Area Sport Fishing Reports
Southern Kenai/LCI

Archived Sport Fishing Report

August 25, 2015

Homer Area

Week of August 24 to August 31

Emergency Orders and Regulation Reminders

• All Eastside Cook Inlet beaches from the Kenai River to the tip of the Homer Spit are closed to all clams and mussels through December 31, 2015.
• The Cook Inlet and North Gulf Coast sport, personal use & subsistence Tanner crab fisheries will not open for the 2015-2016 season.

Regulation Reminders

• Areas upstream of the two-mile regulatory markers on the Anchor and Ninilchik Rivers and Deep and Stariski Creeks opened on August 1 and remain open until October 31 to fishing for Dolly Varden and steelhead/rainbow trout. Salmon may not be targeted or harvested upstream of the two-mile regulatory markers.
• Please familiarize yourself with the differences between a silver salmon and a steelhead. Steelhead/rainbow trout have black spots all over both lobes of the tail, while silvers have black spots only on the upper lobe of the tail. Steelhead/rainbow trout may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.

Salt Water Fisheries

Halibut

• Halibut fishing success has been fair with many anglers catching their limits, though fish were small. Sampled fish harvested out of the Homer port averaged 11.9 lbs. (range –4.25 – 48.8 lbs.). Many anglers had success using herring on circle hooks. The department has received several reports of “mushy” halibut this season. The flesh of these fish is very soft or flabby, sometimes with pockets of jelly-like tissue, and the flesh is mushy after being cooked. Experience during years of high prevalence of this condition (1998, 2005, 2011-12) shows that the incidence of these fish can be high for anglers fishing certain locales. If you catch a fish that feels flabby or does not look as robust and rounded as a healthy halibut should, release it immediately unharmed and consider moving to a different area to avoid these fish. Department research is ongoing.

Salmon

• Trolling for feeder kings and coho salmon is reported as good from Silver Ridge and near Bluff Point.
• Popular trolling set-ups for salmon include herring, tube flies, and spoons. Try using dodgers or flashers for extra attraction.
• Fishing for coho salmon at the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon on the Homer Spit has slowed, but there are still bright fish available. Try fishing around the incoming tide as new fish arrive for the best success.
• As a part of the Chinook Salmon Research Initiative, the Department is looking at the genetic stock composition of the marine king salmon fishery. There are port samplers stationed at the Homer Harbor, and Deep Creek and Anchor Point tractor launches conducting quick interviews and collecting biological information, scales, and genetic clips from sport caught king salmon. If you fished for king salmon in Cook Inlet, regardless of success, we’d like to talk to you! More information on the Chinook Salmon Research Initiative can be found at: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=chinookinitiative.main .

Other Saltwater Fishing

• Anglers are reporting bycatch of spiny dogfish. Dogfish travel in large schools and concentrate in Cook Inlet and Kachemak Bay in August, so be prepared to release a few or pick up and move to avoid catching them. Lingcod fishing has been slow as the fall storms begin to move in. Success can be found in waters surrounding the Chugach and Elizabeth Islands, if anglers have access to vessels able to safely navigate in sometimes unpredictable fall weather conditions.
• The Homer Spit offers a variety of fishing opportunities. Anglers are catching walleye pollock, Pacific cod, and a variety of flatfish species off the end of the spit, and coho salmon along the eastern shore.
• Anglers fishing near the Barren, Chugach, and Elizabeth Islands are catching lingcod and rockfish as well as other target species. Rockfish caught in deep water suffer injuries from decompression. Recent research by Department staff indicates that survival of released rockfish can be substantially improved by releasing fish at the depth of capture. For more information on the use of deep water release mechanisms, see the department’s Web page at http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSportFishingInfo.rockfishconservation .

Fresh water Fisheries

Streams

• Coho salmon are arriving in area streams and fishing is reported as fair to good. Try fishing early in the morning or at the mouth of the stream during the incoming tide. Salmon roe clusters and plug-cut herring work the best, but spinners and streamer flies also catch fish.
• Steelhead fishing on these streams typically peaks in mid to late September. Fly anglers find success by dead-drifting a variety of streamers, leeches, and salmon-egg patterns. Other effective tackle includes spinners, jigs suspended under bobbers, and corkies with yarn.
• Fishing for Dolly Varden will continue through late summer on into ice-up. They can be caught on the same fly-fishing tackle used for steelhead and can provide excellent action on light tackle.

Lake Fishing

• The Kenai Peninsula stocked lakes fishing conditions are good. Most of these lakes are stocked with rainbow trout which, this time of year, are taken on dry or wet flies, small spoons, spinners, or bait. A brochure listing the locations of the stocked lakes is available on the Sport Fish web site and at ADF&G offices.

Shellfish

• Clamming tides run August 28 through September 3.
• Razor clams can be found on beaches along the west side of Cook Inlet and are accessed by boat or plane. Popular razor clam beaches include Crescent River and Polly Creek.
• Boaters should use caution before traveling across the inlet because of strong currents and should check weather forecast before traveling.
• Littleneck (steamer) and butter clams can be found in gravel beaches on the south side of Kachemak Bay from Seldovia to Chugachik Island.
• Good numbers of butter clams are found on the islands in China Poot Bay. Butter clams can be found up to two feet deep. Littleneck clams can be found in a variety of habitats from Jakolof Bay to Bear Cove. Try exploring new beaches for success. Typically, littleneck clams are found shallower in the substrate, up to eight inches deep.
• All shrimp and crab fisheries in Kachemak Bay remain closed for 2015.