next day two but the rain encouraged me to sleep in, it was brutal. We did get one in the afternoon again.I consider the 9th or tenth of September the beginning of the peak of the 2nd run of Kenai silvers with the notable exception of last year which came in at the end of September. I am going down again this weekend to fish thru next Wednesday the 13th in the hopes of hitting them dead on. Putting my belief to the test, I've got 4 friends coming that I went to HS with 35 years ago and haven't seen since, keeping my fingers crossed........

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  9/8
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Kenai River
SPECIES:  Rainbows, Dollies

REPORT: Fished the Kenai this weekend and the rainbows and dollies were abundant. Caught tons of fish. But everyone knows the Kenai is fishing good. I was wondering if anyone knows how the steelhead have been down on Deep Creek and the Anchor? Have they started to show? Anyone catching any steelies? Reports would be much appreciated.

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  9/14
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Mighty Kenai
SPECIES:  Silvers

REPORT: Well I finally started hooking silvers after a very slow start for me. Just me and the dog and boated a limit fri sat & sun afternoons. 4 of the 6 came on drifting in the boat drifting bobber & eggs and drifting while being anchored. Other 2 from soaking eggs. Most 9-11 lbs. with my biggest coming on Sunday and 13 lbs on the boga grip. Gosh I love fall fishing. The leaves falling in the fall wind. It's so peaceful and quiet out there.

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  9/15
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Kenai River
SPECIES:  Coho

REPORT: Fished from 10:30 a.m until 12:30 p.m. down past Little Beaver, what a blast!! Coho fever - 4 limits in about 2 hours of pretty much non-stop action back bouncing. The size was impressive - 2 of them were a solid 15 lbs. Second run are here - finally. Back for more tomorrow - stay tuned!

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  9/16
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Lower Kenai River
SPECIES:  Silvers

REPORT: The fish are pouring in the river. My wife and I have proxys which we rarely use we never keep kings of our own or for the proxys, but we had no fish of our own yet this year so we caught 8 Saturday and 8 Sunday across from Eagle Rock on the corner. My wife caught three 14 lbers back to back Saturday and was whipped. The action was non stop. A work friend brought three kids for Monday and we netted fish every 20 minutes (including the ten it took the kids to bring 'em in) until limiting out. Six were in the 14 lb range. It was wild, non stop action all three days. Go fish the Kenai for silvers now if you want the best of what that river has to offer.

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

Well everyone,
   The salmon season has come to an end for another year.  It was a great season though, as the Coho’s were in early and thick. They were also much larger this year than last.  The Chinook run was smaller this year than in the past, but there was a decent amount of them.  What can we say about the sockeye?  Wow, were they messed up this year or what, someone forgot to give them there alarm clock this year and they did not show up on the Kenai for the second run until the Coho were in.  The Klutina on the other hand had a great run of them from the 2nd week in June until the last week in July.  The pinks, well, it was an odd year so we all knew they were going to be thick on the streams.  The chum had a great year with record numbers reported on some rivers,  and the rest they were very thick on.  On that note, good luck to all the “snow king” anglers as you are our only hope until the next salmon run continues.  Until then, keep an eye out for the trout/pike fishing reports.  May your lines stay tight this ice fishing season……………..

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  10/10
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Anchor R., Deep Cr,. Kenai R.
SPECIES:  Steelhead, Rainbow, Dolly Varden

REPORT: Headed out Monday for the Kenai Penninsula into gale force winds (nearly blew the motorhome off the road) to see if the Steelheading on the Anchor was hot. We found the water conditions even worse than our trip last year with the water a foot higher and visibility down to maybe 4 inches. But miracles do happen; I caught a 27 incher on a black egg sucking matuka less than two feet from shore. Next we tried Deep creek which was in much better shape, but only managed one nice Dolly there. Then down to the Kenai, which was totally silted up by then - less than 2 inches visiblilty!!! But amazingly managed to pull a 28.5 inch rainbow out of a clearwater tributary in the lower river, which will remain unnamed. Praise God for our great land, and it's fish!!!

