Alaska fishing report for the week of September 17, 2026. The season is winding down across Alaska but the fishing is not. The second run of silvers is at its peak on the Kenai, the steelhead have begun arriving on Kodiak and in Southeast, and the halibut charters out of Homer and Seward are making the most of the last calm weeks before the fall storms. The termination dust is on the mountains and the crowds are gone.
What’s Hitting
What’s hot this week is silver salmon on the Kenai. The second run is at its peak, with bright fish from 8 to 15 pounds in the lower river from the mouth to Soldotna and good numbers moving up past the Sterling area, and the Kasilof is producing as well. Steelhead have begun entering the Kodiak rivers, including the Karluk and the Ayakulik, and the Southeast systems around Sitka and Yakutat, with the Situk starting to show fish. Rainbow trout and Dolly Varden are feeding heavily on eggs and flesh behind the spawning salmon on the upper Kenai and the Russian River. Halibut charters out of Homer, Seward, and Whittier are finding fish from 20 to 60 pounds with some larger fish mixed in, and the Kachemak Bay and Resurrection Bay silvers are still in the saltwater. Ling cod and rockfish remain steady out of Seward and Whittier.
Where to Find Them
Silvers are in the lower Kenai from the Warren Ames bridge up through the Soldotna and Sterling area, holding in the slower water along the edges and the back eddies, and in the lower Kasilof. Steelhead are in the lower reaches of the Karluk and the Ayakulik on Kodiak and the Situk near Yakutat, moving on each rain. Trout and Dollies are behind the spawning sockeye and silvers on the upper Kenai from Sportsman’s Landing to Jim’s Landing and in the Russian River. Halibut are on the banks and the edges of Kachemak Bay, the Chugach Islands, and outside Resurrection Bay in 100 to 250 feet.
Tides & Conditions
The Kenai is at a normal early-fall flow and clearing, with water temps in the mid to upper 40s. The coastal rivers are rising and falling on each front. Cook Inlet has large fall tides this month, so the halibut boats are picking their days, and seas have been 3 to 6 feet with the first fall southwest winds. Mornings are cold and the days are shortening fast.
Tackle & Tactics
For Kenai silvers, a Vibrax or Blue Fox spinner in size 4 or 5, a twitching jig, or cured eggs under a float in the slower edges and eddies, on an 8 to 9-foot medium-heavy rod with 20 to 30-pound line. Fly anglers want a fast-sinking line and a pink or chartreuse streamer. Steelhead want a bead or an egg pattern under an indicator, or a spoon or a spinner swung through the runs. Trout and Dollies want a bead or a flesh fly behind the spawning salmon. Halibut want a herring or a salmon head on a circle hook with a 2 to 4-pound weight, or a large jig, on a heavy conventional outfit with 100-pound braid.
Local Intel This Week
The Kenai has public access at the Warren Ames bridge, Cunningham Park, Centennial Park and Swiftwater Park in Soldotna, and the Bings Landing and Izaak Walton campgrounds in Sterling, with the Russian River ferry and Sportsman’s Landing serving the upper river. Homer’s Spit harbor and the Seward and Whittier small boat harbors are the main halibut charter ports. Fish are concentrating in the lower Kenai edges and eddies and on the halibut banks outside the bays. Kenai silvers have a bag limit that changes by section and date, and halibut have a size limit for charter anglers; check current ADF&G emergency orders and federal halibut regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
Kenai silvers do not fight the current the way the reds do. Find the slow water on the inside of a bend, the back eddy behind a gravel bar, or the seam where fast water meets slow, and fish that spot thoroughly rather than casting into the main current. A spinner worked slowly through the soft water gets hit by fish that let everything else go by.
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