July Alaska FIshing Reports with Fishtale RIver Guides
During the month of July we catch a variety of Alaska salmon species. King salmon fishing is open through July 13 — and catching Alaska’s largest salmon species is our focus during the early part of the month. Usually during the first week of July we also start catching a few chum salmon, and may also catch our first silver (coho) salmon of the season. Silver salmon catches pick up as the month progresses. Later in July we also catch some pink salmon, and a few sockeye salmon are available throughout the entire month of July — although we usually catch very few sockeye.
July 1, 2015 — I had a day off from guiding trips — so my wife and I drove over to Eklutna Tailrace and tried our luck at catching a king salmon for a few hours. We saw a few smaller fish get caught, but we did not even hook a fish. We spent most of our trip drifting salmon roe cured with Pautzke’s FIre Cure under ESB Bobbers, but also cast spinners for a while with the same results.
Late in the day the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) issued an emergency order that opens Little Susitna River downstream of the Parks Highway Bridge to bait fishing starting at 6 a.m. on July 3 through 11 p.m. on July 13. Most of the king salmon available for harvest are below the Parks Highway, but many miles upstream of ADF&G’s Little Susitna River salmon counting weir. Therefore, we are expecting the use of bait should provide modest increases in our ability to catch Little Susitna River salmon at this time in the area we fish from the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility Campground and Boat Launch. Salmon passage through the Little Susitna Weir on July 1 was 5 king salmon, 1 chum salmon, and 1 sockeye salmon.
July 2 — My afternoon trip cancelled their reservation, so I am spending July 2 working on other aspects of our guide business besides guiding trips. I am scheduled to guide a trip again on Friday July 3 — and will try to post results from that trip sometime in the evening. Check back then, for the latest report of what our guests are catching.
July 3 — I guided a morning group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. The fish were liking the bait.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, and once again everyone caught and harvested a king salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. I should be out guiding and reporting again tomorrow.
July 4 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a smaller blushed king salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we saw the usual bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests, 4 of whom caught smaller king salmon and the other of whom caught a jack king salmon. All of the fish were caught on Fire Cure salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. The group saw a muskrat swimming near the boat, and a mink which was running along the bank, before it got in the water and caught a small fish. We also saw some bald eagles.
July 5 — I had the day off from guiding and spent my time doing a few chores around the house. Will be guiding again tomorrow.
July 6 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we saw several young bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 anglers, 1 of whom caught a smaller king salmon, and 1 of whom caught a chum salmon. Both fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. During the afternoon trip one of the guests spotted a weasel running along and playing along the bank. We also saw several young bald eagles.
July 7 — I guided a group of 5 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon and 2 of whom also caught jack king salmon before keeping their larger fish. All of the king salmon were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. Even though my group caught fish, the number of king salmon available in the lower river is dropping considerably — and it is getting difficult to find fish — also the water remains extremely low and boating is difficult.
July 8 — I took 3 family members and a friend fishing, and they caught 2 small king salmon, and 8 chum salmon. All of the fish were caught by drifting FIre Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. Even with the rain, the water remains low and clear and the number of king salmon available continues to drop as most of them have migrated further upstream.
July 9, 2015 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who caught 2 king salmon and 1 jack salmon. All of the fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we also saw several bald eagles and a pair of beavers.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 anglers, 1 of whom caught a king salmon and another of whom caught a jack king salmon. Both fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. The afternoon group saw several bald eagles and a pair of moose along the river.
July 10 — I guided an afternoon group of 4 anglers, 1 of whom caught a jack king salmon and a sucker. Both fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber. During the trip we also had a few additional strikes the guests were unable to hook. We saw some bald eagles and a Cow and calf moose.
July 11 — I guided a mid-morning group of 4 guests, 1 of whom caught 2 rainbow trout, 2 jack king salmon, and 1 king salmon. 1 Guest caught 2 chum salmon, and another guest caught 1 chum salmon. All of the fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. Water conditions remain very low and make for difficult boat navigation.
COHO HO! — First Silver Salmon from My Boat
July 12 — I guided a group of 5 guests, each of whom caught a limit of salmon. The group harvested 2 king salmon, 2 silver (coho) salmon, a jack king salmon, and several chum salmon. All of the fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. We had much better success getting fish to bite today, and we are hoping that continues. Tomorrow July 13 is the last day of our king salmon season, so we will be switching our focus to catching silver and chum salmon starting on July 14.
River Gets Chummy with Coho Too!
July 13 — On the last day of the king salmon season for 2015 I guided a group of 4 guests who caught 2 king salmon, 3 coho salmon, and 7 chum salmon. All of the fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. I brought my boat home at the end of the trip to get it ready to go for focussed chum and silver salmon fishing.
July 14 — Did not fish — worked on gear and boat.
July 15 –I guided a morning group of 5 guests, who caught 5 chum salmon, 1 silver salmon, and 1 sockeye salmon. All of the fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. Water level remains very low making the fish somewhat spooky. After the fishing trip I also delivered over 200 Flashtrap Spinners to 3 Rivers Fly & Tackle in Wasilla. Get them if you want them as the more popular sizes and colors likely won’t last long.
