Silver Salmon

Part III of the recycling of my website material. A little info regarding our silver salmon run here on the Kenai and Kasilof rivers.

The last species to enter both the Kenai and Kasilof rivers, the silver salmon is everything you want in a sport fish. Aggressive, athletic, and strong. These fish allow for an array of techniques which make them suitable for all anglers and skill levels. They are also great table fare which is fantastic if you are looking to send some fish home. These fish also have two runs. An early run and a late run. The larger being the late run. The first few fish start trickling in as early as the first week of August. The early run can be hit or miss. Timing is key as always. Popular techniques include: Flies, spinners, spoons, Maglips, kwikfish, bobber and eggs, twitching jigs, and large soft beads under a float. The list can go on. Unlike Sockeye, these fish have an incredible reactionary bite and will strike at many different styles of offerings. Although some techniques work better than the others at different times during the season, we like to cater to what’s comfortable for the customer and how they like to fish. The early run fish tend to average between 5 - 10 pounds while the late run fish run a bit larger and average 8 pounds upwards to potentially 20 pounds. Silvers are a very acrobatic fish as well. Cartwheeling out of the water and going on blistering runs. These fish tend to be the favorite target species for most Alaskan anglers. There is plenty of water to fish between both the Kenai and Kasilof rivers. As the second run of fish gets going, the temps usually start to drop along with the water levels. The layers and heaters usually start to come out heavy during this time of year. Especially in the early mornings. The low water makes for a great opportunity for the fly angler. Potentially having the chance to sight fish these brutes. Silvers are known to take flies very well. And we love to see it! If casting a fly rod isn’t an option. Conventional tackle works just fine. A slip bobber and some freshly cured eggs can be loads of fun in the back channels of the Kenai river. As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or for more information on these special fish. We would love to help you connect on a trophy Coho in the future.

Kenai peninsula fishing calender

Rachel was kind enough to create this fish calendar for me to put on the website. I figured I would throw it on the blog as well. Cheers!

Kenai River 2018 - Year of the Silver

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!