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  10/23
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Middle Kenai
SPECIES:  Trout

REPORT: There is still good fishing on the middle Kenai. The water is low and slow, watch your prop. The three of us in the boat caught about 6-10 each with 2 in the early 20 inch range drifting light colored beads. Oh yea, it is a bit chilly.
 
Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  11/20
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  upper Kenai River
SPECIES:  Trout and Dollies

REPORT: Fished Jims landing for several hour only to lose a few rigs and break lots of ice from my guides on my rod. I'd say about every fifth cast those guides where frozen stiff. Didn't even get a single hit. Throw everything from beads to flesh fly's. Weather was cold, but sun shine was great.

Thanks to AOJ for that report
http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/Reports/Fishreport/anglerreport.html
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  2/17
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Spirit/Elephant Lake
SPECIES:  Coho/Rainbow

REPORT: Couple friends and I hit Spirit late in the morning and was the only ones there for a while. Fishing was kinda slow and the coho were of a small size less than 12 inches. Caught and released 5 rainbows that were all 3 to 5 inches long. Must have been last fall's stocking fry. Trails got very wet on the way out and had to dig out my tracks when I got home.

Thanks to AOJ for that report
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  2/17
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Stormy Lake
SPECIES:  Pike

REPORT: Took the family out to Stormy mostly to see what others were doing in the way of pike fishing on Saturday and see if there were any char being taken. There were a fair number of folks fishing on the lake but the action was the perfect definition of DEAD. A State Trooper made the rounds checking licenses and number of lines (only two per angler in this lake) and when he got to me I asked how many fish he knew of from the other anglers. The answer.... zero! I saw a couple very small pike down the hole but no hits. A neighbor went out there later in the day and had the same luck. Hmm, the fishing calendar said Saturday was suppose to be an Excellent Fishing day. So much for the horoscope!

thanks to AOJ for that report
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  4/13
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Resurrection Bay
SPECIES:  HERRING

REPORT: There are lots of Herring in Resurrection Bay now. I used my trusty Holigan net to catch a bucketfull just wading at low tide. They are delicious rolled in flour, cornmeal and seasonings then pan fried. It's a welcome rite of passage to bring in the fishing season!
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  4/15
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Upper Kenai River
SPECIES:  Rainbow Trout

REPORT: First, may I say thank you for the winter reports to everyone. Sure enjoyed reading them all.

Now for the first spring report: Sunday was a nice day, relatively speaking, after a long cold winter. 36°, no wind at 8 AM. Started at the Kenai Lake bridge, few others already there. Getting started was rusty for me, had to re-learn how to cast.

After several mishaps I got my line out into the water a nice distance only to catch a rock. Unable to release my catch from shore, I called for assistance to my fishing buddy. He is good at keeping my fly and releasing the snag.

He asked why I was casting from so far back and I admitted it was early and I didn't want to get cold standing in the water. Told him to take a cast with my "lucky" rod as a thank you for assistance.

And wouldn't you know, he caught the only fish of the day! A nice 18 - 20 inch chubby rainbow. Darn the new camera was in the car! Oh well, no proof, but great start to our warm weather season.

Further down river we tried several spots, no luck. Wind picked up by 2 PM and we left. Lots of eagles and report of grizzly seen on the Kenai River this past week.

thanks to AOJ for that report
 

[silversalmon]

TRIP DATE:  4/26
REGION:  Kenai Peninsula
WATER:  Clam Gulch
SPECIES:  Razors

REPORT: I had similar luck as Klondike Kid last year. I have clammed in Clam Gulch for 30 years, never have I seen the clams so small. My biggest last year was maybe 4.5 inches, with lots of 2 inchers. I saw lots of shows, but they all looked the same, and after digging several about 2 inches would move on. The good thing being that in a couple years there should be a good amount of decent razors again. I wonder if cutting the quota back to 45 again may help? I plan on just waiting a couple years to clam again as it takes just as long or longer to clean the little ones.



