We guide Alaska king salmon fishing trips through our last day of the season — July 13.
Starting July 14 we shift focus to catching newly arriving ocean-run silver salmon and chum salmon, and may also catch some sockeye salmon and pink salmon during the month of July.
July 1 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught and harvested king salmon salmon. 1 king salmon was caught on a Kwikfish and 2 king salmon were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe fished behind a Jet Diver and #2 Spin-N-Glo. During the trip we saw a few bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests, 1 of whom caught 2 nice rainbow trout on Fire Cured salmon roe fished behind a Jet Diver and Spinning Cheater. We saw several bald eagles during the trip and enjoyed a warm sunny afternoon on the river.
July 2 — LITTLE SUSITNA RIVER KING SALMON ESCAPEMENT — with over 800 king salmon passing Little Susitna River weir on June 30 and July 1 there are now 2,367 king salmon passed the weir as of Tuesday July 1. Last year the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) only counted a total of 2,116 king salmon passing the weir through July 13 (the last day of king salmon sport fishing) AND the Little Susitna River king salmon spawning escapement goal was comfortably attained — according to AF&G. Therefore, with a larger number of late king salmon passing Little Susitna River weir this year — it is now time for ADF&G to rescind the Department’s 2014 emergency order that closed Little Susitna River to sport king salmon fishing. It seems there should now be enough king salmon already upstream of the weir to provide Little Susitna River king salmon fishing and harvest every day for the remainder of the 2014 season (through July 13). Alaska Department of FIsh and Game contact number in Palmer is (907) 746-6300 if you would like to make your concerns know or learn more about this fishery.
LITTLE SUSITNA RIVER UPDATE — The River reopens to king salmon fishing July 4 – July 13 starting at 6 am on July 4. Thanks to all who made their interests known and or commented to ADF&G.
I am not guiding on July 2 as I took the day off to work around the house and catch up on some much needed sleep. I intend to guide and report again on Thursday July 3.
July 3 — I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 1 of whom caught a king salmon on a Fire Cured salmon roe fished behind a Beau Mac Cheater and a Jet Diver. A 2nd guest caught one rainbow trout and lost a couple others on the same bait / lure / diver combination. A 3rd guest battled a small king salmon to the boat, but it shook loose. We briefly had another fish on, but lost it before we could see what it was.
COHO SALMON ALERT — Ben Allen had a guest catch a silver salmon from his morning charter on the Deshka River this morning. I plan to guide and report again on July 4th — check back to learn how we do.
July 4 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught and kept king salmon of about 20 pounds each. The 4th guest hooked but lost a nice king salmon. 3 nice-sized king salmon were hooked on a Mag Lip Flatfish and 1 king salmon was hooked on a #2 Spin-n-glo fished behind a Jet Diver.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 1 of whom caught a chrome 25 pound king salmon on a Mag Lip Flatfish. A second guest caught a jack king salmon on a Mag Lip Flatfish as well. That was all we hooked during the afternoon trip — although we did have a couple additional bites we did not hook, and hooked and lost a jack salmon. During the trip we saw a pair of bald eagles, and I glimpsed a moose as it was heading off through the tall grass.
July 5 — I guided a morning group of 3 guests, 1 of whom caught a small king salmon on a Mat Lip Flatfish, a 2nd of whom caught a silver salmon and a chum salmon on a Mag Lip Flatfish and also caught a chum salmon on a Kwikfish. The 3rd guest fished the whole trip without getting a bite.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, who managed to hook one salmon on a Mag Lip Flatfish, but lost it when it threw the hook. That was the only hook up we had during the entire afternoon trip.
July 6 — I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon, and 1 of whom caught a chum salmon and 2 king salmon jacks. Both king salmon were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish, and the chum salmon and 2 king salmon jacks were caught on a #5 pink Flashtrap Spinner. The group also hooked and lost a few salmon as well. I plan to guide and post again tomorrow.
July 7 — I fished with some family members in the morning and we caught 2 small king salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, 2 of whom each caught 2 chum salmon, and 1 of whom caught a king salmon jack. 2 chum salmon and the king salmon jack were caught on Kwikfish and the remaining 2 chums salmon were caught on a Mag Lip Flatfish. During the trip we saw a couple bald eagles. I plan to guide an post again tomorrow.
July 8 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests, 2 of whom caught chum salmon, and 1 of whom caught a small king salmon. 1 chum salmon was caught on a Mat Lip Flatfish, a king salmon and a chum salmon was caught no kwikfish. The water level was up from our most recent rain and water was muddier as well. During the trip we saw a couple bald eagles watching us fish.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 1 of whom caught 2 chum salmon, a 2nd of whom caught 1 chum salmon and 1 large king salmon, with a 3rd guest catching a jack king salmon. 2 fish were caught on Kwikfish and 3 fish were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish. Once again we saw bald eagles during the trip. Weather was beautiful. I plan to fish and report again Wednesday July 9.
July 9 — I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, 2 of whom caught and harvested king salmon. 1 guest also caught 2 chum salmon. The 2 chum salmon were hooked on a Kwikfish, while 1 king salmon was caught on a Kwikfish and the other was caught on a Mag Lip Flatfish. I saw a few more fish jumping during this trip than I had in the last few trips.
July 10 — I had a day off and stopped by the new Bass Pro Shops store in Anchorage. I plan to guide and report again on July 11.
July 11 — I guided a group of 2 guests, 1 of whom caught a limit of silver salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. We fished the full trip, but could not find any fish for the other guest.
