John Kumiski, Alaska

Sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report

Thank you for reading this sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report, fresh from Katmai Lodge!

The extraordinary hot, sunny weather we have been experiencing continued through the week. Salmon don’t like the sun. They come into the river out of 100 feet or more of water in the ocean. Suddenly they’re in a river only a few feet deep, with that blazing orb hurting their eyes. Small wonder they don’t bite well.

We went out after supper one evening, to “sockeye school” run by Jamie. Stupid numbers of fish were coming upriver, moving while the sun was low in the sky. Our photos show what a strenuous, stressful time we had on this outing.

Instructor Jamie shows how it’s done.

Sockeyes come out of a riffle.

Matt casts to sockeyes.

No surprise, Tammy caught on fast.

SCORE!

Matt scores too!

I spent the professional part of my week back-trolling for kings (with zero success) every morning, then trying to catch sockeyes during the brightest, hottest part of the day. We did not do well.

Last night we finally got a small blast of cooler air, accompanied by rain that lasted until about midday today. With the clouds the salmon started moving well, and my new guests both got their sockeye limits in only a couple hours.

A few chums and kings are being caught. We look forward to the impending incursion of chum salmon into the river. I love those beasts!

That’s this week’s sockeye Alagnak River Fishing Report! Thanks for reading!

Life is great and I love my work!

Life is short- Go Fishing!

John Kumiski
www.spottedtail.com