Great Alaska July Fishing Report

The last week of July at Great Alaska

The last week of July began with a bang, with 60,000 sockeye salmon coming over the sonar counter on the lower Kenai river.  Here is a link to the year 24 year run synopsis for Sockeye salmon in the Kenai river:  it's an interesting read: Kenai River Sockeye Salmon 24 year history.

Another great batch of Kenai River Sockeye

Big, Feisty Sockeye!

While the sockeye numbers have not been as stellar as they have been over the past several years, overall the run has been very very strong, with great fishing for the Sockeye consistently for our guests from the first week of June all the way to today (when all 7 boats fishing for Sockeye hit their three fish per person limits.)
In 2014, the Sockeye have seemed to be particularly large, with our largest specimen hitting the scales at 12 pounds.   With their reputation intact as the best pound for pound fighter in the salmon kingdom, (and  the best eating, too!) the sockeye salmon season at Great Alaska Adventures has been a rousing success, even though the overall number of fish is still well short of last years' nearly 1.4 million fish.

Offshore Fishing Report

In addition to the great Salmon fishing, offshore halibut has been fantastic, with daily limits in both Seward/Resurrection Bay and Deep Creek/Cook Inlet.  Captains "Ron" Jeremy E. and Aarron and deckhands Fabian, Zeke and Lucas have done a great job getting all of our clients into great limits of Halibut, Ling cod, Yelloweye Rockfish, Silver and Pink salmon and more.  Weather has also been a big help, as the storms of June have given way to to the mild days of July.  Seward in particular has been consistently nice weather, and Cook Inlet has been calm enough for us to get most of our business done with a minimum of bumps and swells.  We are now hitting the prime silver salmon season in Seward, and we'll be moving the Stellar from Deep Creek to our slip next to the Fair Chase at the small boat harbor in Seward.


 We are hoping for a continuation of the same for the balance of the month and we'll see how August shakes out as we finish one of our finest offshore fishing seasons in a number of years.
  

King Salmon report:

54" Kenai King being released 7.25.14

 The kings have been a bit more of a mixed bag...while the early June run of Kenai Kings ended up being closed to all fishing (mostly due to last year's very low early run of Kings) the run ended up being stronger that was feared- in fact the total number of fishing estimated to reach their spawning beds was about twice what we experienced last year.

The early May/June season on the Kenai was closed early on, and due in part to the added protection, the run ended up nearly twice what the 2013 run finished with, and that is a good sign for the sustainability of the mighty Kenai King.    Great Alaska supports full catch and release fishery for Kenai Kings until we reach sustainable numbers for a healthy fishing for our children to enjoy.

 

The Kasilof river, on the other hand, has continued a strong early start  to the season and our clients haves been catching beautiful Kings from 10 to nearly 60 pounds all season long.  We've had a good push of larger fish over the past few weeks- here are a couple of the nice fish we've taken this week.  With 6 days left to go in the season, the Kasilof has gone to Catch and release, so we'll be catching and releasing some beautiful native fish for the balance of the season. 

Rainbow Trout

Trout season has taken a bit of a back seat with all of the Sockeye salmon (over 650,000 at last count) entering the river, but with ever day that passes, the fishing will get better and better for one of our favorite species. 

Both Fly and spin fishermen covet these beautiful fish, with their individual markings, wandering nature and feisty fighting ways.  Great Alaska has been a strictly catch and release lodge for native trout and Steelhead species for over 2 decades, and the fishing for these great fish has simply gotten better and better.  I can honestly say that the fishing for large rainbows is as good now as it was when I started fishing for them in the early 80's. 

Silver and Pink salmon

The Silvers and Pinks are beginning to enter the river now, with large numbers of Pinks being caught for folks fishing for Kings the last few days, and silvers are beginning to show up in batches of Sockeye as well.  Soon we'll be casting spinners and spoons for mixed bag limits of Sockeye, Silver and Pink salmon (one of our favorite fisheries).

The Beach

The fishing right in front of the cabins at the lodge has continued to be very strong.  We've landed hundreds of Sockeye salmon, as well as a few Kings (to be quickly photographed and released!) and are now beginning to see Silver Salmon and Pink salmon show up as well.  Beach fishing will continue to be excellent all the way through the season until our end in Mid September.

That's it for today's fishing report.  My next report will share the goings-on at Bearcamp, as well as our mountain biking, Bald Eagle floating, hiking, rafting and Denali Flightseeing for our non-fishing folks! 
Tight lines,
Kent

Welcome to July, 2014!

The Sockeye are here!

 Welcome to July, 2014 at Great Alaska! 
It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, so there is a lot to share.

The Second run of Sockeye salmon has continued in the same vein as the very strong early run with 20,000 over the counter a few days ago and about 30,000 yesterday.  Those numbers will spike to ridiculous numbers soon, if the last few years is any indicator.  Our largest single day numbers last year was in incredible 250,000 fish over the counter on the Kenai in a single 24 hour period.

Here are some photos of some of our latest Sockeye salmon trips.  Sockeye are among the very best eating of all salmon (of any fish, anywhere, actually!) with a very high oil content that makes them rich in omega 3 fatty acids and very good for you, as well as excellent for smoking.

Trout fishing has continued to be good, though not excellent- but that is typical this time of year.  With all of the salmon entering the river the trout will be moving constantly, looking for the Salmon eggs and flesh that they subsist on during them mid to late summer months. Soon they'll be fattening up and getting stronger and stronger- perfect for the August and September spin and fly fishing we all love!

The next post will share some great images from Bearcamp, some more offshore fishing for Salmon and Halibut in Cook Inlet and Seward, not to mention whitewater rafting on 6-mile creek, Mt. Biking in the Chugach National Forest, End of the road tours in Homer and much more.  It's been a great, great summer so far and we've been enjoying our guests from all over the world.

Tight lines,
Kent