30 Sep August Fishing Report
Continued sunshine and incredible salmon fishing made the foundation for an amazing August. Kenai rainbow trout provided icing on the cake with exciting beginning and end of the month action. As you will read, August provides opportunities for exceptional red salmon, silver salmon, and trout fishing.
Rainbow Trout
The robust red salmon run created an excellent food supply keeping Kenai bows on the chubby side of life during the first week of August. The food supply was so plentiful that bite gluts (periods when too much food is in the water) would turn off and on, being patient made for opportunities at some truly fall fat fish.
Late July – early August is one of the best times for trophy rainbow trout on the Kenai River. The largest fish of the season was landed during this time ( 29″ x 18″). The reason? This time frame is the biggest source of food Kenai bows have seen in a hot minute and their appetite is insatiable.
Most folks are completely salmon focused during this time of year, and for good reason. Once you have your fill of salmon, tying in a day or two of focusing only on trout is the power move to top off your Alaska fishing trip!
Red Salmon
The run that would not quit. Final total for the 2019 Kenai River red run was 1.8 million! As mentioned in the July blog, the run started slow, but showed no signs of stopping into mid-August. 1st run silvers started slow, but with the red run still cranking most anglers wanted to load up on the seemingly never ending supply of chrome reds. Our preferred method to catch reds is trolling for them, but for some reason they were not into hitting plugs, to the bank we went. The solid push of fish provided fairly quick positive reinforcement for the unusual style of hooking reds from the bank. The guides of Alaska Drift Away Fishing kept in good shape running up and down the shore chasing folks with fish on.
Six big reds per person in July
Silver Salmon
The 1st run of Kenai silver salmon showed up to the party fashionably late. However, once they arrived fun was had by all, it was not the largest run, but a strong population of fish allowed us to move around the river and pick up a few in each spot. Which is the style of fishing we love to do for silvers. Casting spinners and plugs was the most productive tactics. The run fished strong through the end of August producing limits most days and some days the limits came fast.
