Kenai River

    The emergency order from Fish and Game prohibiting the use of bait in the Lower Kenai River expires Thursday night at midnight. The expiration includes the use of multiple hooks and scent on lures.

Even with the restrictions lifting, incidentally hooked king salmon may not be retained or possessed. King salmon caught while fishing for other species may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately.

        It's been a week since king salmon fishing closed by regulation on the Kenai River. It was characteristically slow at the end, though the 2019 run kept pace with 2018 until the last week of July.

Fish and Game records show the run peaked on July 21st when 546 kings passed the sonar. Through Saturday, the run stood at 9,586, about 2,000 less than last year, and 6,000 less than 2017.

Even though commercial cannabis sales have been legal in Alaska for a couple of years, the state’s position is still in conflict with federal law. That message was brought home by the U.S. Coast Guard at a recent Kenai City Council meeting.

Lt. Scott Peters told the council that the Coast Guard Auxiliary will be doing boating safety checks at the Kenai Dock duding low tide, while he and rangers from State Parks will be out on the Kenai River doing boating safety checks.

Kings and sockeye are running on the main stem of the Kenai River, and soon tributary streams will open for rainbow trout fishing.

The latest report from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game indicates fishing is expected to be good.

The confluence of the Upper Kenai and Russian rivers will open for early run sockeye fishing on Tuesday.

Kasilof River king salmon fishing is good and should continue to improve over the next week or two.