FISHING INFORMATION:
Fishing License--Open a new browser window to the ADFG (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) on-line sports fishing licensing webpages.
Fishing Regulations--Open a new browser window to the ADFG (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) sports fishing regulations website which explains fishing license requirements, and provides fishing regulations for Southcentral Alaska. The area we fish is the Lower Kenai River, for which the regulations are published HERE.
Fishing-Condition Reports--Open a new browser window to the ADFG (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) website which provides weekly fishing reports for the Kenai Peninsula. Their reports are very generic, and often outdated. The big value of this site is that it tells you when ADFG has issued "Emergency Orders" which change the fishing regulations for the remainder of the season. Almost every year they issue an Emergency Order that upgrades the daily bag limit of Sockeye from three to six fish. This Order usually occurs after they know that adequate numbers of fish have made it into the River to provide sufficient spawning for coming years.
Note that I provide weekly fishing reports on this website, under the "Tys Guide Service" tab at the top of the webpage.
River-Water Conditions--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view daily readings of water clarity and water temperature. Last year's data may not be exactly the same as this coming year's, but it does offer useful guidance as to when may be the best time to plan your trip. Be sure and pay particular attention to their writeups on how water clarity and water temperature affect fishing success. Most fishermen never give these factors a thought, but they are very important.
Daily Fish Counts--Early Kings--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view the daily early King Salmon run counts. Last year's run counts may not be particularly relevant to you, but the 15-year averages are very important. They tell you when, statistically, is the best time to plan your trip.
Daily Fish Counts--Late Kings--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view the daily late King Salmon run counts. Last year's run counts may not be particularly relevant to you, but the 15-year averages are very important. They tell you when, statistically, is the best time to plan your trip.
Daily Fish Counts--Kenai Sockeye--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view the daily Kenai River Sockeye Salmon run counts. Last year's run counts may not be particularly relevant to you, but the 15-year averages are very important. They tell you when, statistically, is the best time to plan your trip.
Daily Fish Counts--Russian River Early Sockeye--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view the Russian River early Sockeye run weir counts. Last year's run counts may not be particularly relevant to you, but the 15-year averages are very important. They tell you when, statistically, is the best time to plan your trip.
Daily Fish Counts--Russian River Late Sockeye--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view the Russian River late Sockeye run weir counts. Last year's run counts may not be particularly relevant to you, but the 15-year averages are very important. They tell you when, statistically, is the best time to plan your trip.
Fish Catch Records--Anchor River and Deep Creek--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website to view the catch record for King Salmon in the Anchor River and Deep Creek saltwater fisheries. If you want to try these fisheries, by all means do; only you should first understand just how few Kings these fisheries yield each year. These graphs tell the whole story.
Private Anglers' Fishing Reports--Open a new browser window to Alaska Outdoor Journal's website of Private Anglers' Fishing Reports. This is one of my favorite websites for keeping informed on the fishing action throughout the State. In Alaska Outdoor Journal's own words:
"There are hundreds of thousands of Alaskan anglers going into the field each season. And they fish just about every fishery in the state. We hope that you, as a sportsman and fellow Alaskan, will help contribute to the value of the Alaska Outdoor Journal's Reports section by providing information [to this website] on your recent outing....good or bad."
In case you have noticed how many times I have linked to AOJ's website, it is because this fine website is unequaled in providing sports anglers up to date information in readily understandable format. Many cudos to AOJ!
For Technojunkies Only--Open a new browser window to this "Gee Whiz" website if you like technical developments, and are interested in the sonar counting of migrating King Salmon and Sockeye Salmon. It won't help your fishing success but it is very interesting to us technojunkies.
WEATHER INFORMATION:
NOAA National Weather Service--Open a new browser window to the National Weather Service website. Under "Today's Weather" Type in "Soldotna, AK" to get the local forecasts for Soldotna. This site provides good radar and satellite weather images as well.
AccuWeather--Open a new browser window to the AccuWeather.com website for 15-day weather forecasts for Soldotna, Alaska. From here you can check weather for other nearby locations.
Weather Underground--Open a new browser window to the Wunderground.com website, and type in "Soldotna, AK" to view daily weather. Once you are viewing Soldotna's weather, click on their "Trip Planner" button, and type in the dates of your trip. You will see historic weather conditions for these days. This is a great help in planning what to wear for your trip.
ACCOMODATIONS INFORMATION:
Cast Away Riverside--Open a new browser window to the Cast Away Riverside RV Park, Cabins and Lodge website. This is my favorite place to stay. The lodge has two beautifully appointed rooms, and three luxurious cabins, all overlooking the Kenai River just downstream of Sterling, Alaska. In addition, they have what I consider the finest RV Park on the River. With over 140 feet of steel grate fishing dock, you can catch all the Sockeye and Silver Salmon you could hope for, and you can book guide service with me here. I would not steer you wrong and have you unhappy with me. These are good people who run an outstanding business. You will be glad you investigated them.
Other Accomodations Information Sources--What is the best way to investigate all possible accommodations in the area of your interest? I personally like to use Switchboard.com. As they say, "Its the Yellow Pages. Electrified™." Type in "accommodations" and the city of interest, for example "Sterling, AK", and they'll give you listings of hotels and motels, bed and breakfasts, cabins and cottages. To find RV Parks, type in "RV park." Ignore the Featured Advertisers list, as they often are not for the locality of interest. Look at the Local Advertisers list instead. Sometimes their Featured Advertizers list is so long they don't even call it such. To get around seeing all this unuseful information, sort the listings by distance. That rids your list of most of the unuseful listings. This site is also useful for finding good places to eat out.
SOLDOTNA, KENAI, AND STERLING LOCAL-AREA INFORMATION:
Soldotna Chamber of Commerce--Open a new browser window to Soldotna Chamber of Commerce website for excellent information about Soldotna and its businesses. Their website is quite uninformative, but from it you can order their annual "Soldotna Visitors Guide," which is loaded with useful local information about the local area, accommodations, places to eat, and things to do.
When you get to Soldotna, be sure and visit the Soldotna Visitors Center. You can see the world's largest sport caught King Salmon there, and can pick up useful maps of the area.
Bear Foot Alaska Travel Guides--Open a new browser window to Bear Foot Alaska Travel Guides website for all sorts of good information about Soldotna. From this webpage you can also explore their good information on many other Alaskan communities.
Bear Viewing Excursions--Open a new browser window to Talon Air Service website for Bear Viewing excursions from Sterling, Alaska. Be sure and look at their bear viewing and salmon fishing combination package, which has the particualar advantage that you get to fish while waiting for bears to come down to the fishing hole. Their prices are reasonable, and their service is excellent.
LINKS TO OTHER OUTSTANDING WEBSITES YOU WILL WANT TO VISIT
Arizona Fishing Guide--Joe Zagar--Open a new browser window to Zmann Enterprises website to book fishing excursions with a professional bass fisherman from Mesa, Arizona. Joe is not only a superb fisherman and guide, he is also a personal friend and all-around great guy. You can't go wrong fishing with Joe.
Looking for custom fishing tackle and supplies? --Open a new browser window to Neal's Fishing Products website to find special tackle and supplies for the discerning sportsman.
If you like nature's wonders--Open a new browser window to the No Flash Required website to view some truly stupendous photos of lightening photography of the southwestern deserts of Arizona.
LINKS TO WEBHOSTING WEBSITES
Free Invisible & Visible Hit Counter, Web Tracker, and Web Statistics--http://www.FreeCounterAndStats.com
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