Alaska’s Top 3 King Salmon Rivers for 2008
May 19, 2008
Headed North to Alaska this summer to chase king salmon? Here are Alaska’s Top 3 King Rivers for 2008…
Nushagak River
Simply put, the ‘Nush is the best king salmon river on the planet. It’s not uncommon for boats to hook between 30 and 50 Chinook a day while pulling plugs or dragging eggs.
While the river had an unusually slow season in 2007, prospects for this year look good. According to Jason Dye of the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, there’s a forecast of 160,000 kings this season. If that’s the case, anglers will see an extra 100,000 fish over last year – which should put the fishing right back into the sublime category.
Kings here peak June 26-July 7.
Kasilof River
While it sits right next door to the Kenai River, the Kasilof River doesn’t get nearly the press as its famed neighbor. It probably has to do with the fact that the Kenai gets bigger fish…however, the Kasilof can hold her own in terms of numbers.
“The Kasilof’s king run has been consistent over the past 3 to 4 years,” says ADF&G’s Jason Pawluk.
“Our stocking numbers from the Crooked Creek facility have remained the same, so unless something funky happens, it should be good again this year.”
The early run of kings starts here in May and usually peaks between June 6 and June 20. There’s often a bit of a lull between the end of the early fish and the beginning of the second run in late June, but by the Fourth of July weekend, things are usually in full swing again.
Kenai River
Speaking of the world-renown Kenai, things have been a little slow over the past few seasons, but there is some hope for good fishing this year.
“At this point, it looks like we should have better than average numbers for early-run kings on the Kenai,” says Pawluk. The late run looks okay too. He says it doesn’t like ‘08 will be a banner year for late fish, but it shouldn’t be a bad return, either…somewhere right around average.
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