July 9-19 2025 Upper Kenai River Alaska fishing report

Early July on the Upper Kenai is not necessarily known as peak season for anything but let me tell you, it has been some excellent fishing! Rainbow trout and Dolly Varden have been thriving in the copious amounts of clean water. Water temperatures have been hovering in the low 50’s most of the week and that has got the insect life moving. The week after the Fourth of July was some of the best beadhead nymph fishing I’ve experienced for several years. Anything hanging a couple feet below a bobber was getting annihilated. Good dead drifts were required but once they saw it how they wanted it it was game on. There is still a pretty good bite going on with the beadheads but as of the last few days(14-19) the fish have been rising to emergers and surface critters. I’ve seen some fat mayflies and all types of terrestrials being taken. Dark Hendrickson and the other classic parachute Adam’s have been all we have needed to get the job done. Dark when its cloudy and light when it’s sunny is a good general rule I think in any fishery. Sparkly beadheads in the sun and black in the clouds. Keep it simple! Steamers, beads and all the rest of the fly box was working as well but the ease of drifting a beadhead or dry fly ten feet off the rod tips had me and the fish hooked. I expect the good rainbow and Dolly fishing to continue and it will most likely only improve as more sockeye Salmon enter the Upper Kenai and bring fish with them. The gravy train has arrived and the trout and Dolly’s are greedy!

Red salmon have been coming up from the lower river inn steady pushes this past week and that will also continue to improve. I have been seeing schools of bright red Sockeye with some very nice chrome fish sprinkled in with them. Many different tributaries are receiving their runs right now so it’s hit or miss on whether you’re going to get in front of some big and mean Quartz Creek burners or some silver bullets headed for the Russian River. Afternoon’s have been good for salmon swimming upstream but those numbers will increase and it will be all day migration before we know it.

Use caution if you are fishing near or using Jim’s Landing boat ramp. There has been a very active brown bear in the area that has unfortunately become skilled and accustomed to taking peoples fish. I haven’t heard of it becoming aggressive but it is a wild animal and apex predator and deserves to be treated with respect. We are the ones in its space. Hopefully as more salmon are every day the bear will find success fishing a little further away from the boat ramp. We watched it work the gravel bars several hundred yards upstream from the ramp for quite a while but eventually it ended up back at the ramp right next to the folks fishing. Use caution everywhere when the salmon are in. Make lots of noise and most of the encounters won’t happen. Hopefully the coming weeks will have you whooping and hollering with success! Good luck! See you out there!

July 1-8 2025 Upper Kenai River fishing report

Trout fishing is picking up! A week of steady water levels measured at the Kenai Lake bridge around 7,000 to 7,700 cfs and steady water temperatures in the high 40’s to low 50’s have triggered a great bite on the Upper Kenai. Lots of cool clear water moving through the system right now. There has been some rainwater but most of the water is coming from glacial runoff. This sure helps keep the fish cool and in optimal feeding temperatures. Rainbow trout and Dolly Varden will continue to feed as water temp’s rise but I have noticed that many will become sluggish and give you one or two good pulls but then tire quickly as O2 levels decrease with warmer water. That is currently not the case. I had one rainbow nearly send my trusty old Ross Evolution into a freespool after a particularly angry strike on a beadhead nymph. The fish are feisty and fighting all the way to the net and more importantly recovering quickly and swimming for deep cool water. Bug life is flourishing in the current conditions. Caddis are still hatching, although not as prolifically. Large grey and small nuclear green stoneflies are getting going. Dragonflies and damselflies are finally hatched. Midges are everywhere and I’m pretty sure I saw a few fish rise on some variety of gray mayflies although I haven’t noticed any mayflies collecting on my boat yet. The drift boat seems to catch all the bugs.

Streamers have been working well also. I’ve caught some of the larger fish this week dead drifting streamers from straight upstream and getting good takes as its coming back to me or just on the turn, as usual. Early and late will produce the bigger fish in my opinion. These bad boys aren’t putting up with the trampling of the banks and are most likely content searching out one or two big meals and retreating to their brushy hideouts for the rest of the day.

I shouldn’t say this but the profusion of spey and switch anglers attacking the trout and Dollies with their flies have got these fish looking for some perfect drifts. Sending a large fly out into the fastest part of the river and rocketing it back to the shallows then standing there and pumping the rod a few times at your side might get you a couple but try dead drifting those same flies with about 20 feet of line and your results will probably improve dramatically. As a guide I’m supposed to watch everything happening in the water but watching the humans pays dividends as well. While spey and switch fishing can certainly be an art, I see many more Jackson Pollack’s than I do Bob Ross’ out there. Fine by me, I’m a single hand guy, but tune up those mega drifts with a mend or two and your catch rates will improve.

For the single hand folks, keep it simple. All the classics are working well. Hares ears, parachute Adams and skating emerges just below the surface are producing plenty of fish. Getting funky with some pretty little beadheads skillfully dead drifted has been my favorite over the last week. Hang them a few feet below a bobber and hold on! Yes I called it a bobber! Fishing without an indicator works well also but 90% of my client rods are set up with floaty things so I just grab and go when its my turn. Bead action has been tapering off but will probably pick back up if salmon enter the system and guys start chucking carcasses back in the river. Fish those below an indicator or not but that’s typically the fly the want to see drifting the most naturally and some type indicator sure helps. I’ll be over the bobbers by August but I’m no purist, I just want to have fun, use what’s effective and hope for the best. Let’s not put on airs about this. The point is to get out, turn off the social media for a minute and connect with nature. To each his own though, you be you and do it your way!

See you out there!