The summer of 2018 on the Kenai River will go down for me as the year of the Silvers. With the closing of sport fishing for sockeye back in mid July, the commercial fishermen were shut down for the year, opening the flood gates for an epic run of silver salmon.
These monsters started showing up at the end of July, and by the first week in August it was shaping up to be an incredible month. Needless to say, it was exactly that. Many of the fish being caught were over 15lbs with several in the 20lb range. Swinging large weighted pink flies was the ticket for us. Certain stretches of water would call for a light sink tip, but a standard 9’ leader with a weighted fly worked just fine. I did notice a significant difference in fresh fish hooked swinging as opposed to stripping. A swung fly out fished a stripped fly on the lower river day in and day out. As the fish worked their way up river, the slower stripping motion was the ticket.
With the Kenai River being so competitive, it was good to see everyone playing nice for a change. Probably because the fishing was soo damn good!
All and all, I can’t say enough about the run of big coho this year. Definitely a year to remember. With the big run, we are already booking for 2019 silver salmon on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers. A bunch of folks are coming back to fish with us, hoping to duplicate this years success. If you are interested in fishing with us, give me a call at 219-381-9001. Tight lines!