Area Sport Fishing Reports
Kodiak

Archived Sport Fishing Report

July 29, 2015

Kodiak Area

Week of July 26 to August 1

Emergency Orders and regulation reminders

• Marine boat anglers returning to any port on the Kodiak road system from May 31 - August 31 may not fillet, mutilate, or de-head king salmon until they have been brought to shore and offloaded, unless the fish have been consumed or preserved on board.
• Effective June12, the bag limit for sockeye salmon is increased from 2 to 5 fish in the Buskin River drainage.
• Effective June 16, the bag limit for sockeye salmon is increased from 5 to 10 fish in the Afognak and Karluk River drainages.
• Effective June 19, the bag limit for sockeye salmon is increased from 5 to 10 fish in the Ayakulik River drainage.
• Effective June 23, the bag limit for sockeye salmon is increased from 5 to 10 fish in the Dog Salmon River drainage.
• Effective June 25, sport fishing for king salmon is closed in Monashka Creek and the waters of Monashka Bay.
• Effective July 3, sport fishing for sockeye salmon is closed in the Pasagshak drainage.

Fresh waters

Salmon

• Hatchery returns of king salmon to the American and Olds Rivers are now over.
• Department of Fish and Game counting weirs on the Buskin, Afognak, Karluk, Ayakulik, Olga, Dog Salmon, Saltery and Pasagshak rivers are now operating to count returns of sockeye salmon. The Buskin and Afognak rivers runs are now effectively over, while the Saltery River run peaked during the past week. Due to a historically poor weir count, sport fishing for sockeye salmon is closed in the Pasagshak River drainage.
• King salmon runs to the Karluk and Ayakulik Rivers are over. Both drainages closed by regulation to fishing for king salmon on July 25.
• Pink salmon fishing has been excellent over the past week in near shore salt waters and in most Kodiak road zone streams. In the past week Kalsin Bay beach, Myrtle Creek Beach and the Olds River were excellent locations for catching ocean bright pink salmon.
• Updated daily counts for Kodiak salmon counting weirs are available to anglers at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/ .

Trout, Dolly Varden, Grayling

• Dolly Varden are present in large numbers this week in most Kodiak freshwater drainages. Dollies can also still be caught in near shore salt waters along beaches adjacent to most Kodiak freshwaters drainages. Dollies were reportedly being caught in the Olds and American rivers during the past week.

Lake Fishing

• Early August is an excellent time to fish rainbow trout in the stocked lakes along the Kodiak road zone. Although ADF&G currently stocks only sterile juvenile trout, some lakes with a stocking history dating to the 1950s may also contain spawning populations of adult fish. No reports of stocked rainbow trout fishing were received by the Kodiak office during the past week.

Salt waters

Halibut

• Halibut fishing was reportedly excellent during the past week, with Cape Chiniak reported as a productive location to fish.

Salmon

• Trolling for pink and silver salmon remained excellent during the past week. Buoy #4 is reported as god fishing for silvers.
• Trolling for Chinook (king) salmon in Kodiak’s marine waters has become very popular in recent years. Kings can be fished successfully year-round, though fishing tends to be spotty and difficult to predict. Recent reports indicate that trolling over the last week has been improving, at Buoy #4, off the Woody Island dock and Cape Chiniak.
• Charter vessel catches of king salmon typically peak for the year during late July and early August.
• Other well-known trolling spots along the road system are Cape Gravelle and waters between long and Woody islands.
• Local hatchery-released king salmon are no longer returning to Kalsin and White Sands beaches.
• The annual Kodiak King Salmon Derby sponsored by the Kodiak Association of Charter Operators (www.kaco.org) began on May 1 and remains open through August 15.

Other salt water fishing

• Black rockfish can currently be caught at depths of 10 fathoms or less near kelp beds along rock pinnacles and other natural or man-made structures. Rockfish are also frequently caught from shore at locations such as the outer reaches of White Sand beach and the breakwater barrier shielding St. Paul Harbor.
• Lingcod season opened on July 1.