The Kasilof River — known to most as “Kenai’s Little Brother” — doesn’t get the same attention as the Kenai when it comes to king salmon, but it should. Over the last several seasons, as the Kenai River king run has seen pressure and regulation changes, the Kasilof king run has held steady. Some years it’s been the stronger fishery of the two.

We begin fishing for Kasilof King Salmon around May 16th each season. The early run is primarily made up of hatchery fish — generally harvestable, ranging from 8 to 40 pounds, with smaller fish pushing in first and the bigger ones following behind. That early run lasts through mid to late June. Immediately after, the second run arrives — larger adult wild Kasilof kings that hit harder, run longer, and in recent years have had days of harvest when ADFG regulations allow it.

Nearly all of our Kasilof king salmon fishing is done from our 20-foot Willie Drift Boat on the lower river, using back-trolling with Kwikfish and MagLip plugs or back-bouncing with custom-cured salmon eggs. The take-down of a fresh ocean-run king salmon is something you don’t forget. They’ll either have you booking your next Alaska trip before you’re back at the ramp — or losing sleep over the one that got away.

The Kasilof River Sockeye Salmon begin showing up around the start of June, with the peak of the run arriving as early as mid-June in strong years. From the second week of July through the first week of August, you can almost always count on limits of these incredible fish.

Sockeye don’t feed aggressively in freshwater, so the approach is different from what most anglers are used to. We use a technique called “lining” — working a longer leader and fly through the fish’s traveling lanes and letting the current do the work. Your guide sets you up and walks you through every step. It’s one of those techniques that makes complete sense the moment you hook your first fish.

A typical Kasilof sockeye morning starts with an early float down to one of our proven traveling lanes, followed by waiting for the fish to move through. Some days you limit in 10 minutes. Some days it takes a couple of hours. Either way it’s the kind of trip the whole family enjoys — accessible, exciting, and the fish are some of the best eating you’ll find anywhere in Alaska.

If you’re looking for an aggressive fish that shows up in big numbers — look no further than Kasilof River silver salmon. They’re built like kings, fight like they’re angry about it, and tend to show up on the Kasilof before they push into the Kenai — giving our clients first crack at the early run every year.

The Kasilof holds two distinct silver runs. The first starts around the end of July and runs through August. The second, larger run pushes in around the start of September and can hold strong through mid-month. As water levels drop in late September, fish stack in the deeper pools and the fishing gets serious. Second run silvers on the Kasilof commonly run 10 to 15 pounds — strong, bright fish in cold water.

We catch silvers using a variety of methods depending on what they’re responding to that day: back-bouncing cured eggs, back-trolling plugs, casting jigs and spinners, and topwater flies when conditions are right. Finding a school of silvers held up in a pool and experimenting with presentations until you crack the code — that’s one of the best afternoons you can have on this river.

Late season on the Kasilof means steelhead — one of the most coveted catches in freshwater fishing anywhere in the world. Wild Kasilof River steelhead are catch-and-release only by regulation, and we fully support that. These fish are handled with care, photographed well, and released with every precaution.

We fish steelhead primarily with fly rods, working the deeper runs and pools where late-season fish hold as water temperatures drop. If you’re a fly angler looking for a legitimate Alaska steelhead experience on a river that doesn’t get the crowds — the Kasilof in September is worth planning a trip around.