Kenai King Salmon Fishing Report

This has been an exciting week of fishing on the waters of the Kenai Peninsula! The Kenai King salmon fishing runs continue to build, the waters continue to rise and the fishing continues to heat up.  While recent reports are mixed, some days are good and others not as good, overall the reports are as expected for this time of year. The average size of early run king salmon on the Kasilof is around 18 pounds with some reports of fishing in the 30 pound class being taken. If things go according to historical schedule, we should see the peak of the Kasilof king salmon fishing toward the end of this week. The big secret is pretty well out; the early tide of the day seems to be producing more fish than the late tides on the Kasilof River. Most fish are being caught on eggs, but a few are hitting qwickfish. Some groups are hooking up as many as 8 fish on a trip. The largest number of fish right now seems to be native fish, with many folks catching 5 to 3 wild versus hatchery fish.

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The early run Kenai River Chinook continues to build on schedule or even maybe a bit ahead of schedule. As of the end of the day on Saturday, May 31, Alaska Department of Fish and Game recorded a total of 2,590 fish past the sonar. This is on par with an expected return of around 16,000 fish. With these numbers, the managers have elected to open the Kenai River to bait beginning July 1.

For those of you looking to get your salt water fix, it seems that halibut are biting everywhere, from 1 mile off shore to 30 miles off shore. Look for structure, put on enough weight to keep the bait on the bottom and hold on. The halibut are ranging from between 15 pounds to some reports of 100# plus this last week out of Deep Creek/Ninilchik/Anchor Point.

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