Great spot for sockeye in Alaska?

I realize there's a huge area up there that sockeye go inland to spawn, and it varies year to year. Looks like last year the Bristol Bay area was really good, the rest of the places were really bad. Anybody recommend a go-to place that is always good? I have one recommendation for Kodiak Island. Anybody live on Kodiak Island?

I’ve been to the Russian and Kenai rivers twice in the last three years and will be going back again this year. I have yet to hit it when the fish were really thick, but have not had any trouble limiting every day on Sockeye. It can get crowded, but I go early then leave if it gets crowded. We normally spend 3-4 days there then go other places to catch pinks, coho, trout, and grayling. Myself and another friend go every trip, then we have 3-4 new guys so we try to experience several species. We always challenge ourself one day to fish new water to expand our horizons.

Last trip we saw 14 bears that was the highlight of the trip for me. A few were close.

I fished mostly the Kenai and the Russian. Both can offer great fishing if you hit the runs right but it can be unbelievably crowded. I had a boat so I was just minutes away from the crowds and had great stretches of river all to myself. IMO, reds are the fightingest and best tasting salmon in Alaska.

Try to be there between July 14-24th. Its been a while since I was there but you'll usually catch the peak of the run sometime during those dates. I fish out of the Soldotna area.

Good luck! It's a blast if you hit the run!




ol' dad

That’s what keeps me after them. Pound for pound they can fight.

The closest thing the guys that go with me experience in the east is an Erie trib. steelhead. The Reds are like an Erie steelhead with a rocket strapped to their rear.

I'd catch a flight from Anchorage or Soldotna over to the Naknek River at King Salmon, Ak on the Peninsula.

Usually between the 19th and 21st of June is when the Sockeye run hits the Naknek after they leave Bristol Bay.

King Salmon has good infrastructure, lodging, boat rentals, some restaurants

and is a fairly small (short) river.

Fish are all dime bright silver fresh from the ocean & still have sea lice on them.

Some of the biggest Reds I've ever seen of any Alaskan River.

I spent four summers guiding sports fishermen there 1985 thru 1989.

Good Spot and the escapement usually hits at least the the million mark.

w

You're hitting the second run at that time. I like the first run because you're not catching fish in varying degrees of decay after they've been in the river a while. For guys who have never seen it, Pacific salmon suffer from something we might compare to leprosy. They literally rot to death.

I went to trade school in Wyoming with a rich kid from King Salmon........maybe he could show me the hotspots!

Once the run hits the Naknek, the whole river is a hotspot cause it's so short a drainage before Naknek Lake.

Any where there is a back water current edge close to shore behind a boulder or sand bar is stacked like cordwood with migrating Reds.

That rich kid wouldn't be a Shawback, would he ?

w

I would follow this advice, get away from the combat fishing of the K.P.. Experience something more satisfying than just piling up a stack of sockeye.
Try one of the river systems on the south side of Bristol Bay; Naknek, Egegik or Ugashik. Maybe fish the Naknek for sockeye then fly down to the Ugashik narrows (between the lakes) for Dollies, or fish the short stretch of the Egegik river between the "lagoon" and lake Becharof. This last spot is incredible.
I've caught four species of of Pacific salmon and Dollies here all in the same day. If you split the cost of a charter out of King Salmon between a few people the cost will be reasonable. You could even camp out there a few days.

Forgot to mention; some rainbows and grayling also.

^^^^^^^
Correction; My fishing guide friends always give me the stink eye when I use the term "Dollies" or Dolly Varden. They prefer to call them "char".

If you are coming to catch reds to take back home to eat, you need to figure out the logistics and expense of keeping and preserving your fish and getting them home for a reasonable cost. If you want to end up with a quality product, you need to treat your fish well.

Is not the word "Dolly' reserved for the one and only Dolly Parton. Come on Waggler get with it that name surrender has been for what 40 years now.
I just called them fish "dinner" with a double nn for dinner meal.

You guys can crap on the Kenai all you want but it's a great playground. Living in Anchorage sucks but you're centrally located to take advantage of a lot of good hunting and fishing. You don't need to get far off the road to leave the crowds behind.

Amen, I had a couple of guys with me last year that paid in excess of $200 to ship 20 lbs of salmon home. This included packaging, storage fees, fish box, and shipping.

I have talked with Delta and I plan to carry on a small fish box this year as my carry on for the return trip. I have always just ate fish while I was there and never brought any home, but the wife is putting pressure on me this year to bring some back



I'm with you. I am positive that there are better areas, but the like you said it doesn't take much to get away from the crowds. Heck last year I fished one well know stretch from 4AM to daylight. Limited and released several. As the crowds showed up I filleted my fish and went back to camp.
In my two trips I have already estimated that I have seen less than 1/40th of Alaska. So we plan to continue to explore and will probably never see half of it in my lifetime only going a week at a time. Although II have told my wife that when I retire in 6 years that I want to go for a month July 1 to July 31.

I've stood in one hole on the Russian River and caught fish after fish and never had to move. Rainbows and salmon. Same goes for the Kenai. The Russian was more crowded but with the daylight being what it is, you just time it right and fish when most people have returned to their tents. I launched my boat right where the ferry crossed and a short float downstream gave me river all to myself. Rainbows, Dollies and salmon until your arm hurt. Then there is the saltwater halibut fishing. I was slow to warm up to it but it became my favorite fishing.

