Area Sport Fishing Reports
Southern Kenai/LCI

Archived Sport Fishing Report

August 27, 2019

Week of August 27 - September 2

Personal Use

• The Kachemak Bay Personal Use Coho Salmon Gillnet Fishery closed on Saturday, August 24. All permit holders are reminded to return their personal use permits by September 3.

Freshwater Fishing

• Coho fishing in the Anchor and Ninilchik rivers, and Deep Creek slowed some this weekend, but the early morning bite was still good enough to hook into a few in the lower sections. Coho fishing may pick back up with the larger tides this week. Anglers were successful drifting eggs under a bobber. If the coho have been fished over with eggs, running a spinner may pick up a few extra bites.
• The water in the lower Kenai Peninsula streams is extremely low. Dolly Varden fishing has been extremely slow during the day. There are plenty of dollies schooled up in the upper sections of the Anchor River near the bridge on the south end of the North Fork Road. Try fishing early morning. Pegged beads, little spinners and spoons all work well.
• Steelhead trout will start entering these streams in low numbers over the next couple weeks. Expect steelhead fishing to peak in mid-September and continue through October. Beads pegged above a hook is the most popular way to target steelhead, but jigs fished under a bobber or swinging flies can be very effective as well.
• August 31 is the last day for bait and multiple hooks.

Saltwater Fishing

Salmon

• Trolling for king and coho salmon picked up by Silver Ridge and Point Pogibshi in the last week. Try a variety of presentations to decide what’s working best at the moment, including trolling without a flasher, using spoons and herring, and varying the length of the leader. A shorter leader will produce a tighter, faster action behind a flasher than a long leader will.
• Fishing for coho salmon in the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon has slowed.

Halibut

• Halibut are being caught closer to the spit and in the inner bay, but the most consistent fishing is still in outer Kachemak Bay, in Cook Inlet, and around the corner from Point Pogibshi. Anglers have been successful launching small boats from the beach at Whiskey Gulch and targeting halibut within a mile of shore. Using a chum bag can help to get the halibut bite started.
• Herring on a circle hook is the most popular way to fish for halibut. Jigs also work well.

Other Saltwater Fishing

• Anglers are traveling well outside of Kachemak Bay for consistent success with lingcod and nonpelagic rockfish. Most anglers drift over rocky pinnacles with jigs when targeting lingcod.
• Black rockfish can be caught by jigging and trolling near prominent points of land, with larger fish and more consistent fishing near Point Pogibshi and beyond. Pelagic rockfish can also often be found near Bluff Point and Dimond Creek.

Emergency Orders

Please review the Emergency Orders and News Releases below in their entirety before heading out on your next fishing trip.

• Emergency Order 2-RCL-7-01-19 and 2-RCL-7-02-19 CLOSED all EASTSIDE Cook Inlet beaches to clamming for all species from the mouth of the Kenai River to the southernmost tip of the Homer Spit for 2019.

For additional information, please contact the ADF&G Homer office at (907) 235-8191.