Area Sport Fishing Reports
Northern Kenai

Archived Sport Fishing Report

July 21, 2022

ADF&G News

  • The Soldotna ADF&G office is now offering a fishing rod loaner program and has salmon fishing gear anglers can borrow for up to three days. This is a first come, first served program and rods cannot be reserved. For more information, check out the Rod Loaner Program webpage or contact Jenny Gates at (907) 262-9368.
  • ADF&G is mobile. You can purchase and display your fishing license and king stamp, record your annual harvest (i.e., king salmon, halibut), access sport fishing regulations and locations, and so much more on your mobile device. Download the ADF&G Mobile App today.

Freshwater Fishing

Kenai River

  • The late-run Kenai River king salmon sport fishery is closed. King salmon incidentally caught while fishing for other species may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately. Only one unbaited, single-hook artificial lure may be used. Please see the emergency order below for more information.
  • Fishing for rainbow trout and Dolly Varden in the middle and upper Kenai River is fair to good.
  • Lower Kenai River sockeye salmon fishing has been good to excellent and should continue to be good to excellent as late-run fish continue to enter the river. Effective 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 22 bag limits will increase from three per day and six in possession to six per day and 12 in possession. Please see emergency order below for more information.
    • Refer to pages 55 and 56 of the 2022 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary for maps denoting riverbank closures on the lower Kenai River. These riverbank closures are effective through August 15. In areas where the riverbank is closed to fishing, anglers may fish while standing in the water at least 10 feet from the shoreline and anchored boats must be more than 10 feet from the shore and not connected to the shore.
    • Try fishing at Centennial Park, Rotary Park, Donald E. Gilman River Center, Soldotna Visitors Center, Moose Range Meadows, or Soldotna Creek Park.
    • The Kenai River is high making fishing from shore challenging in some areas. Water levels are anticipated to continue to drop.

Kasilof River

  • Kasilof River king salmon sport fishery is closed. King salmon incidentally caught while fishing for other species may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately. Only one unbaited, single-hook artificial lure may be used when sport fishing from the mouth upstream to Tustumena Lake. Please see the emergency order below for more information.
  • Kasilof River sockeye salmon fishing is good to excellent. Trying fishing from shore at the Crooked Creek State Recreation Site. Anglers are reminded that Crooked Creek is closed to fishing. Bag and possession limits are six per day and 12 in possession. Please see the emergency order below for more information.

Resurrection Creek

Pink salmon are beginning to arrive at Resurrection Creek in Hope and fishing will improve over the next couple of weeks.

Russian River

Sockeye fishing on the Upper Kenai and Russian rivers is slow but anglers are catching limits in some areas with time. Fishing will improve over the next couple of weeks. The bag and possession limit is three fish per day and six fish in possession.

Personal Use

Only Alaska residents may participate in personal use dipnet fisheries. An Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use permit is required in addition to a sport fishing license. Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use permit harvest and participation must be reported online no later than August 15 through the ADF&G harvest reporting webpage. Permit holders who fail to report will be denied an Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon permit the following year and may be subject to a $200 fine. If you did not use the permit or if you used the permit but did not catch anything you still have to report. Returning permits by mail or hand-delivery is no longer an acceptable means to report.

Kenai River

The Kenai River dipnet fishery is reported as good to excellent. Fishing is allowed between 6:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m. Effective at 11:00 p.m. Friday, July 22 salmon may be harvested 24 hours per day. Please refer to pages 13-14 of the 2022 the Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary booklet for a map denoting area open and closed to dipnetting. Retention of king salmon, rainbow/steelhead trout and Dolly Varden in this fishery is prohibited. Please see emergency orders below for more information.

Kasilof River

The Kasilof River dipnet fishery is reported as good to excellent. Fishing is allowed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The area open to fishing was expanded by emergency order. Anglers may harvest salmon from the shore from ADF&G markers located on Cook Inlet beaches outside the terminus of the river upstream to the Sterling Highway Bridge. Salmon may be harvest from a boat from ADF&G markers located on Cook Inlet beaches outside the terminus of the river upstream to ADF&G markers placed at approximately river mile 3. Anglers are reminded that retention of king salmon, Dolly Varden, or rainbow/steelhead trout is not allowed, and fish must be released immediately. Please refer to emergency order below for more information.