[AOJ: Since my post on the cover page I've received more ADFG information/explanation of what is apparently going on at the clam beaches. From ADFG survey data it appears that the mature clams don't spawn every year and in fact seems to be on as much as a SIX year spawning cycle for the past few decades. What has occurred is all of the adult harvest-size clams have reached the end of the trail and died of old age before their oldest age class of offspring has reached a decent harvest size, i.e. about 4 inches or larger. So we have a GAP of a couple years now with the 5-6 year olds still having another two years of growing to reach that decent size. So it will still be slim pickin's next year too. The good news is from my observations I was uncovering a LOT (about 20% of my find) two year old clams in the one inch size. If the oldest age class spawns this season or next year we will start seeing a better spread of age classes again and less likelihood a noticeable size gap will occur down the road.

ADFG also emphasized that none of the clam beaches from Homer to Kasilof have been over-harvested. From clam digger counts each year we appear to have hit a plateau in numbers of diggers and its been very consistent for over a decade and the clam count on the beaches remains in the same range over that time.

There are still good numbers of butters and steamers to dig down in Kachemak Bay if you have transporation. ] 

thanks to AOJ for that report

[silversalmon]

EMERGENCY ORDER ISSUED TO PREVENT FILLETING OF KENAI RIVER KING SALMON
KING SALMON CANNOT BE FILLETED BEFORE FISH ARE BROUGHT TO SHORE AND OFFLOADED FROM A VESSEL OR REMOVED FROM A SHORELINE FISHING SITE.

April 23, 2007
SOLDOTNA, Alaska -- Emergency Order effective 12:01 a.m., Tuesday, May 1. This Emergency Order applies to all Kenai River king salmon harvested, regardless of size.

Anglers may not fillet, mutilate, remove the head, or otherwise disfigure a Kenai River king salmon in such a manner that would prevent determination of the length of fish. Anglers may fillet king salmon after the fish are offloaded from the vessel or removed from the shoreline fishing site. "Shoreline fishing site" means the point on the shoreline where the fish is hooked and removed from the water, at which time it becomes part of the angler's bag limit.

This regulation becomes effective at 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, May 1, and remains in effect through 11:59 p.m., Saturday, July 14, 2006.

Anglers will still be allowed to remove the gills and guts from their Kenai River king salmon before offloading from a vessel or removing the fish from the shoreline fishing site.

By regulation, the Kasilof River also has the no-fillet requirement.

The Board of Fisheries authorized the Department to issue this type of Emergency Order for the purpose of enforcement of bag and size limits. Department of Fish and Game personnel and other resource agency staff will enforce this regulation, and anglers who disregard this requirement will be subject to a citation.

[silversalmon]

REMOVING RAINBOW TROUT FROM THE WATER IS PROHIBITED IN THE KENAI RIVER WATERSHED DURING THE MAY 2 - JUNE 10 RAINBOW TROUT SPAWNING CLOSURE

April 23, 2007
SOLDOTNA, Alaska -- Fishing for rainbow/steelhead trout, including catch-and-release, in the flowing waters of the Kenai River is closed by regulation from May 2 - June 10, to protect spawning fish.

However, in 2005, many anglers were documented catching and releasing rainbows during this closed period while targeting Dolly Varden. Many of these anglers were removing rainbow trout from the water before releasing them. Prohibiting anglers from removing rainbow trout from the water during the spawning closure may reduce mortality of these incidentally-caught trout during a time period when the spawning fish may be more susceptible to handling mortality.

In order to provide further protection for Kenai River rainbow trout, an Emergency Order has been issued that states rainbows that are caught while fishing for other species from May 2 - June 10 cannot be removed from the water before being released.

This Emergency Order applies to the flowing waters from the mouth of the Kenai River upstream to Skilak Lake, and the waters of Skilak Lake within a one-half mile radius of the Kenai River Inlet.

Other streams on the Kenai Peninsula, such as the Kasilof River and the Anchor River, have a similar regulation.

Anglers fishing for Dolly Varden during the rainbow trout spawning closure should fish downstream of spawning rainbow trout where the Dolly Varden tend to hold and feed on drifting eggs.

[silversalmon]

http://alaskaoutdoorjournal.com/References/Tides/tides.html

Tide tables for AK 2007