22 Jun Alaska Fishing Report: June 22, 2015
We have been very busy over the last few weeks and have a lot of great fishing action to report on. First and foremost I wish to extend my congratulations to our longtime friend and former guide Brent Rinker and his beautiful new wife Janelle. They were married on June 13 in sunny California and we wish them a lifetime of love, happiness and of course great fishing. Cindy and I were able to fly down and attend the wedding, a rare mid-season trip for us.
Before our departure the Kasilof River continued to produce some very good action for early run king salmon. The ratio of hatchery vs. natural kings evened up and we were able to land 3-5 kings on many trips and were also able to retain a good number of hatchery fish. This run held steady into the second and third week of June but eventually we saw fewer new fish arriving and those already in the river were beginning to color up. At the same time, strong numbers of newly arriving and very bright sockeye salmon were showing up on each new tide and this prompted an abrupt halt to the king pursuit and a steady focus on the sockeye. As of this report, the sockeye fishing has been very good and for the last week to ten days we have seen mostly limit fishing for these beautiful fish. With a limit of three fish per person, anglers have been able to enjoy some great action for these hard fighting wild salmon and also take home some of the best eating fish on the planet. This run should continue to arrive well into July and we look forward to many more great days of sockeye fishing before we eventually transition over to the mighty Kenai in pursuit of late run kings and sockeye.
The Kenai River has been closed to all king fishing but the counts for king salmon have been much improved over the past two seasons. It does appear this run will meet the minimum escapement goals and this is a big step toward rebuilding this once great fishery. Lets hope this trend carries over to the late run as well. Time will tell. Meanwhile we have seen some decent fishing on the Kenai for early run sockeye headed for the Russian River and also some excellent fishing for rainbow trout. The trout fishing has been confined to the water just below Skilak Lake and down to just above the Kiley River. Warm weather has released a great deal of silt from the Kiley down due to extreme glacial runoff. Cloud cover and cooler temps in recent days should bring the remainder of the river back into shape and we should see more trout water become fishable over the next week. We look forward to seeking out some true mid river monsters very soon.
Fly Out fishing has begun over at Big River Lake and low water has kept the Wolverine Creek sockeye away from the mouth of the creek. The majority of the action has been occurring up the south fork of Big River but recent warm weather has raised the lake level considerably in the last few days so this will surely push some fish over to Redoubt Bay and Wolverine Creek. Stay tuned for more information as this fishery continues to develop.
Halibut fishing in Cook Inlet has been very steady this year with some great catches. As always captain Hunter has been doing a great job for out customers and we look forward to many more great days on the salt.
Please enjoy the myriad of great pictures below and look forward to our next report in early July!
