Kenai River Early King Salmon Run

With the coldest winter on the Kenai Peninsula in 30 years the early season king run got off to a slow start. Unusually colder ocean temperatures seemed to have delayed a great many salmon returns throughout Cook Inlet in 1999 and the Kenai was no different.

In addition to that, the Peninsula had near record snowpack in the mountains which feed the Kenai, lending to an extended and slow breakup and prolonged low water levels as cool mountain temperatures minimized spring runoff. Although May & June river water conditions remained good, the cold runoff appeared to have slowed the bite and made fish reluctant to bite.

Good sonar fish counts early in the run allowed the Department of Fish & Game to liberalize the tackle regulations in mid June to allow the use of multiple hooks and bait through the remainder of the month. And this one factor, allowing the use of bait helped improved the catch rates for fish that just weren't interested in artificials only offerings.

Angler effort in 1999 for the early run was nearly double that of 1998 with 22,000 angler days estimated for guided and unguided fishermen logging over 111,000 hours on the water. The total run size was 24,657 and the overall harvest (fish retained) was 22% or 5,506 fish with an additional 1656 fish released.

The statistics below give a breakdown of how each group of anglers did for the early Kenai River king run. If you would like to review the historical statistics for all data going back to 1981, you can visit the Kenai River King Salmon Angler Success page where information on both early and late runs is available.

1999 Kenai River Early King Salmon Run Harvest
May - June	Guided Anglers	Non-Guided Anglers
Average Length of Trip	5.40 hours	4.30 hours
Number of Anglers	12,987	9,565
Manhours Fished	70,132 hours	41,128 hours
Harvest (retained)	4,526	981
Angler Hours per fish	15.50 hours	41.92 hours
Percent of Run Taken	18.4%	4.0%
Total run size = 24,657

Kenai River Late King Salmon Run

There was speculation the late run of Kenai kings would not be very strong this year but those fears were dismissed as soon as it was apparent the July fish were beginning to show at the end of June. Good daily sonar counts were encouraging and the catch rate was better than many guides and anglers had seen in a great many years.

The hottest action throughout the entire month was in the lowest part of the river. The tides played a major role in the outcome of angler success rates with the best bites occurring around the high tide cycles.

Naturally good fishing draws big crowds and the angler effort in 1999 for the July run was double that of 1998 and exceeded 250,000 manhours with 48,000 angler days recorded for July.

1999 was the first year regulations were changed to allow non-guided anglers to fish on Mondays from non-motorized boats. Up to now there was no fishing from boats allowed on Mondays during July.

The statistics below give a breakdown of how each group of anglers did for the late Kenai River king run. If you would like to review the historical statistics for all data going back to 1981, you can visit the Kenai River King Salmon Angler Success page where information on both early and late runs is available.

1999 Kenai River Late King Salmon Run Harvest
July	Guided Anglers	Non-Guided Anglers
Average Length of Trip	5.70 hours	4.80 hours
Number of Anglers	20,736	27,972
Manhours Fished	118,196 hours	134,264 hours
Harvest (retained)	7,605	4,422
Angler Hours per fish	15.54 hours	30.36 hours
Percent of Run Taken	15.9%	9.2%
Total run size = 47,996

Kenai River Sockeye & Coho Salmon Fisheries

Sockeye Salmon
The cold ocean temperatures had their impacts on the Kenai River sockeye run timing in 1999. Very few fish entered the river during the first two weeks of July and there were some concerns about the overall strength of the run and whether it might affect commercial, sportfish and personal use fisheries.

Eventually plenty of fish arrived and good sportfishing was available for most anglers. But the need to manage the river for its optimum escapement goals required a signficant number of additional commercial fisheries openings which did take its toll on those who were dipnetters at the mouth of the river.

Overall three quarters of a million fish passed the sonar counter inriver and provided good upstream fishing well into August.

Silver (coho) Salmon
Coho salmon on the Kenai River have had their ups and downs during the past decade with the last couple years showing a bit of improvement in returning numbers and somewhat better fishing success. There are two runs of coho on the Kenai with the first appearing in small numbers at the end of July and peaking in mid August. The second run commences around the beginning of September with its peak around the middle of the month. Coho season on the Kenai closes on October 1st each year.

This year the early run was in pretty good shape and anglers did reasonably well with good catches occurring during the middle two weeks of August. But the second run appeared to be very weak this season and angler success rates were very low. Fishing was so bad that by mid-September there were few anglers left fishing on the lower Kenai River.

The Department of Fish & Game continues to conduct extensive research on coho numbers returning each season as well as tagging studies of outmigration smolts. This knowledge will eventually provide a better understanding of the impacts on coho numbers and allow better management strategies as well as more accurate predictions of run strength.

Pink (Humpy) Salmon
Pink salmon return to the Kenai River only in even numbered years so there were no fish in this sport fishery in 1999. However, the year 2000 will again have a pink return which begins around the first week of August. Best fishing is always in the lowest part of the river where the freshest fish are present.

Summary
For those anglers planning a vacation to the Kenai River area, there is additional information which is vital to insuring your maximum success. Salmon runs in Alaska have very specific periods when they return and travelers should plan their visits to coincide with the best opportunities a particular run can provide. This information can be found in the many salmon run charts AOJ has created which plot the historical trend of these runs. It is an easy thing to review these charts and identify when the best time would be. You can review the charts for many streams on the Kenai Peninsula and the Matsu Valley by browsing the Salmon Run Count Charts.

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