Check out some bright spring Chrome from Friday May 4th. On a river you can drive to in Juneau. Get on out there!

Those fish rumors you have been hearing are true and so it is time for the first fish report of the year. A few dollies and steelhead have been caught in the area within the last few weeks. Like so many years before, the fishing started out slow, but continues to get better on a daily basis. Cold weather, rain and lots of snow pack are keeping the stream temps cold, but the warm sunny skies of April got the smolt to push out early. The warm April weather even got a few steelhead to sneak in.

Lots of pink and chum fry can be found at the mouths of creeks and around the boat harbors. These areas are likely spots to target Dolly Varden. For dollies, try checking out the mouth of Sheep Creek on a falling tide, the mouth of Salmon Creek bracketing the low tide, Peterson Creek Salt Chuck or at the mouth on an outgoing tide. Echo Cove can be good on an incoming tide. Small, sparse fry patterns are the ticket now. Try using the Green and Gold Fry, Epoxy Mini Minnow or Little McFry. Sparse clouser minnows in #6 can be good, too. For areas that see Hooligan and Sand Lance, try the ever-so-deadly Stinger Clouser or Neil Creek Dart.

For you steelhead enthusiasts, it’s time to get busy. When the water is on the rise and warming up those usually sulky fish can turn aggressive. In this situation, try swinging or drifting larger patterns like Hot Bunny Leeches, Duece Wiggalos or other bright flies in shades of pink, orange or fuschia. When the going gets tough or swinging is not possible, switch to dead drifting shrimp and egg patterns like Steelhead glo bugs, Money Bugs or the Liquid Wrench. Put in a little time, be stealthy like a ninja and your patience will pay off in the form of steely chrome.

Tight Lines and Good Luck,

-Brad, Mike and the crew

A dry weekend finally alowed the rivers to return to fishable levels. And the silvers were there! Both Sunday and Monday produced good catches of bright fish. Both Montana Creek and Cowee Creek had good numbers of fish. The beaches had their moments with pockets of fish being caught. If you were on them you could really put some numbers up. Otherwise, it was one here and one there. Check out this chromer from Monday:

Keep fishing. It appears the bulk of the fish are just showing up now.

See you on the water! Brad

Kenai River Report 9/7/11

Reports coming from alaska troutfitters in Cooper Landing are of high water and an upper river that continues to rise.  There is a tremendous amount of sockeye spawning in the main river, so even with high water, there are trout and dollies to be had. Fishing from a boat is  the best way to go, as many of the foot accessible runs are hard, if not impossible, to get to. If you’re a bank angler, wear a PFD as high swift water makes for dangerous wading.

A variety of bead sizes have been working.  Start with 6mm beads on the main river.  With all the sockeye that are currently spawning,  fresher orange and red colors have been the ticket.  With the high, fast water,  8mm and 10mm in both fresh and dead colors can be good to try if the 6mm aren’t doing the trick.

Most of the Kenai tributaries are blown out with the exception of the Russian.  Fishing the Russian is tricky though, due to the large number of sockeye actively spawning. Getting clean drifts without snagging salmon can be tough.  Try fishing the faster runs and breaks on the side of the river where there are less concentrations of sockeye.  Once again, egg patterns are the key to success.

If you get out on the water this weekend, please have a fun and safe time.

Tight Lines,

The Alaska Fly Fishing Goods Crew