6/1/2023 Fishing Report
We hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. The weather was less than ideal, so we don't have a whole lot to report from the Dolly point of view. Echo Cove was still the hottest spot to fish on the road system and anglers are starting to see bigger Dollies out the road. The Douglas Bridge is consistently fishing well while Sheep Creek has been hit and miss. DIPAC has already released half of their chum smolt and will be releasing the rest of them early next week, so make sure you have your Sea Run Sliders and AK Clousers in various shades of pink.
Now for the exciting news, today, June 1st marks the opening of king salmon in hatchery areas! Over the past couple weeks, we have heard reports of incidental catches as well as a couple small schools of kings near 5-mile. This early in the season these are very good indications that the run this year will have a good number of fishable kings. The forecasted numbers are about the same as they were last season and last year was quite a good king year. DIPAC is also predicting a larger average size this year(!) Usually, the run peaks around the 20th of the month with prime fishing from June 20 - 30. On June 15th areas outside of the hatchery zones will open to retention. See the photo below if you aren't sure where the hatchery areas are. Key takeaway: the dark gray areas are open to keeping kings right now. You can fish for kings on Thane/Sheep Creek, but you can't keep any until June 15.
The month of June also marks our only shot at sockeye on the road system. For the last few years Windfall Creek has been high and borderline un-fishable. The sockeye are there, but high water has prevented anglers from getting to where the fish are hanging out. Fingers crossed that river conditions will be more cooperative this year. Don't be afraid to add some weight to the fly to get it down deep. Saturday is the first day that it will be open and we will have more to report once we hear how it is or make it up there ourselves.
As always, we love featuring your photos for our fishing reports. If you have a great fish, scenery, or action photo that has to do with fishing around town send it our way! You can email photos or videos to cory@alaskaflyfishinggoods.com. Please remember to handle fish with care, especially if you are practicing catch and release. Consider getting a net with a rubber basket to help land fish quickly and keep them in the water until you are ready to snap a quick photo.
See you on the water!
The Crew at AFFG
Listed below are the hot patterns of the week. Fisheries change here through-out the season and we do our best to get you the hot flies. Listed below are our recommended patterns for the particular species available. Happy fishing
Hot Flies- King Salmon
Hot Flies- Dolly Varden
Hot Flies- Sockeye Salmon
