TY'S WEEKLY FISHING REPORTS

I post my weekly fishing reports on this web page. I fish the Kenai River exclusively, and my report is about my clients' fishing success on this River.

If you want to see Alaska Department of Fish and Game's broader-based fishing reports, go here

         LOCAL WEATHER

Week of Aug 20-26, 2006--The Silvers are in the river in good numbers and we continue to have good success catching them. If you've never caught a Kenai River Silver, you have missed a real treat. They are spectacular fighters. The run of Pinks is very strong, and we are catching many nice Pinks incidental to our quest for Silvers. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong. This year's season is winding down. Not because of a lack of good fish to catch, but because most tourists are heading back South. I'll continue to book trips for another 3 weeks, and then will put away my tackle and boat for the winter. Now is the time to enjoy the Kenai river when it has few boats on it, but still has loads of good fishing. This will be my last weekly fishing report for this season. Overall it was a very good season. Runs came in late, but held on late too, so it all turned out pretty fine for everyone.

Week of Aug 13-19, 2006--The Silvers are entering the river in good numbers now, and we have had several very fine fishing days for them. We are catching lots of nice Pinks incidental to our quest for Silvers. Most folks release them, but some keep them, liking their very mild flavor. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong.

Week of Aug 6-12, 2006--The Sockeye (Reds) are STILL running strong. ADF&G raised the daily bag limit to six Reds, so folks are really pleased. And this year's escapement is outstanding, so it bodes well for future years. Most of my charters at this time of year are for Rainbow Trout. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong, except for one day this week when they seemed to all go into hiding. If you have never fished Rainbow in the middle river, you have really missed an outstanding fishery. I personally think it is superior to the Upper River.

Week of July 30-August 5, 2006--The Sockeye (Reds) run remains very strong, and everyone is catching fish. The run shows little sign of abating now, so it will probably be good for another 2 weeks. They came in late, and they will end late. And the total run will be very strong, which is good for future years' fishing. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong. Pinks are everywhere in the river. Some folks catch and release 40 to 50 pinks a day. On light tackle it is a real kick. But if you're still fishing for Sockeye, the Pinks can be a real nuisance. At least everyone is catching fish. Silvers still have not materialized.

Week of July 23-29, 2006--The late King Salmon run ended for us sport-fishing guides on July 29th -- because we cannot fish on Sundays or Mondays. The run remained quite strong through this week, with about 7,400 Kings entering the river. The river was running quite turbid, however, and fishing was difficult, but we still managed to pull out some really fine fish for our customers. The late King run ended with just under 36,000 Kings entering the river this year. That is considerably less fish than in 2005 (about 40,700) and even less than in 2004 (about 52,400). The Sockeye (Reds) finally arrived in good numbers on July 22, and built steadily all this week. They reached their peak run for the year on July 26th, at 83,254 fish. ADF&G reopened the sportfishing for Sockeye, and customers are very happy with their catches this week. No one seems to know just why the run was 3 1/2 weeks late. But everybody is happy that it finally materialized in strong numbers. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong. I had one trout trip this week where we caught and released six huge rainbows -- ranging from 30 inches to 36 inches in length. Now those are nice Rainbows!

Week of July 16-22, 2006--The late King Salmon run is building nicely. Over 9,700 big kings entered the river this week. Fishing has been productive, and many customers have landed 50 to 60 pound fish. We even had a couple in the 65-75 pound range. The Sockeye (Reds) are running about 3 weeks late, and still have not shown in good numbers yet. Alaska Department of Fish and Game has wisely closed the season on them until the status of the run becomes clearer to them and everyone else. We remain confident that the run is just very late, and it will be a good run -- once it finally arrives. But we are just performing an educated guess. It is much better that ADF&G play it cautious with this precious resource, until they know for sure. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong.

Week of July 9-15, 2006--Extreme tidal ranges have held the Kings out in Cook Inlet. The run is building, and we expect them to flood into the River in big numbers any day now. The Sockeye (Reds) are behaving the same way; waiting for favorable tides. It will be good when they finally start flooding into the River. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong.

Week of July 2-8, 2006--The second run of Kings started slowly, but improved towards the end of the week. Rainbow Trout fishing has remained strong.

Week of June 25-July 1, 2006--The early run of Kings is over. We had over 20,400 Kings return in the early run, much more than anticipated. Fishing was good. Now we are waiting for the second run of Kings to build. While waiting, book a Rainbow Trout trip. They are exceedingly agressive now, and we have caught many in the 25 to 32 inch range this year.

Week of June 18-24, 2006--The early run of Kings is shaping up much better than we expected. This year's eary run already has exceeded the total early run of 2005 by about 50 percent. This year's run has already exceeded the 19 year average run. What a pleasant and welcome development!

Based on the estimated escapement in the Kenai River the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game opened the fishery to the use of bait from the mouth upstream to 100 yards below the confluence of the Moose and Kenai Rivers, beginning Saturday, June 10.

Fishing was excellent Saturday morning until water clarity deteriorated by mid-day. Water clarity has improved since then and fishing was excellent on Tuesday.

2006 Fishing season forecast--According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 2006 is expected to be another very good year, with projected King Salmon runs in the Kenai River a bit stronger than those of 2005. The early in-river run of Kings is projected to be 15,000, and the late in-river run is projected to be 51,000, for a total run of 66,000 Kings. If this forecast works out to be true, it will be a considerably better year than 2005. These projections are made as scientifically as is possible, but involve a lot of guesswork, so actual runs could be a bit larger or smaller than the forecast.

There is one extra big factor in our favor this season-- insofar as the King Salmon sport fishery goes. It is that the 2006 Sockeye Salmon run is projected to be quite weak, which will result in severely restricted commercial fishing for them. This restriction is good for the King Salmon sport fishery, because there will be far less "bi-catch" of Kings by the commercial Sockeye fishermen. I'm looking forward to much improved King fishing on the days that commercial fishermen normally would have their nets in the water but will not this year.

2006 Fishing season forecast--According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 2006 is expected to be another very good year, with projected King Salmon runs in the Kenai River a bit stronger than those of 2005. The early in-river run of Kings is projected to be 15,000, and the late in-river run is projected to be 51,000, for a total run of 66,000 Kings. If this forecast works out to be true, it will be a considerably better year than 2005. These projections are made as scientifically as is possible, but involve a lot of guesswork, so actual runs could be a bit larger or smaller than the forecast.

There is one extra big factor in our favor this season-- insofar as the King Salmon sport fishery goes. It is that the 2006 Sockeye Salmon run is projected to be quite weak, which will result in severely restricted commercial fishing for them. This restriction is good for the King Salmon sport fishery, because there will be far less "bi-catch" of Kings by the commercial Sockeye fishermen. I'm looking forward to much improved King fishing on the days that commercial fishermen normally would have their nets in the water but will not this year.

2005 Fishing season--We had a spectacular year. Over 48,100 Kings entered the river this season, and we limited out all fishermen on many, many days. The biggest King we took was 69 pounds, and we had many in the 50 to 55 pound range. Most takedowns were on K-16 Kwikfish with sardine wrap, but many were on fresh roe and Spin-N-Glos.