I've always said a man could spend lifetimes in Alaska and never take in all it has to offer. I gave it a good shot.

If you haven't fished for reds before, the first thing you need to understand is it is snagging not fishing, The object is to snag the fish in the mouth. Anybody can snag salmon in Alaska; sometimes it is impossible not to. Many people struggle to snag reds in the mouth. It is a skill. IMO a fly rod works best. You can get a better swing through the fish and the cushion of a long rod helps keep hooks from pulling out in the fast water. Yard that fish to out of that river fast. I'd practice the technique at home before I left. Maybe you can see how it is done on u-tube. Another thing you want, at least here, is a good set of polarized glasses. You need to see the small groups of fish when they swim by where I sockeye fish. Do not be tempted to fish Sockeye in slack pools as they are much harder to mouth snag than when oriented face first in current.

Disregard all the above if you don't care where you snag the fish you keep.

You're certainly going to snag some fish during a run but salmon hit a fly out of aggression. How many times have you caught a Red with three or four Coho flies in its snout?

One of the best fishing trips I have ever had was with a TMAN outfitter/guide. Great gear, great people, great country....and reasonable pricing.

Reds, dollies, and rainbows to 25 inches.


It was all catch and release and fly rods only.

We drifted the canyon on the Kenai River. It was an 8 hour drift. Only saw three other people.

All I had to do was show up with my lunch. Everything else was provided.

If that sounds interesting to you contact Drasselt on this forum. Tell him what you're interested in.

As far as shipping fish or carrying them home.............I'd do neither. Order what you want from 10th & M Seafoods. They will ship it to your door overnight

Brown or black? I remember having an elderly couple warn my wife and I about a brown bear they had seen the day before on the gravel bar we were camped on. They seemed irritated by my lack of concern...they were probably right. Tracks were always present but as many times as I've floated the Kenai I never once saw a bear.

I motored up and down that canyon many times back when it was legal to. Between the ferry and Skilak Lake. We got into some incredible fishing just below the canyon but there was good fishing everywhere along the river.

zero. I only been a salmon guide for 26 years though. Not on the Kenai.

Multiple flies in a Red aren't at all uncommon on the Kenai. Lending in part to their aggression, the number of people fishing for them and the current. You should know better than I do how little time you have to get your pole right before that salmon uses the current to snap your line.

Did I mention 30 - 40 lb test?

Good point. I remember the first time fishing the Kenai and seeing a fifty or seventy pound King trying to makes its way across a riffle. I had never seen a freshwater fish so big in my life. I did everything I could to get to it in order to wrestle it.

I've had them snap seventeen pound test like it was thread while swimming upriver. Not even a hint of resistance.

Out of the 14 bears last trip. 8 were black bears and 6 were brown. It was impressive to see this one brown bear cross the swift Kenai before daylight. It was a true testament to their strength the way he managed through the current. I do not know that a human could have waded that section with a cable stretched bank to bank for support to hold on to.

Most of the bears appeared to be habituated which I hate because they had no fear. You could tell they were searching for fish scraps.

All this talk of Alaska Salmon and fishing in general is going to make it a long 5 months before I return. I still have some time to spend at the fly tying bench to pass some of the time.

TRUTH!!!^^^

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Once the run hits the Naknek, the whole river is a hotspot cause it's so short a drainage before Naknek Lake.

Any where there is a back water current edge close to shore behind a boulder or sand bar is stacked like cordwood with migrating Reds.

That rich kid wouldn't be a Shawback, would he ?

w
[/quote]
He was indeed a Shawback! One of my roommates, and a fun guy to go downtown with. He would be 62-63 now days. I think he said his family owned trucks and busses. Maybe boats too.

Shawback Family married into the Local Native Corporation and won a lot of Federal contracts with the military when the Air Force Built the SAC (Strategic Air Command) Base at King Salmon.

They also have (had} a lot of heavy construction equipment and are usually involved in any and all construction between Naknek and King Salmon.

There is 16 miles of paved road between Naknek and King Salmon, and I'd bet Shawbacks were behind cutting, building, and paving most of it at a Million+ a mile (or More).

Shawback owned pretty much every thing in King Salmon last I knew.

It's a small world.

Haven't been back since 1989 but I really enjoyed my time in the area.

I also Spent 1990 on The Kenai Peninsula in Soldotna and also fished the Russian River, and The Kasilof, and fished Cook Inlet at Deep Creek for Kings. Caught a pile of halibut and even snagged Salmon in The Lagoon at Homer Spit.

For GREAT fishing, and having experienced both places, I'd have to give the nod to King salmon.

I also fished the Branch (Alagnak), Kvichak, Nushagak, Ugashik, King Salmon River, Etc. Etc. on the Alaskan Peninsula

All are once in a lifetime fishing experiences.

Good Luck.

w

Have you ever noticed how many colors Coho flies come in? If you fished the Kenai much, you'd hear guys asking what color that fish was caught with. Some days some colors work better than others. I don't see how the color of a fly enters into the snagging equation.

^^^^^^^^^
I have a friend who's is murder on snagging kings in the mouth in Washington. He has done it enough that he swears by a black fly or black piece of yarn in most rivers. He speculates that black doesn't spook them.

jimmy's fly

Take a look at the color of jimmy's fly.

Makes me miss the Kenai.

https://salmonchronicles.com/2014/05/16/what-fish-see-why-salmon-prefer-different-colors/