June 2024 Alaska Fishing Reports
June 1, 2024 — As mentioned in May Fishing Reports — people will need to call in order to make a reservation for one of our 2024 king salmon fishing trips to Knik River, or to make a reservation for fishing at other locations during the month of June 2024.
June 6, 2024 — I guided a mid-morning group of 3 guest to the Knik River looking for king salmon. We fished a small area of the Knik River below Eklutna Tailrace and shared by several other boats of king salmon anglers. For most of the trip we did not have much action at all, but after the tide had fallen my guests experienced a short flurry of action in which each of them had a good bite, one guest hooked but lost a salmon, and another guest caught an 11-pound king salmon. All of the bites occurred while guests were drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
June 9, 10, 11 — Annual fishing / camping trip with my wife and a couple friends. I took my largest boat, and every member of the group managed to catch a few fish each day. We also enjoyed a caught that day fish dinner during one evening.
June 13 — I guided a group of 2 guest on a king salmon fishing trip to the Knik River. Fishing was slow with little action most of the trip (we watched a salmon get caught by two different boats out of the plethora of boats we saw fishing. Near the end of the trip one of my guest’s bobber disappeared and when he reeled up the slack line and set the hook it was Game On! After a spirited give and take battle he managed to lead a chrome king salmon laden with sea-lice to the net. My estimate was about 25 pounds — a very respectable fish for 2024. The fish was caught on Salmon roe cured with Pautzke’s Fire Cure and drifted under an ESB Bobber.
June 16 — I guided a group of 3 women who met up for an Alaska trip from San Francisco, New Orleans, and Fort Worth. They choose to fish the Knik River for king salmon knowing the fishing had been slow. They fished bait under bobbers for nearly the entire trip before one of them had a bobber dunking bite. She caught a chrome king salmon in the 10-pound class on Fire Cured salmon roe drift under an ESB bobber just as the trip was scheduled to conclude. It was a hot day, and the river was rising and becoming turbid,
June 25 — I guided a retired couple from Nevada who had driven a motorhome to Alaska. Some people just want to try for a king salmon, and even knowing the fishing had been slow on the Knik River — they chose that option to catch and harvest king salmon. This time we did not have to wait most of the trip before getting a bite. Both the husband and wife caught jack king salmon of about 18 inches. Both fish were caught on Fire Cured salmon roe fished behind a Jet Diver. Water was getting increasingly turbid and even though one of them tried fishing Fire Cured roe under an Esb Bobber, there were no takers to the quicker moving bait.
June 26 — The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) increased the Kasilof River sockeye salmon daily bag limit to 6 per person, while also increasing the sockeye salmon possession limit to 12 fish starting at 12:01 a.m. today.
June 27 — The commercial drift gillnet fishery in the Federal Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Upper Cook Inlet harvested t 10 pink, 206 chum, 5,645 sockeye salmon and 2 coho salmon in their 12-hour commercial opening today. This is an indication that the salmon species, other than king salmon, are arriving north of Homer, and will be showing up in Northern Cook Inlet rivers and streams before long.
June 28 — I am preparing gear to try for sockeye, chum, and coho salmon. Many Mat-Su Valley fisheries are currently restricted to single-hook artificial lures with a hook gap between the hook shank and hook point of 1/2 inch or less. I’ve put together some set ups that should get the job done, and I am ready to guide some guests on a new experience of the 2024 season. Guest should give us a call at 907-746-2199 if they would like to try some active fishing in search of harvestable numbers of sockeye, chum, or coho salmon.