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

June coming to an end at Great Alaska

                 Final June Report from Great Alaska

Bear on the Run at Alaska BearCamp

Good morning friends and followers of Great Alaska!.  It's June 28th and as I write this the strong sockeye run is continuing, with bright, beautiful 7-12 pound fish jumping nearly constantly all day long for the past few weeks.  Typically, at this time of year the Sockeye run slows down as we wait for the 2nd run Kenai fish to start hitting the river, but this year we are on course to hit the predictions of another epic run of Reds.  The sanctuary on the Russian River has already been raised to 6 fish per angler, and most folks expect the same thing to happen once again on the "main stem" Kenai Sockeye run in July..  As I write this, I took a couple of quick photos- one of them of an angler fighting one of the great early season fish we've been enjoying here at the lodge since late May:

 
The fish have been big, bright and feisty...Guide Steve and his two clients brought back an early limit of fish that "felt like a July trip" he said, with a limit by 10:00 and at least 30 fish hooked up for the two lucky anglers.  The largest fish was over 12 pounds and Steve thought it may be one of the 3 or 3 biggest sockeye he has ever seen taken on his boat.  That is an exceptional fish!

Great Alaska Beach 

The Sockeye run has been incredible now for the past 3 years, and we are looking forward to another incredible one.  Last year, the run hit with 250,000 fish crossing the lower river sonar counter in 24 hours, and the run ended up totaling over 1.4 million fish in the river.  Truly a healthy and vibrant salmon population, and one that has allowed our guests to bring home lots of big, bright, tasty salmon to enjoy back home.

The King run has been a different story the past couple of seasons, however the return for our Kenai river first run fish has been better than expected.  Current count is over 4200 fish, nearly double the entire return of 2013 fish.  With a full closure on the Kenai Kings (no fishing whatsoever in the months of May and June) nearly all of those great fish should make it safely to their spawning grounds and may be the first step in the run's recovery.  July means the second run of Kings, and the river will open to single hook, no-bait fishing of Kenai kings below the Slikok Creek mark of the lower river.  This will mean the fish that have already entered the river and made their way past Slikok will continue to be protected, while the second run fish coming through the lower river will all some fishing.  All the Great Alaska guides are looking forward to doing some king fishing on the Kenai! 

Offshore fishing continues it's strong season

Offshore fishing has continued to be very strong, with every single charter run so far providing a limit for our Great Alaska guests.  The last run was to Seward, where our 30 foot Glacier Craft the "Fair Chase" enjoyed a spectacular day of fishing.  limits of Black Bass, Halibut to 70 pounds and even a few silver and Pink salmon kept the anglers and crew hopping for the entire day!    Here are a couple images of the day:
 

That's Great Bass!

Here's Josh Wels, Great Alaska operations manager of years past.  Josh is an enthusiastic offshore fisherman, and  joined us for a day on the water off Montague Island.  Josh specializes in Ling Cod and Black bass and always seems to get the trophy bass or Cod whenever he's aboard. 

Today, we're running in Cook Inlet today on board the "Stellar" with captain Jeremy and deckhand Fabian looking to enjoy a fantastic morning.  Tides are strong today (20 foot high to a 2 foot low) so the weights will be heavy but the seas look calm and fishing should be good.  I'll post some photos when I have them.

Deckhand Fabian laying out the anchor

We'll have more fun shots soon, but time to wake up the next group of guests...in the meantime, tight lights and we'll see you in Alaska!

Kent

Brown Bears at Russian River Falls

Well, yesterday was another eventful day at Great Alaska.  A couple of our safari groups split up and enjoyed two of our most popular hikes..the first one an 8 mile challenge to a view of the Harding Ice-field, and the second a more moderate forest walk ending at the Russian River falls to (hopefully) spot some of the large early run of Sockeye Salmon that have been passing the lodge for the past few weeks.  The falls is steep and challenging, and I believe that for milennia oru fish have had to cross this obstacle, and that challenge, generation after generation, is one of the reasons the Kenai and Russian river fish are such a genetically superior species. 

5 minutes after they got to the viewing platform, a group of fish began leaping up the falls, an eagle flew right over the Blaydes party's shoulders, and the next moment, 2 adult brown bear emerged from the forest and waded into the river to fish.  They caught some of these beautiful wild sockeye salmon almost immediately (these bears are good fishermen!) and Mr. Blayes was able to capture the moment on video.  Thanks to David for sharing this with us.

Not everyone sees an event like this, but in Alaska you never know what is around the next corner, so have that camera ready!

Offshore Report:

We've finished our retro fit on the three offshore boats- The Raptor is ready for it's sea trial today, with new seats, larger gas tank and lots of new hardware.  The Stellar has already completed it's retro fit with a complete re-work of all electronics systems, windshield wipers, improved seating on board plus new Okuma reels.    The Fair Chase got a 2 inch lift on the twin 225 Yamaha 4 stroke motors, (which should help with improved speed, handling and fuel economy) plus a new diesel heater for improved cabin comfort on those chilly or wet mornings, and all three boats received some new emergency equipment to make your trip safer.  We'll be putting the Fair Chase in Seward within the next 48 hours and we'll be fishing in resurrection Bay/Prince William Sound not long after that!

Freshwater Fishing Report:

The Kenai river All-river Rainbow Trout opener is today,and we've got 4 boats targeting our beautiful Rainbow Trout on one of the most beautiful stretches of the Kenai- below Skilak lake to the Moose river at the lodge.  We've been fishing this area for over 3 decades, and it's become our signature stretch of water over the years. 

Our amazing Kenai River Rainbows are a transient species of fish, ever searching, with an innate desire to seek new feeding areas and new stretches of water in which to hunt their prey, On the Kenai, that consists of salmon eggs, underwater nymph - stage insects, fresh and or deteriorating salmon flesh and small leeches, sculpins and other small baitfish.  In Alaska, when it comes to Rainbow trout it's all about "match the hatch"...except rather than impersonating various winged or underwater insects, your guides will match the size and color of spawned salmon eggs.  Different salmon species' eggs  all vary in size, and color, and the longer they are under water, the more faded they become.  The art of matching these different "shades of gray" is part of the art of  being a Kenai River rainbow Trout guide.   Our guides are among the very best!

That's it for today's report.  Caprice is back from BearCamp, so we'll have some more posts from her before she heads back "into the wild".  We'll also have some pictures of the trout caught on today's opener for the next post.  In the meantime......

Tight lines,

Kent