UTERJanuary
Winter feeder kings in Kachemak and Resurrection Bay
Troll herring deep on calm days; most of the coast is iced in or storm-bound.
Cook Inlet, Kenai, Kodiak and Prince William Sound
Southcentral Alaska fishing
What's biting in Southcentral Alaska in October: steelhead at its peak, with Coho (silver) salmon, lingcod and Chinook (king) salmon around too. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows 9 fish here month by month, from Homer to Kodiak.
Last coho; Kodiak steelhead
Kachemak Bay and lower Cook Inlet off the Kenai Peninsula, Resurrection Bay at Seward, Prince William Sound's fjords and glaciers, and the Kodiak archipelago — plus the Kenai, Kasilof and Russian rivers' famous runs.
HomerSewardKenaiSoldotnaValdezWhittierKodiak
Updated
Now · October
Last coho; Kodiak steelhead
Kenai coho to mid-October; Karluk and Ayakulik fall steelhead.
Coho (silver) salmonSteelheadLingcod
This month here
From the season calendar, best firstPeakLeavingLeavingAroundAround
Steelhead
Kodiak's Karluk/Ayakulik and the Peninsula streams early October.
Coho (silver) salmon
Kenai coho run to mid-October; Kodiak and the Peninsula streams into early October.
Lingcod
Last calm days.
Chinook (king) salmon
Rockfish
The water
The tide here
Mixed semidiurnal, 8–30 ft
Cook Inlet has some of the biggest tides in the world — 25 to 30 ft at Anchorage, 15–20 at Homer — and currents to match. Kodiak and Seward run 8–12 ft. Fish the slack for halibut; the incoming pushes salmon onto the beaches.
Structure that matters
Pass / inletLedge / hard bottomArtificial reefChannel edgeBeach / surfFishing pierRiver
After a cold front
Fall gales and winter ice close most of it; the year is May to October. Summer storms off the Gulf can shut the halibut fleet down for days — the beaches and river mouths still fish.
Month by month
What's happening, and what to throwFebruary
Feeder kings on the calm days
The winter king derbies in Kachemak and Resurrection Bay.
March
Feeders; spring steelhead in the Kasilof
Kasilof steelhead from late March, catch-and-release only.
April
Spring steelhead; feeders
Kasilof and Kodiak's Karluk late April.
May
Homer kings, first halibut boats, Kodiak sockeye
Homer Spit and Deep Creek kings; Buskin River sockeye from mid-May; Resurrection Bay reds.
June
Peak kings; Russian River reds; halibut on
Deep Creek and Anchor Point trolling; Russian River early run from mid-June; slack-tide halibut off Homer; PWS pinks and chum.
July
Kenai late-run reds; coho start; halibut peak
Sockeye (red) salmonCoho (silver) salmonPacific halibutChinook (king) salmonPink (humpy) salmonChum (dog) salmonLingcod
Kenai sockeye mid-July — flossing and resident dipnetting; Homer Spit early coho; lingcod opens midsummer.
August
Silver Salmon Derby month; pinks; halibut and lings
Seward coho; Homer late-run coho; Fleming Spit and Whittier; Anchor River fall steelhead begin.
September
Coho at every river mouth; fall steelhead
Kenai, Kasilof, Kodiak's Buskin and Pasagshak; Anchor River steelhead (C&R).
October · now
Last coho; Kodiak steelhead
Kenai coho to mid-October; Karluk and Ayakulik fall steelhead.
November
Late fall steelhead; feeder kings
Kasilof and the Peninsula streams to early November.
December
Winter feeder kings
Calm-day trolling in Kachemak Bay.
Fish guides for Southcentral Alaska
When, where and what to use, fish by fishChinook (king) salmonChum (dog) salmonCoho (silver) salmonLingcodPacific halibutPink (humpy) salmonRockfishSockeye (red) salmonSteelhead
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