The Kenai River is located 145 miles south of anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula. The Kenai River is home to the largest kings in the world. The world record king was caught on the Kenai weighing just over 97 pounds. The first run of king salmon starts running in early may and carries on into June. On July 1st bait opens and the second run of kings are running strong throughout the rest of July. There are many big kings taken every year ranging from 40 pounds on up to 80 pounds. These fish put up a great fight when just entering the fresh water of the Kenai.
Sockeye Salmon
The Kenai River gets two enormous runs of sockeye salmon. The first run enters the river in early June and is fished on the Kenai River and also the Russian river. The second run of sockeye enters the river in mid July. The second run is a bigger run with salmon coming up the river in schools of 70,000 to 100,000 a day. Sockeye are fished for from the bank in any decent moving water. You are allowed to keep 3 to 6 fish a depending on numbers of fish in the river. Sockeye fishing can be a lot of fun and easy for everyone when good numbers of fish enter the river.
Silver Salmon
The silver salmon fishing begins in August and continues throughout the end of September. Silver fishing can be fast and furious with large numbers and aggressive silvers entering the river. On a good morning limits of silvers can be caught in no time at all. With the silver salmon spending most of its fight on top of the water it is a fantastic fish to fight.
Kasilof River
Fishing the first run of kings on the Kasilof River can be very productive with bait opening May 16. The fishing on the Kasilof continues to improve until it reaches its peak in early June. However the size of the fish on the Kasilof is smaller than the Kenai. With the Kasilof River being done by drift boat it is a nice peaceful trip without the numbers of people you have on the Kenai.