30 Jun June 2016 Fishing Report
1st Run King Salmon – Kasilof River
The guides of Alaska Drift Away Fishing were absolutely stoked at the 1st run of King Salmon on the Kasilof River. It was one of the best returns in many years. Towards the beginning of the third week of June Fish and Game opened the river to bait. Obviously the days following that emergency order where exceptionally good.
Before bait we could only use artificial, which we love anyways. Most days throughout the early King run were met with 3-6 fish on. The three days following the bait opener where quite outrageous, with over a dozen Kings hooked each day. But the fishery quickly balanced out and by day 4 after the bait opener we were back to hitting 3-6 fish again.
Rainbow Trout – Kenai River
June 11th marks the opening for Rainbow Trout on the Kenai River. The first few days of the opener fished pretty good, but the writing was on the wall for what to expect in the near future. An early, warm spring lead to unusually high water causing the majority of the food source to be washed down river. The trout followed suit as well. We always see a migration of fish downriver, but not this rapid. Plain and simple if there is not a high volume of food in a given area you will not find a high volume of fish anywhere. The bows simply spread out looking for food, the result was covering water looking for our pink sided friends.
On a positive note the early spring caused the trout to spawn early and finish spawning early. This is great as by the time the opener happened the vast majority were off the spawn beds. Obviously targeting/catching rainbows while they are spawning does nothing positive for the future generations of Kenai Trout. Thank you Mother Nature!
We expect tough fishing for Trout until the 2nd run of Red Salmon show up i.e. early – mid July, but once a strong food source enters the river it should be pretty awesome fishing!
Red Salmon – Kasilof River
Consistently inconsistent is the best way to describe the beginning run of Kasilof River Red Salmon. Salmon are salmon and will come in the river where they are ready. The high water is making the fish that do enter the river swim up at a high rate of speed, making life tough to get on them. Anytime now…..is the common thought amongst the guides.