04 Sep August Fishing Report
August greeted us with solid red salmon fishing during the first week, consistent silver salmon action during the second half of the month, and the beginning of what turned into an epic fall trout fishery. Besides steady fishing mother nature blessed us with wonderful weather. The Kenai River in August offers 2 species of salmon and the end and beginning of 2 peak trophy rainbow trout bites coupled with typically fantastic weather.
Red Salmon
The first week of August fished how it historically should, strong fishing but having to pick through blushed fish for chrome ones. Usually the red run falls off toward the end of the first week, creating a lull before the silvers show up in fishable numbers around the 12th-ish.
Trolling plugs was seemed to put limits in the boat faster than flossing from the bank this year. Overall we were very pleased with the performance of this years Kenai River red salmon run and greatly enjoyed a “normal” run.
Silver Salmon
The start to the silver run was slow and inconsistent, but once we entered what we consider the “peak” season for 1st run Kenai silvers (August 15) signs of life began to appear. Salmon runs are definitely a hind-sight thing, most years we start experiencing decent silver salmon fishing around August 10-12 with consistency by the 15th. The slow start to the run kept most guides wondering how many were going to show, fortunately they arrived and it was business as usual. Casting plugs and spinners was the ticket, but moving around and hunting was critical and kept the sense of adventure high.
Rainbow Trout
We saw strong trout fishing during the first week of August as red salmon kept trickling in keeping the food supply up. There was a noticeable change in activity (as usual) as the end of the first week drew to a close. As food sources begin to dwindle trout being moving and spreading out in search of food, much like early July before the reds show up.
The end of August was the start to what would become an absolutely epic fall trout bite. Even numbered years pink salmon have a large run in the Kenai river and the return this year was gigantic! The huge return of salmon was about to create an incredible source of food for Kenai bows. As pinks staged and began spawning, trout were right behind them gobbling up the freshly dropped eggs.
