Alaska Fishing with Mark Glassmaker • 1-800-622-1177

Now that the 2008 fishing season has come and gone, it is finally time to take a deep breath and look back on another eventful summer here on the Kenai Peninsula. It is truly amazing just how many individual memories combine to sew together just one Alaska fishing season. This year will resonate in my memory as being a roller coaster ride of surprises. We had unusually early runs and unusually late runs. We had super strong runs and a few weak runs. Through it all, it proved to be a very successful season with many, many prosperous days afield.

Spring came with a bit of reluctance in 2008 and both water temperatures and water levels remained well below normal for most of the early season. Despite the less than ideal conditions, the first king salmon of the season could be found in their usual hangouts like "The Peoples Hole" on the Kasilof or in a select few holes on the lower Kenai. As with any early season king salmon pursuit, the fishing can be slow and tedious at times, but the reward of a sea lice covered silver missile in low water is enough for most to invest their time. These are arguably the most impressive fighters and the most beautiful kings of the entire summer. We began our pursuit of these early arriving chinook on the Kasilof in mid May and we were greeted with a very cold, low flowing river with persistent snow and ice still clinging to its shoreline in places. Being a somewhat shallow river, the first kings on the Kasilof hold in only a handful of deep holes, and this year was no exception. As the river opened to fishing with bait on May 16, pressure was light. Although a few fish were taken, the late spring seemed to have the fish a week or so off their normal schedule. The same was true on the Kenai where low water and cold temps seemed to slow the true arrival of summer. Alas by early June, both the weather and the fishing seemed to be more in the normal range as excellent early run king fishing was occurring on both the Kenai and the Kasilof. The Kasilof was productive throughout late May and then became very good into the first two weeks of June. The run consisted mostly of wild kings at first, but catches became more mixed with adipose clipped, hatchery fish by mid month. A good number of hatchery fish arrived late as well.

On the Kenai River, June offered some of the most consistent and action packed king fishing of the entire season. Beginning early in the month, good numbers of aggressive chromers were in front of the boat everyday and many could not resist the offerings we presented. With colder than normal weather conditions, the river remained in shape for a good portion of the early run and this helped catch rates without question. Solid fish counts also prompted fish and game to open the river to the use of bait on June 1 and this also gave the fishing success a (temporary) boost as well. It was a June to remember on the Kenai and the Kasilof with bigger than normal kings and lots of them. The excellent fishing lasted into the third week of June until it finally slowed and began its seasonal transition into the late run fishery.

Our June fly out fishing was affected this season by the late spring and one of our favorite locations, Big River Lake, did not see dependable sockeye fishing until mid June. The lake and adjoining Wolverine Creek were both very low and though fish were trying to move in, the low clear water kept them in the deeper lake water longer than normal. Eventually the water came up and in came the fish and lots of them. The Wolverine Creek sockeye return lasted well into July and not only were there plenty of fish, but also a lot of bears, noticeably more than last season.

The other June fly out fishery that we usually frequent is the Chuit for king salmon. A large snow pack and late run off kept this river high and muddy until the final days of the season. This run was able to move upriver with little or no fishing pressure and when we fished it in August for silvers there were plenty of big kings making nests in the gravel.

Unlike the tributary bound early run Kenai kings, the larger run of July king salmon spawns largely in the main stem of the river. The majority of the fishing success takes place in the lower 10-15 miles of the river and from mid July to the end of the month, there is no other place to pursue these huge salmon. While the king salmon fishing provided lots of action and remained productive, the late run of Kenai sockeye never materialized and prompted restrictions to both the sport and commercial fisheries. This actually helped the king salmon fishing on the river as the commercial set and drift nets were restricted in Cook Inlet and less incidental kings were taken in gill nets. The sockeye sport fishery was closed below the Soldotna bridge (mile 19) on Aug 1 and reduced to a one fish limit above the bridge beginning Aug 6.

The silver salmon and trout fishing provided a welcome consolation as we immediately shifted our angling focus on these two species. The early run of silver salmon on the Kenai saw an unfamiliar open passage to the river with the commercial fishery idle. They, along with their humpbacked cousins, the pink salmon, proceeded to literally fill the lower Kenai river in the first week of August.

On our fly out trips to the West Side of Cook Inlet, August was an awesome month for silvers and all the returns were strong and very consistent. In particular the Kustatan and Buchatna Creek saw very large runs and both these rivers had coho in them as early as mid July! This really is some of the most prolific silver salmon fishing available statewide.

Back on the Kenai, the first blast of silver salmon was strong and healthy with lots of big coho. By mid month the run was well up to Skilak Lake and beyond, and yet still arriving in the lower river. The early run eventually tapered off in late August.

Alas, it was not long before the first late run silvers were filling fish boxes with their trademark thick backs and bulging bellies. The pink return was as it has been in recent semi-annual cycles...enormous!!! Literally 3-5 million pink salmon blanketed the Kenai at their peak and this occurred from mid August until well into September. Arriving only on even numbered years, pinks and their overwhelming numbers can be both a blessing and a curse. While fishing for the far less numerous silvers, a realistic Kenai caster can expect multiple pink salmon interceptions in route to a silver salmon limit. For people that have always wanted to catch a fish on every cast or for kids that want to experience guaranteed catching, pink salmon are a dependable quarry.

The late run of Kenai Silver Salmon was strong as usual this year and despite the mob of pinks, it was still relatively easy to find fresh pods of coho throughout the month of September. Fresh silvers continued to arrive into October and as the water dropped, it revealed coho were present in abundance and a healthy spawn seemed assured.

It was the third week of September before most of the pinks had expired and decaying carcasses lined the river banks for miles. At the peak of the pink spawn, trout fishing became very challenging, simply because the amount of real food in the water was impossible to compete with. The trout were gorged in a blizzard of pink eggs. Once the trout become accustomed to eating at this pace and volume, they are not happy when it goes away. After the peak of the pink spawn is buried in gravel, a well presented single egg pattern is more than the average trout can ignore. This season, starting around the third week of September, it was game on for big, fat rainbows and lots of them. This continued deep into the fall with October and November offering excellent fishing for those willing to brave the elements.

Thanks to everyone that helped make 2008 such a special year. For us, the summer goes by all too quickly, but we hope the memories you created will last a lifetime. We are greatly looking forward to another epic season in 2009 and sincerely hope you can join us.

Alaska Fishing with Mark Glassmaker
33361 Keystone Drive, Soldotna, Alaska 99669
1-800-622-1177

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