Our Alaska Quarantine
Early season fishing provides some of the best local hikes in Alaska.
I would like to start our Alaska fishing season report 2020 at the end of the 2019, if only we had any idea of the incoming train we were about to be, head-on with. My Covid-19 inauguration started in January; in Hakuba, Japan. Where I spent my second season as a ski guide for Evergreen Outdoors.
Furthermore, our operation suddenly came to a quick halt in February due to Covid-19 with many clients from China and travel restrictions put in place by many other countries, around Japan. Was I thinking this may effect our 2020 Alaska fishing season at all? “Not one bit.” I would of replied. Oh, was I in-store for a rude awakening.
Alaska Fishing Season off to a unique start
As February became March, I quickly retuned back home to Soldotna, Alaska. Luckily, I made it just ten days before they shut down the boarders and created much stricter travel restrictions.
In fact, my vocabulary quickly increased with words like, social distancing, shelter-in-place, PPE, novel coronavirus, flattening the curve, essential business, contact tracing, WHO, hydroxychloroquine and last but not least covidiot. From my new vocabulary to everyone you talk to being “Covid-19 experts” it was a strange new reality for us Alaska fishing guides.
Our season really started just like this Alaska fishing season report 2020 blog post, an entire two paragraphs of our Alaska fishing season report where we haven’t even talked about “fishing.” Many eager fishing clients wanted to travel to the 49th state, but unsure if restrictions would get in the way of their Alaska fishing dream trip.
As we start every year for King Salmon on the Kasilof River on May 16th, Kenai Drift Anglers was optimistic of how the season would begin. From late March to June 5th, the State of Alaska required a 14-day quarantine for all travelers entering Alaska. To illustrate this obviously cancelled pretty much all tourism to the State, as truly most fishing clients can’t afford to post up in an Alaska cabin for 14 days until they can fish with us.
Local Alaskan Guided Fishing Trips
Luckily, local Alaskans really endorsed local Alaska fishing guides. Usually, locals book late and rarely get prime Kasilof river King Salmon fishing dates. With the help of local Alaskans and other Alaska fishing lodges like, Alaska Fishing with Mark Glassmaker we stayed busy and offered some incredible Kasilof River King Salmon Charters. The Kasilof Early King Salmon Run really started to pump fish into the system by the end of May, early June.
However, ADFG released an emergency order for June 11th to eliminate bait fishing on the Kasilof River which impacted our catch per charter. Fortunately, by this time Sockeye Salmon started to flood the Kasilof river in decent numbers on the tides, we were able to provide our guest with extremely great guided trips and some of the best salmon for their freezers to bring home.
A new Addition to the Kenai Drift Anglers Fleet
Another Exciting addition was our new Willies drift boat for the 2020 Alaska Fishing season. Fully-customized 19-foot drift boat for our Kasilof river Salmon charters. We started designing this boat in November of 2019 and arrived in Alaska by April of 2020. As we were not expecting back in November, what we would be up against in 2020 we couldn’t be more excited to offer this type of drift boat for our guest.
Simply The Best
The most decked out Alaska fishing drift boat to hit the Alaskan waters. In fact, we have an internal bow heater for those cold early morning Kasilof River starts and custom leather tempress seats. Furthermore, our Willie drift boat comes decked out with Scotty Rod holders for easy hook ups and even a bow Pizza oven to warm up those breakfast sandwiches or whatever you desire between navigating fishing holes
Our New Drift Boat Brought Great Fishing
As the Alaska fishing season continued into June, it brought a plentiful amount of Sockeye Salmon to the Kasilof River. The beginning of the run was crucial to know the timing of the push of Salmon, usually making the push into the river on the High-tide. As the days progressed, so did the amount of our Sockeye catches. Eventually, the Kasilof filled with Salmon, we were able to offer Upper Kasilof river Salmon trips as well, with the exceptional scenery, turquoise water and wildlife plus whitewater, Class II rapids, the upper Kasilof is World-class fishing.
The Upper Kasilof River
Our Yearly fly fishing sponsor "Streem Outdoors" putting the hurt on Upper Kasilof River Sockeye Salmon.
What about the Kenai? Well, on June 6th 2020 the Kenai river Early-King Salmon run went from Catch & Release to CLOSED. Every trip and every guest we always weigh our options, however it’s extremely difficult to predict especially when many people book in January, February, March. That’s why we’ve positioned Kenai Drift Anglers to be able to fish the Kasilof River at this time, it’s takes a completely different boat (drift boat) knowledge and strength (rowing), but provides our guest with better options. 
