Area Sport Fishing Reports
Southern Kenai/LCI

July 8, 2025

Freshwater Fishing

• The Anchor River, Deep Creek, and Ninilchik River are closed to all sport fishing through July 15, 2025.
• China Poot personal use dipnet fishery has been productive recently. This week would be a great time to catch your fill of sockeye salmon for the grill, smoker, and freezer.

Saltwater Fishing
Kachemak Bay/Cook Inlet

Groundfish

• Halibut fishing continues to be really good, but some locations have been spotty. Plenty of large fish were caught over the holiday weekend. Try moving locations or drifting to find fish.
• Both lingcod and yelloweye seasons are open. Most anglers travel to the outer coast to find success with them. Fishing was good over the weekend for both species and should continue to be productive on conducive weather days.
• Surf fishing has remained a popular option for those anglers without boats. Whiskey Gulch and Deep Creek are great locations to try for halibut. Fishing off the tip of the Homer Spit is still producing a variety of groundfish including halibut, sculpins, skates, sharks, flounders, and cod.

King Salmon

King salmon fishing was poor to fair over the week. July is usually the slowest month for king salmon. There are good numbers of pink salmon at Point Pogibshi, which can be challenging to target king salmon there. Try fishing deeper to avoid the pink salmon. Small troll herring or spoons behind a flasher is the most popular setup, but hootchies and tube flies will also produce fish. To find king salmon at any location, try setting the gear at different depths including mid-water column and 10 feet off the bottom.

Sockeye Salmon

There should be a good number of sockeye salmon around Tutka Lagoon and in front of China Poot Creek. Most anglers snag these fish with weighted treble hooks.

Coho Salmon

There are scattered reports of coho salmon in the Nick Dudiak Lagoon and trolling in the outer portions of Kachemak Bay. Expect poor fishing over the next week until the runs start showing up in better numbers.

Emergency Orders

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

Anchor River and Deep Creek Closed to Sport Fishing
Sport Fishing For King Salmon Closed in Upper Cook Inlet Salt Waters
King Salmon Bag Limit Reduced from 2 to 1 in Lower Cook Inlet Salt Waters
Changes to King Salmon Gear in the Ninilchik River
Rockfish bag limit reduction: 2 pelagic, 1 non-pelagic. No retention of yelloweye May 27 – June 30th.

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