Alaskan Chinook King Salmon sportfishing is closed now

[jimski2]

Due to poor Chinook Salmon Returns in the Yukon and Kenai Rivers sport fishing and commercial fishing has ended. You can expect tourist fishing on the Great Lakes waters to increase now. Warm Pacific waters due to global warming and over fishing  by Pollack Trawlers are among the causes suspected.

 

 

[jimski2]

See The Anchorage Daily News for the story.

[john1947]

I went to the kenai in 2000 for kings and it was a skunk,lots of trout and silvers offshore 

[Gill-T]

Certainly troubling trend but not as bad as you make it sound. See expiring closure dates. 
 

https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/EONR/index.cfm?ADFG=region.R2

Edited October 15, 2021 by Gill-T

[jimski2]

That is why you need a guide.

[jimski2]

Also the dipnet fishing season closes that day.

[Zbrink42]

I was there in mid-july of this year on the kenai. We had a king charter booked that turned into a sockeye charter once alaska fish and game closed the river to king fishing two days before the trip. It was not hard to figure out why, as the fishing pressure there was pretty insane. 

[john1947]

4 hours ago, Zbrink42 said:

I was there in mid-july of this year on the kenai. We had a king charter booked that turned into a sockeye charter once alaska fish and game closed the river to king fishing two days before the trip. It was not hard to figure out why, as the fishing pressure there was pretty insane. 

How was the sockeye run?did you catch manyand how?

thanks

The trip I toook the guide used a driftboat and bait(eggs)also lures like hotshot.Saw a few taken on the trip downstream, a few moose,no bears

[Zbrink42]

The sockeye or “reds” as the locals call them were in full swing when I was there. You can see the run numbers right on the Alaska fish+game website, and this year had quite a bit more fish show up. 
 

You likely were not fishing for sockeye with eggs or any type of lures as they don’t eat like other salmon…their diet consists solely of zooplankton. The technique to catch them is to floss across the lanes they run in, which takes some practice. It’s mostly done from shore in water that’s about knee deep.   The limit was 3/day in July, and we would limit out within an hour or so once we got the technique figured out. 
 

In August is when the Coho start to show up in numbers in the Kenai, and people will fish for those from boats using standard salmon bait and lures.

 

[john1947]

3 hours ago, Zbrink42 said:

The sockeye or “reds” as the locals call them were in full swing when I was there. You can see the run numbers right on the Alaska fish+game website, and this year had quite a bit more fish show up. 
 

You likely were not fishing for sockeye with eggs or any type of lures as they don’t eat like other salmon…their diet consists solely of zooplankton. The technique to catch them is to floss across the lanes they run in, which takes some practice. It’s mostly done from shore in water that’s about knee deep.   The limit was 3/day in July, and we would limit out within an hour or so once we got the technique figured out. 
 

In August is when the Coho start to show up in numbers in the Kenai, and people will fish for those from boats using standard salmon bait and lures.

 

Now that we got alot of fleas,good food source for sockeye?eh

How was the halibut fishing?

Thanks

Edited October 17, 2021 by john1947

[jimski2]

I  I fished Alaskan Waters from Ketchikan to The Kenai and Russian Rivers. Three years I fished Puget Sound from British Columbia to Olympia Washington. The salt water fishing methods are similar our Lake Ontario fishing practices. A plastic squid on a flasher worked well there. Salt water king fishing is best trolling for edible fish. Herring is predominately used for bait and it also takes halibut. The US Coast Guard is a good boat ride there.