Area Sport Fishing Reports
Kodiak

September 30, 2025

Freshwater Fishing

• Silvers in much of the Island have passed the peak of the runs, but are still coming in and will continue through at least mid-October.
• Pasagshak, Olds, Buskin, Salonie and Russian have the best road-accessible runs.
• Saltery and Lake Miam are having decent silver runs as well, but lots of dark fish already. Most success has been in the lakes.
• Pillar and Monashka Creeks have had below average runs so far but there are silvers continuing to come in; appears to be just a handful with every tide at this point.
• Dollies are still in most rivers now as well, with Buskin, American, Salonie, and the Olds being local favorites. By early October, dolly fishing can get a little tougher sometimes, but it usually just takes some persistence and finding the right lure or fly to entice them to bite.

Saltwater Fishing

• King salmon fishing continues to be good in Whale Pass with the occasional fish being picked up at the Fingers or other spots in Chiniak Bay. The bag limit will remain at 2 per day for the remainder of the year. Always remember to keep an eye out for emergency orders for bag limit changes inseason.
• Halibut fishing has picked up some with folks finding fish in the 20-50lb range more frequently than earlier in September. The outer reefs at Chiniak, Buoys 1 and 3, Kalsin and Kodiak rocks have been good at times, but slower than earlier in the summer.
• Recent effort for lingcod has been focused at Sunken Spruce, Kodiak Rocks and Triple Lumps. Remember lingcod season closes on January 1 annually.
• There’s been quite a bit of success finding a variety of rockfish species lately: dusky, dark, yellowtail, copper, tiger rockfish. The best success for finding rockfish besides black rockfish has been fishing a little deeper and moving away from the traditional reefs and rock piles that hold the large populations of black rockfish.

Local Lakes

There is typically some great fall fishing for silvers and rainbows in our local lakes here on the road system. Buskin, Saltery, Miam, Lake Rose Teed and Kalsin Pond typically offer good fishing into November for silvers and even later at times. Rainbows can be caught readily late into the fall in Buskin, Miam and Saltery, and Saltery offers some of the best fishing for dollies and arctic char on the island. Remember that rainbow trout are catch and release only in non-stocked waters, and the use of bait is closed in the Road Zone from November 1 through April 30.

Special Species Information

• Coho salmon runs are in full swing but its often hard to gauge run strength in season since the peak of our local coho runs can vary by up to 3 weeks annually. This is one of the major reasons the coho salmon bag limit reduces to 1 fish on September 16th annually as a precautionary conservation measure. ADF&G staff are out the road frequently surveying streams by foot surveys and drones to assess run strength and will adjust bag limits as able by emergency order.
• New rockfish regulations took effect April 1 for Kodiak and Afognak waters north of Dangerous and Cape Ikolik. This includes all the waters of Afognak, Raspberry and Shuyak Islands as well as Chiniak, Ugak and Marmot Bays and all of Whale Pass, Kupreanof Straight and the Westside of Kodiak Island. It is also in effect for all anglers, both resident and non-resident.
• Anglers fishing in these waters can keep 5 rockfish per day, but only 2 can be of a single species. This is similar to salmon bag limits in the Kodiak Road Zone. For example, an angler could harvest 2 black rockfish, 2 dusky rockfish and a yelloweye. Species ID guides are available in the Southwest Alaska Regulation Booklet, on the ADF&G website and in the Kodiak ADF&G office.
• The standard bag limit for yelloweye rockfish is still in effect Island wide, only one fish of your rockfish bag limit may be a yelloweye.
• After similar regulations were implemented last season, many anglers found that shifting their fishing behavior slightly resulted in increased rockfish catches of species other than black rockfish, which are typically most commonly caught. Dark rockfish, dusky rockfish and other species can often be found just off the side of a rock pile or reef and in deeper water than black rockfish that typically prefer the top of and middle of these structures.
• Keep an eye out for some of the species you may not have realized we have in Kodiak: widow, yellowtail, canary, tiger, northern and silvergray rockfish are some of these.

Emergency Orders

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

• Emergency Order 2-RS-4-35-25 increased the bag and possession limit for sockeye salmon in the Ayakulik River Drainage to 10 per day effective July 7, 2025. This is a combined salmon bag limit, of which all 10 may be sockeye salmon, but no more than 5 may be pink, chum or coho.
• Emergency Order 2-RF-4-19-25 reduced the bag and possession limit for a single species of rockfish to 2 per day, 4 in possession north of Outlet Cape and Cape Ikolik. This emergency order is in effect from Tuesday April 1, 2025 through 11:59 pm. Wednesday, December 31, 2025.

Don't forget to purchase your 2025 sport fishing license and king stamp! You can purchase and display your fishing license and king stamp, record your annual harvest (i.e. king salmon), access sport fishing regulations and locations, and so much more on your mobile device. Download the ADF&G Mobile App today. You can also purchase licenses through the ADF&G online store and print it off from the comfort of your own home. Make sure to review emergency orders, advisory announcements, and the 2025 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary booklet for the area you are fishing before you head out.

For additional information, please contact the ADF&G Kodiak Area Office at (907) 486-1880.