July 16 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 4 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon, all of the fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw a couple moose.
I guide an afternoon group of 5 guests, who fished hard and lost some fish right near the boat, but did not managed to catch a legal salmon. During the trip we saw several bald eagles and a good number of salmon.
July 17 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who caught 8 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. 2 Guests caught limits and 2 guests caught 1 salmon each. It was raining most of the morning, and they decided to head back early.
I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests, who caught a total of 1 silver salmon, 14 chum salmon, and 2 rainbow trout. The silver salmon, 12 chum salmon, and 1 rainbow trout were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. 2 chum salmon and 1 rainbow trout were caught on small plugs. During the trip we saw a couple immature bald eagles.
July 18 — I guided a morning group of 2 guests, who caught a good number of chum salmon, and kept one of them. All of the fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. We also saw some immature bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, who caught several chum salmon and one silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.
July 19 — I guided a morning group of the same two guests from the day before, and although we fished lots of prime spots we did not manage to land a single salmon. My guests cast Flashtrap Spinners during the entire trip. The water had come up only a bit over the past couple days, but the salmon seemed to be traveling more than biting. Other boaters managed to do better than we did on this trip.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, who caught 2 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. The group also hooked a few additional salmon that we were unable to land, but most of the salmon we saw were not interested in biting, and we fished over several schools of fish. During the trip we saw a moose with two large calves that crossed the river below us.
July 20, 2015 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 7 chum salmon and 1 silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught 7 silver salmon and 2 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.
July 21 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 7 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw some muskrats.
I guided an afternoon trip of 4 guests who caught 3 silver salmon, 2 chum salmon, 1 pink salmon, and 1 king salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we also saw a couple bald eagles.
July 22 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests, who caught 7 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. The two hot patterns for us were Pink and Silver / Black. During the trip we saw a coyote along the river. The number of silver salmon available in the river has picked up considerably over the past 3 days.
July 23 — I wrote my weekly fishing column for the Frontiersman Newspaper, and did not guide any fishing trips. I drove over to Eklutna Tailrace late in the day and saw some anglers catching a few sockeye salmon.
July 24 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 4 chum salmon and 3 silver salmon all on Flashtrap Spinners. The #3 silver /black and #3 black / black patterns produced the most hookups for us on this trip.
I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests who caught 2 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. We covered lots of holes but with plenty of fishing pressure in the afternoon, we failed to get many bites . The group did hook and lose a few fish, however, overall we simply did not have a lot of opportunities in the afternoon.
July 25 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. 1 guest also caught a salmon-sized rainbow trout which he released and 1 other guests also caught 3 chum salmon and 1 pink salmon (3 of which were released). All fish were caught before each guest kept their 2nd silver salmon. During the trip we saw some bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests who caught 2 chum salmon on #3 Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw some bald eagles. With the low water level and high angler pressure the past couple days, the afternoon trips have been much tougher to get bites.
July 26 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 3 of whom each caught a limit of silver salmon. The 4th guest was a 6-year old boy, who was having trouble hooking the salmon, so I hooked a chum salmon and a silver salmon that he managed to pull in. It was a very wet morning and most fair weather fishermen were not out on the river today. All of our fish were caught by casting Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught limits of silver salmon, and 2 of whom each caught 1 silver salmon. All of the fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners.
July 27 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who caught a bunch of chum salmon and 2 silver salmon. All of the fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners, and we fished many of the same holes as the day before, but came up with few silvers that actually made it to the boat. During the trip we saw a couple immature bald eagles that were around us for a while.
i guided an afternoon group of 4 guests each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners with SIlver / Black and Pink blade being the hot patterns.
July 28 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of ocean-fresh silver salmon. 2 of the guests also caught and kept a chum salmon before keeping their 2nd silver salmon. All of the fish were caught by casting #5 Pink Blade and #5 Silver / Black Flashtrap Spinners. We also saw a moose that crossed the river ahead of the boat during the trip.
July 29 — I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests who caught a total of 7 silver salmon and also pulled in a couple that I hooked. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners, but we had to work for most of the bites. River is starting to rise and should go up significantly in the next day or two.
July 30 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 5 silver salmon and 4 chum salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. The group also hooked and lost some other salmon, but we only found the fish schooled up on a few locations.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught 4 silver salmon and also reeled in 1 additional silver that I hooked. Water was up and dirty in the afternoon, and we had to work hard to get bites. All of the salmon were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
July 31 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who caught 7 silver salmon and 3 chum salmon. All of the fish were caught by casting #5 Flashtrap Spinners. Water was up from the recent rain and the fish were moving quickly in the morning. During the trip we also saw some bald eagles.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, who caught 3 silver salmon, and 3 chum salmon, and also reeled in a silver salmon and a chum salmon that I hooked. All of the fish were once again caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. Water remains high and dark colored, but the fish were not moving as quickly in the afternoon.
See August 2015 Alaska FIshing Reports page for next update