Silver salmon fishing on the Kenai River and Kasilof River is one of the best times of the year for fishing on the Kenai Peninsula. The rush of the summer crowd has diminished, the river is at a good flow rate, fall colors begin to show themselves all over the river, and one of the best fighting fish begin to show up in consistent numbers year after year. 

Kasilof River Silver Salmon Guided Fishing

Charlie And His Son Tim With A Kenai River Silver Salmon

Kenai River Silver Salmon

We target silver salmon in exactly the same manner as we target Kings, using bait-wrapped Kwikfish and eggs on Spin-n-Glo lures, or back-bouncing eggs but we can also add some new techniques for targeting silvers. As we explain on our Kenai River king salmon fishing page, king salmon tend to move in the deepest parts of the river so this is where we will troll for kings. The silver salmon are usually not quite as deep as the king salmon and therefore we will move our boat closer to the bank’s edge where the water is a little less swift and a little less deep. We’re looking for slightly slower moving water, medium depth, and where we can get good action on the Kwikfish after anchoring up, which is something we can’t do while targeting kings. It makes for a very relaxed day of fishing. 

Since anchoring is now allowed, we will anchor with a quick release & buoy that will allow us to come off of anchor if it is a particularly big silver salmon and we would like the flexibility of fighting it with the help of the boat. Many times this is unnecessary but it is very nice to have the option.

One thing we can do differently with silvers is target them casting spinners which is a really great way to stay involved and active while fishing.

Kasilof River Silver Salmon

Silver Salmon fishing on the Kenai Peninsula is one of the best fishing trips around, and fishing for silver salmon on the Kasilof River may be the best of the best. 
 
Kasilof River silver salmon fishing is done exclusively from within the drift boat. We’ll maneuver the boat into some of the slower moving water and set anchor while we run plugs and bait out the back and cast spinners. With the summer crowds dwindling, fall colors on the trees, and the quiet of a river without motors, the Kasilof River silver salmon trips we do are some of the most peaceful around. So peaceful in fact seeing moose crossing the river and other wildlife is a common sighting.
 
Our Kasilof River silver salmon trips are done in August and September. Mostly we’ll fish the lower section of this river in August putting in at the Sterling Highway Bridge and taking about 2 miles from the outlet of the river into Cook Inlet. Once we get to late August and September we’ll start to fish the upper section of the river as well. 
 
Kenai River Guide Creig Garrett With a Kenai River Silver Salmon

Kenai River Silver Salmon Run Timing & Kasilof River Silver Salmon Run Timing

You can’t catch what’s not there so the #1 rule is to show up when the fish do! We always try and be as scientific and data-driven as possible but silver salmon fishing on the Kenai River is less data driven than king salmon and sockeye salmon. Due to a variety of factors it’s not practical, or possible, to get a good silver salmon count coming up the river as we can we king salmon or sockeye salmon. 

Although we don’t know the exact historical fish counts for silvers, like we do for kings and sockeye, we do know that the silvers experience a bi-modal run (first run & second run) much like the king salmon. The first run of silver salmon begin to show up in late July to early August and the first silvers we catch of the season are usually caught while we’re targeting kings and sockeye. It’s possible to catch silvers while flossing/flipping for sockeye and it’s equally possible to catch them while back-trolling for kings. The late run of silvers start to enter the river in late August and continue until October with some of the best and strongest fishing taking place in mid-late September.

How We Fish For Silver Salmon

We target silver salmon in exactly the same manner as we target Kings, using bait-wrapped Kwikfish and eggs on Spin-n-Glo lures, or back-bouncing eggs but we can also add some new techniques for targeting silvers. As we explain on our Kenai River king salmon fishing page, king salmon tend to move in the deepest parts of the river so this is where we will troll for kings. The silver salmon are usually not quite as deep as the king salmon and therefore we will move our boat closer to the bank’s edge where the water is a little less swift and a little less deep. We’re looking for slightly slower moving water, medium depth, and where we can get good action on the Kwikfish after anchoring up.

Since anchoring is now allowed, we will anchor with a quick release & buoy that will allow us to come off of the anchor and use the boat to chase the salmon up and down the river as we fight it.

One thing we can do differently with silvers is target them casting spinners which is a really great way to stay involved and active while fishing.

Kenai River Silver Salmon Fishing

Interested in booking a Kenai River Silver Salmon Fishing trip or a Kasilof River Silver Salmon Fishing Trip. Select from one of our dedicated Silver Salmon Fishing Trips below or select a combo/multi-species salmon fishing trip available on selected dates.

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Kenai River Silver Salmon Trips

Kasilof River Silver Salmon Trips