The fishing has continued to be quite good this last week.  Dipac has started their annual release of chum smolt and the channel is full of them!  Fishing usually has a short lul as the smolt spread out, but once we get through a couple tide cycles this will go right back to being red hot.

For the best success close in town you want to try and bracket the low tide, approximately two and a half hrs before to two and a half hours after.  When you are dealing with tidally influenced fisheries persistence is key!  Some tides fish great and the next low can be quiet, but don't get discouraged.  Some of our favorite spots this time of year are Sheep Creek, Salmon Creek, the whale beach next to the Douglas bridge, and Free Candy (the Douglas access point across the channel from Salmon Creek).  The other great spots for Dolly fishing are Boy Scout beach just past Amalga harbor and Echo Cove.  Please be aware that the salt water within 200 yards of the mouth of Amalga harbor is closed to fishing until July first.  If you are taking a drive to fish out the road, focus your efforts during the dropping tide. 

Spring Dolly's just can't help but hit Olive Stinger Clousers!

 The spots out the road can also benefit from fishing a sink tip or sinking fly line.  If you don’t want to hassle with re-spooling your reel, Airflo’s 10ft polyleaders are a fantastic option.   They come in various sink rates and are as easy to put on your standard WF (weight forward) floating line as a Rio tapered leader.  Now that wild smolt have been in the water a little bit longer, consider using larger patterns.  Size 6 AK Clouser Minnows, Doppelgangers, Stinger Chumpys, Stinger Clousers, Clones, and Fryolators are all great patterns as we move into late May and June.

Steelhead fishing is about at the end of the run.  We stopped hearing about fishing being caught last Friday, the last photo we got however was a beautiful fish!  If you still have the bug Cowee Creek is the spot.

Kade Jensen with his first ever steelhead! Great job!

Some fun times are on the horizon.  Next Wednesday on June 1st is the start of our hatchery king season as well as the first day of the sockeye fishery.  Remember, Windfall is only open on Wednesdays and Saturdays and the sockeye limit is one per day.

We hope you all have a great weekend and get to enjoy some stellar weather and even better fishing! 

Cory, Brad, Mike and the rest of the crew at AFFG

*We love using our customers' photos in our future fishing reports, but we really want to encourage ethical treatment of fish.  When practicing catch and release do your best to handle the fish minimally and get pictures with the fish in the water!  Please avoid placing your fingers in gills, setting fish on dry ground, or holding them way above water with your dry hands.  Remember this resource is only sustainable if we all help do our part. Submit your photos to cory@alaskaflyfishinggoods.com or tag us on Instagram (#alaskaflyfishinggoods).