Not every outfit is setup for both rivers, just like this year it provided the best fishing in the entire state for early King Salmon and Sockeye Salmon on the Kasilof River. While May and June also provided less crowds and more of an Alaskan experience for Alaska travelers. The Kasilof river guided fishing trips offers a completely unique experience over the Kenai river in May & June.
The return to the Kenai River
We moved back to the Kenai River on July 10th where we saw limit Sockeye Salmon fishing with nice large bucks (male) in the early part of the run. The Kenai is special, every salmon is just flat out larger than most any other river system in the state. The return to Kenai also means it’s time to bring out our Willie Boat 21 foot Classic designed in 2019.
July brought a Wave of Sockeye Salmon
Our guest experienced some of the best Sockeye Salmon fishing on the Kenai River. Each day, we were able to fill the boat full of Sockeye Salmon, by use of conventional gear and even Streem fly rods, provided a thrilling July Kenai River Sockeye salmon charter!
The Kenai River Late-run Sockeye Salmon continued to outperform, reaching over one million Sockeye Salmon in August. In the middle of a good Sockeye Salmon return on the Kenai River and Kasilof River, the return of the Pink Salmon was among us. Pink Salmon on both the Kenai River and Kasilof River only come every even year. 2020 was their year. Pink Salmon is by far the most plentiful easy-to-catch for our Alaska travelers.
Catch-and-release Pink Salmon is a blast for groups just wanting to catch until their arms are sore. The quality of the Pink Salmon fillets has a small window of being good for eating. Usually, the last week of July into the first week of August gives quality meat fillets. However, much after that window we perform catch and release trips which are exciting for the entire family.
Kenai River Silver Salmon
Kenai Drift Anglers loves targeting Kenai River Silver Salmon (Coho) in the second week of August all the way through September. With an array of fishing techniques, Silver Salmon guided charters are some of out most exhilarating trips we offer.
A Kenai river guides favorite, August is a time us fishing guides really look forward to. The first run of Kenai river Silver Salmon usually starts after the first week of August. The 2020 Silver Salmon season on the Kenai river was restricted to no bait until August 16th, this made catching more challenging however lead to awesome spinner fishing days on the lower Kenai. As every even year brings Pink Salmon to the Kenai Peninsula, 2020 was a record breaking Pink Salmon year.
It brought challenges when targeting Silver salmon (Coho) with the enormous amounts of Pink Salmon. However, this made catch numbers into the hundreds of Salmon per day. We had to focus on areas where the Pink salmon weren’t flooding the Kenai River. We moved our operation from the Lower Kenai to the Middle Kenai River in August. This is where we spent the rest of the year, launching at Bings Landing Boat Launch.
Kenai River Trout Fishing
When there are even years on the Kenai River which brings copious amounts of Pink Salmon, it means the Kenai River Rainbow Trout will be feeding. Even years on average bring upward of 2 to 4 million Pink Salmon in addition to the Sockeye Salmon and Silver Salmon (Coho). These Rainbow Trout that are residents of the Kenai River know this is prime-time feasting for the upcoming harsh winter.
From August until it’s too cold or too low to run the power boat, means World-Class Kenai River trout fishing. An addition to the fall colors, it brings the beauty with less people on the water and a chance to find some of the largest rainbow trout in the world. We had a great Alaska fishing season, offering fly fishing and conventional gear for our Kenai River Rainbow Trout and Dollies.
Kenai River World-Class Trout Fishing
These Giant Rainbow Trout are magnificent fighters on the Kenai river. We finished up the 2020 Alaska Fishing season with some exciting Trout fishing. We are lucky enough to share our passion with others from all-around the world. We continue to work hard and do our best by providing the best Alaska Fishing trip on the Kenai Peninsula. We truly put an emphasis on attention to detail in every fishing charter. Kenai Drift Anglers believes every charter should experience world-class fishing along with the highest quality boats and equipment for our clients.
An Alaska Fishing Season to Remember
Surprisingly, the 2020 Alaska fishing season was one of our favorites on Kenai and the Kasilof river. First, the people that did travel, did their homework and were prepared to take a Covid-19 test 72 hours prior to boarding their flight. They dealt with the Alaska State mandates and put up with many restrictions out on the water. All in all, it paid off to come in 2020, Alaska travelers got to see a less crowed Kenai River and a more scenic Kasilof river while enjoying World-Class fishing on both the Kenai and the Kasilof River.
Until our Next Fishing Trip
Above all, we enjoyed fishing with everyone in 2020. We hope you and your family are staying safe and taking advantage of this time. Once we get some positive news in the world and regain the confidence in travel, without a doubt Alaska will be top, on everyones summer travel plans. Kenai Drift Anglers is looking forward to helping you plan your 2021 guided fishing trip on the Kenai Peninsula.
Scotty
Owner & Guide
Kenai Drift Anglers