Welcome to RiverRise Fishing Guides! If you’re ready to experience the thrill of fishing for Sockeye Salmon, the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers in Alaska are the perfect destinations. Renowned for their stunning scenery and abundant fish populations, these rivers offer anglers an unforgettable adventure. Sockeye Salmon, known for their vibrant red color and rich flavor, make their way upstream in impressive numbers, providing an exciting challenge for both novice and seasoned fishermen alike. Our expert guides are dedicated to helping you navigate these pristine waters, sharing valuable tips and techniques to enhance your fishing experience. Join us as we embark on a journey to reel in these incredible fish and create lasting memories in the heart of Alaska’s breathtaking wilderness!

When And Where We Fish For Sockeye Salmon

Our guide service provides guided Sockeye Salmon fishing trips strictly for Alaska Sockeye. We guide on both the Kenai & Kasilof rivers and tailor the trip locations to the run. At different points throughout the season, each river will have its peaks of the run and we try to adjust all of our trips on that peak run so that we are able to give our clients the most chance for success! As a general rule, the seasons for each river are as follows:

  • The Kasilof River starts seeing Sockeye Salmon early to mid-June and the run will last all the way until the end of August.
  • The Kenai River Sockeye run will be close to the same, as far as run timing goes. We usually aim for around the 4th of July mark before we make the move over to the Kenai River. Those fish will also be around in catchable numbers until nearly the end of August.

The Gear We Use To Catch Sockeye Salmon

Fishing rods for Sockeye Salmon:

Over the 20+ years of guiding for Sockeye Salmon, the type of fishing rod that we use for Sockeye has changed dramatically over the years. To explain the evolution of the Sockeye rod over the years, you should know the technique used to catch them; fishing for Alaska Sockeye Salmon probably isn’t anything like you’re used to , or even thought was possible. The technique we use to catch Sockeye Salmon in Alaska is called “flossing”. The technique is exactly how it sounds, you stand about knee deep in the river fling your gear out and let it drift down the river, then you pull back. The idea is to “line” or “floss” the fish, where the line horizontally floats into the fishes mouth and as you pull back in, you end up setting the hook right into the fishes mouth! You’d think that it’s an impossible task, but with so many fish shooting up river, you can sometimes easily limit out in a matter of minutes! (yes, limits of 6 fish each, in MINUTES!)

  • When we first started fishing for Sockeye, years ago, everyone was using heavy spinning rods and reels, then some people started using casting rods and bait casters, now we use fly rods and reels. We use 9 and 10 weight fly rods with large arbor reels and outfit them with 40 pound mono. Why a mono line on a fly rod, and not fly line, you ask? The mono sinks fast, it’s more abrasion resistant and it simply handles the abuse that fly line can’t.

Terminal tackle for Sockeye Salmon:

  • The terminal tackle is simple; we use a 40 pound main line and attach that line directly to one side of a snap swivel. On the snap portion of the swivel, we attach a weight and base the size of that weight on the river speed and depth. On the other side of the snap swivel, we attach a 3-5 foot leader with either a beaded hook or what’s called a “Russian River Fly”.

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