Tidewater Fly Fishing Client Giant Dolly

6/12/25 Fishing Report

Fish, sun, and bugs! The bugs are less than desirable, but the fact that the fishing is this good and its finally sunny is downright magical. We hope everyone has plenty of free time this Father's Day weekend to get outside and do some fishing or at least soak in the rays. The king fishing has remained very good, although it has been a little slower the last few days with the nice weather. This lull also usually happens once all the first pods of fish have been fished to for 10 days. Every tide is bringing in fresh fish though and soon there will be another big slug of them headed in. As with all king salmon fishing the best way to have success is to make it out every tide. With the gorgeous weather focusing on hitting the tides early in the morning or late in the evening can be helpful for catch rates also. Fritz Cove and North Douglas slowed down a little bit recently, but AML, Sheep Creek and the Avalanche patch (early in the morning especially) have been heating up.

As you can see in the lead photo, the Dolly fishing is still going strong, and the fish size has been BIG. This Gastineau Channel toad was caught and released this last week! A lot of the good spots to target kings also are good for Dollies, so consider bringing along a 6wt and switching over to catching some Dollies as a confidence booster. Boy Scout Beach has also been fishing well when the wind isn't ripping.

Lastly, we have confirmed reports of sockeye in Windfall Creek. This fishery is only open Wednesday and Saturday during the month of June so there are only 5 days left to give it a shot. If you do stick it out king fishing, make sure you get your photos to enter into our drawing for an 8wt Echo EPR saltwater fly rod! So far, we have not gotten anyone with fish photos both North and South of the bridge. We have gotten fish photos from people at one location or the other, however. You can read the rules for this contest below.

KING CONTEST RULES:

Catch one king salmon North of the Douglas bridge and one king salmon South of the Douglas bridge. These fish must be caught with a CAST fly. You can cast off a boat, but no trolling. Each fish caught must be photographed with the fly CLEARLY VISIBLE in the mouth in such a way that your location is verifiable. Anywhere withing the terminal harvest area is fair game for this contest. Once you have caught your two fish (on fly, in the terminal harvest area) and shared or brought in your two photos, you will be entered into the drawing. First prize will receive an 8wt Echo EPR saltwater fly rod, perfect for the upcoming coho season. Second place will receive a custom painted box of beads for Dolly season and third prize will be a Grundens AFFG Sun Hoody in the winner's choice of size and color. The drawing will be on July 1st, and the contest will run the entire month of June.

As always, we love featuring your photos for our fishing reports. If you have a great fish, scenery, or action photo that has to do with fishing around town send it our way! You can email photos or videos to cory@alaskaflyfishinggoods.com. Please remember to handle fish with care, especially if you are practicing catch and release. Consider getting a net with a rubber basket to help land fish quickly, pinch your barbs and keep them in the water until you are ready to snap a quick photo.

See you on the water!

The Crew at AFFG

Listed below are the hot patterns of the week. Fisheries change here through-out the season and so do the best patterns to use. Below are some of the recommended flies for the current fisheries. Happy fishing!