Local Lakes

  • Lake fishing for rainbow trout, Arctic char, Arctic grayling, and land locked salmon should be good to excellent. Try fishing with dry or wet flies such as an egg sucking leech, bead head nymph, or mosquito pattern; small spoons and spinners size #0 or #2; or small bait under a bobber.
  • John Hedberg Lake located in Nikiski is fishing is excellent.
  • Not familiar with all the stocked lakes in the area? Check out the ADF&G publication with locations, access, and other valuable information on Kenai Peninsula area lakes. More lake information can be found on the ADF&G Alaska Lakes Database.
  • Interested in recent stocking activities at lakes? Check out the ADF&G stocking database online.
  • Many local lakes have been stocked with rainbow trout and coho salmon fingerling recently. For specific lake stocking information including species stocked and numbers of fish stocked, directions, bathymetric maps, and amenities, please visit the ADF&G Alaska Lakes Database.

Emergency Orders

Please review the emergency orders and advisory announcements below in their entirety before heading out on your next fishing trip.

Kenai River and Russian River

  • Emergency Order 2-RS-1-60-22 increases the bag and possession limit for salmon, 16 inches or longer, other than king, pink and coho salmon, from three per day and six in possession to six per day and 12 in possession, in the Kenai River from its mouth upstream to an ADF&G regulatory marker located at the outlet of Skilak Lake. No more than two salmon, 16 inches or longer, per day and in possession may be coho salmon. This regulatory change is effective 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 22 through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, December 31, 2022.
  • Emergency Order 2-RS-1-59-22 increases the hours salmon may be taken by dip net in the personal use fishery at the mouth of the Kenai River. Effective 11:00 p.m. Friday, July 22 salmon may be harvested by dipnetting 24 hours per day through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 31, 2022.
  • Emergency Order 2-KS-1-53-22 supersedes prior emergency orders and closes the Kenai River to fishing for king salmon and prohibits the use of bait and multiple hooks in the Kenai River from its mouth upstream to ADF&G markers located at the outlet of Skilak Lake. This closure prohibits all sport fishing for king salmon, including catch-and-release fishing. King salmon may not be retained or possessed; king salmon caught while fishing for other species may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately. These regulatory changes are effective 12:01 a.m. Sunday, July 17 through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 31, 2022.
  • Emergency Order 2-KS-1-46-22 prohibits the retention of king salmon in the Kenai River personal use dipnet fishery. Any king salmon caught incidentally may not be removed from the water and must be release immediately and returned to the water unharmed. This regulatory change is effective through 11:00 p.m. Sunday, July 31, 2022.

Kasilof River

  • Emergency Order 2-KS-1-54-22 supersedes previous emergency orders and closes king salmon sport fishing in the Kasilof River downstream of the Sterling Highway Bridge to the river mouth from 12:01 a.m. Sunday, July 17 through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 31, 2022. Additionally, only one unbaited, single-hook, artificial lure may be used when sport fishing from the river mouth upstream to the outlet of Tustumena Lake from 12:01 a.m. Sunday, July 17 through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, July 31, 2022. This closure prohibits all sport fishing for king salmon, including catch-and-release fishing. King salmon may not be retained or possessed, may not be removed from the water, and must be released immediately.
  • Emergency order 2-RS-1-45-22 expands the personal use salmon dipnet fishing area on the Kasilof River. Salmon may be harvested from the shore from ADF&G markers located on Cook Inlet beaches outside the terminus of the river upstream to the Sterling Highway Bridge. Salmon may be harvested from a boat from ADF&G markers located on Cook Inlet beaches outside the terminus of the river upstream to ADF&G markers placed at approximately river mile 3. This regulatory change is effective through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, August 7, 2022.
  • Emergency Order 2-RS-1-44-22 increases the bag and possession limit for salmon, 16 inches or longer, to six fish per and 12 in possession in all portions of the Kasilof River open to salmon fishing. No more than two salmon per day and two in possession may be coho salmon. This regulatory change is effective through 11:59 p.m. Saturday, December 31, 2022.

Local Lakes

  • Emergency Order 2-NP-1-04-22 prohibits the retention of any species of fish in East Mackey, West Mackey, Sevena, Union, and Derks lakes for the 2022 season.
  • Emergency Order 2-DV-1-03-22 establishes a bag and possession limit of Arctic char/Dolly Varden in Stormy Lake of one fish, less than 16 inches in length for the 2022 season.

Don’t forget to purchase your 2022 sport fishing license and king stamp! Purchase your 2022 sport fishing license and king stamp through the ADF&G online store and print it off from the comfort of your own home. Also, make sure to review emergency orders, advisory announcements, and the 2022 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary booklet for the area you are fishing in before you head out.

For additional information, please contact the ADF&G Soldotna Area Office at (907) 262-9368.