From: 06/01/2019
To: 10/01/2019
Type of Water: Freshwater
Species: Coho salmon, Sockeye salmon, Chinook salmon, Steelhead, Rainbow trout, Dolly Varden, Arctic Char
King Salmon
Pre-season forecasts were dismal for king salmon runs here on the Kenai peninsula and for much of the state. While few would call the 2019 King Salmon fishery as excellent, it wasn't all bad either. Many had predicted a pre-emptive closing of the fishery, and we were pleased to see the fishery remain open. Conditions were less than ideal much of time with high, cloudy water due to our statewide heat wave. Despite everything seeming to not be in our favor, TRL guests managed to catch some excellent fish! The biggest fish of the season was caught by the Lohmann party (a group of repeat offenders) tipping the scales at 72 lbs--a true Kenai behemoth.
Sockeye Salmon
Dare we say "the best sockeye year ever?!" From late May to the end of August, the sockeye fishing not only was View more...King Salmon
Pre-season forecasts were dismal for king salmon runs here on the Kenai peninsula and for much of the state. While few would call the 2019 King Salmon fishery as excellent, it wasn't all bad either. Many had predicted a pre-emptive closing of the fishery, and we were pleased to see the fishery remain open. Conditions were less than ideal much of time with high, cloudy water due to our statewide heat wave. Despite everything seeming to not be in our favor, TRL guests managed to catch some excellent fish! The biggest fish of the season was caught by the Lohmann party (a group of repeat offenders) tipping the scales at 72 lbs--a true Kenai behemoth.
Sockeye Salmon
Dare we say "the best sockeye year ever?!" From late May to the end of August, the sockeye fishing not only was red hot, but consistent everyday. The Russian River saw superb run with the limit going to 9 fish per day! As we had hoped, that turned out to be an indication of what was to come in July. By around July 22nd, the limit had moved from 3 to 6 on the Kenai, and 90,000 fish per day escapements were happening 3 or 4 days a week. We saw this action well into August with our final day of limits occurring on August 24th! This three month long slam-fest made for some seriously sore arms and full freezers.
Trout and Steelhead
"Follow the food and you will find fish." Well, when you have 1.88 million sockeye salmon spawning, it's not all that hard to find trout chow. The wildfires also really put a damper on the amount of traffic headed down the peninsula, creating a perfect storm for trout fishing. 30-50 fish days on the Middle Kenai River were common place by the second week of September and rare sight fishing opportunities were presented on the Kasilof with its unusually clear water conditions.
Silver Salmon
Silver salmon fishing started strong with guests often reaching their limit while sockeye fishing during August. As the sockeye run tapered off, silver numbers progressed in a normative fashion despite the warm weather and seemingly "less than ideal" fishing conditions. Our fly-fishing walk-in streams produced wonderfully this year as did the middle river at times. In true fashion, the fly-outs were steady, especially with the aid of our new boat allowing guides and guest to go "deep" into the bush.