July 12 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 1 pink salmon, 1 rainbow trout, 1 king salmon, 2 silver salmon, and 7 chum salmon. All of the fish were caught on Kwikfish or Mag Lip Flatfish. During the morning trip we also saw a bull moose crossing the river directly in front of us, and we also saw some bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, who caught 1 silver salmon and 3 chum salmon and 1 rainbow trout. 3 fish were caught on Kwikfish and 2 fish were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish. Tomorrow is the last day of our 2014 king salmon season and I plan to guide and post a report. Check back to learn what we catch.
July 13 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests interested in an action packed trip. My anglers harvested 6 chum salmon and release more chum salmon. In addition one guest also caught and released a pink salmon. All of the salmon were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners, Kwikfish, or Mag Lip Flatfish. I plan to guide and report on a fishing trip again tomorrow — check back in the evening to learn what we catch.
July 14 — I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests, who caught 2 silver salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners and 2 chum salmon on a Kwikfish and a Mag Lip Flatfish. During the trip the group spotted several bald eagles.
I talked with a couple people who were on the Parks Highway tributary streams to the Susitna RIver on July 14 — and each reported the harvest of a single silver salmon, along with catching rainbow trout. Today was the first day fishing was opened on the lower sections of many of these streams, while fishing for silver salmon is just getting started, these sport will provide several other options to anglers looking to fish for and catch silver, chum, and pink salmon.
July 18 — I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests who caught 2 silver salmon, 3 chum salmon, and 2 pink salmon. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. Pink Blade and Silver Blade / Black body were the two patterns we fished. If we had not focused so much on silver salmon I think we might have caught considerably more salmon.
July 19 — I guided a morning group of 6 guests who caught and released some chum salmon and pink salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners and also caught 1 pink salmon on a Mag Lip Flatfish. During the trip we had a pair of sandhill cranes fly directly over us at very low altitude.
I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests who caught harvested 4 chum salmon and 2 pink salmon with all of the fish caught on Mag Lip Flatfish and Kwikfish. Other anglers also caught some silver salmon along the river, but silver fishing remains relatively slow.
July 20 — I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests each of whom caught a limit of salmon — although only 2 of the 4 kept a limit of salmon. The group kept a total of 5 chum salmon and 5 silver salmon, and also released some chum and pink salmon. Salmon were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish and #5 Silver /Black Flashtrap Spinners. The river should be rising dramatically by tomorrow or the next day from yesterday’s and last night’s heavy rains in the area so it will be interesting to see how we do tomorrow.
July 21 — I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught limits of chum salmon, and one of whom limited with 2 chum salmon and 1 silver salmon. All of the fish were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish. The water had risen considerably from the rain, but I suspect it will go back down quickly.
July 22 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who wanted lots of action, and they caught lots of pinks and chums along with 1 silver salmon and 1 rainbow trout. All of the fish were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish. During the trip we saw a couple bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, who caught 3 silver salmon along with a bunch of chum salmon and some pink salmon. Once again all of the fish were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish, although a couple members of the group also hooked some salmon while casting #5 Flashtrap Spinners. They ended the trip one salmon short of 3 fish limits for everyone.
July 23 — I guided a morning group of 3 guests each of whom caught 1 silver salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. In addition the guests also caught some chum salmon and pink salmon on the same lures.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests who wanted lots of action so we targeted some chum salmon for a while and they caught and released both chums and pinks. Each of them also caught 1 silver salmon. Most of their fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners, but a few were also caught on Mag Lip Flatfish.
July 24 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests 3 of whom each caught 1 silver salmon and 1 of whom caught 2 silver salmon. In addition they caught and released a few chum salmon and pink salmon. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. We saw to young bull moose along the river and a bald eagle flew low over the river beside us.
I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests who harvested 10 chum salmon and 1 silver salmon in addition they also caught and released a few pink salmon. All of the salmon were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish.
July 25 — I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests, who harvested 13 chum salmon and 1 silver salmon, and also released several pink salmon. All of the salmon were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish. It was a fun fishing trip with lots of action.
July 26 — I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught several chum salmon and pink salmon and 2 silver salmon. 1 chum salmon and 1 pink salmon were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners, and all of the other salmon were caught on Mag Lip Flatfish.
July 27 — I had a day off with a picnic and fished with family on another river in the afternoon. On a bright sunny afternoon we caught 3 silver salmon on FIre Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
July 28 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. The two patterns of spinners we fished were #5 silver/black and #5 Pink blade. On the trip we also saw a moose beside the river.
I guided an afternoon trip of 5 guests, 4 of whom caught and kept limits of silver salmon and one of whom caught and kept a limit of 2 chum salmon and a silver salmon. All of the salmon were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners in either silver /black or pink blade. During the trip we got a very close look at a large bald eagle. Water level had dropped back down a bit, but may be coming back up from today’s rain.
July 29 — I guided a morning group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a limit of salmon with a chum and a couple silver salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon on #5 silver / black Flashtrap Spinners. 1 of the guests also caught and kept a fresh chum salmon. During the trip we also saw a couple of large bald eagles perched on a bank above the river.
July 30 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon on #5 silver / black Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon on #5 silver /black Flashtrap Spinners.
July 31 — I wrote my fishing column for the Frontiersman Newspaper today on Catching salmon with Bobbers and Bait, and also delivered an order of 330 Flashtrap Spinners to 3 Rivers Fly & Tackle. While I was at the tackle shop a group of people came in looking specifically for Flashtrap Spinners — so if you are looking for some 3 Rivers is stocked up now — don’t know how long it will last. Today was a day of catching up around the house — and tomorrow I am scheduled to take family members fishing in the morning — In the afternoon I am scheduled to guide a fishing charter — I plan to post a fishing report tomorrow on a new August 2014 report page.