Silver salmon fishing in the lower river has been excellent early in the morning and around high tide. Silvers will be available through Labor Day and best results come while drifting eggs, or cast small to medium spinners. Bait and treble hooks may be used until September 1.

Anglers on the Anchor River, Deep Creek, and Ninilchik River can expect fair catches of Dolly Varden. Salmon eggs, small clumps of roe, and small spinners are working well for spin fishing anglers. Fly fishing anglers are having good success with egg patterns, beads and muddler minnow patterns.

Steelhead are starting to enter the rivers, and the runs are not very large, so all rainbow and steelhead are catch-and-release only. Please familiarize yourself with the differences between a silver salmon and a steelhead. One of the best ways is to look at the tail fin. Rainbow trout and steelhead have black spots over the entire tail fin, while silvers have black spots only on the upper lobe of the tail fin.

Halibut

Halibut fishing continues to be good near Flat Island as well as 25 to 30 miles west of Homer Spit in waters 180 to 250 feet deep. Those venturing to the outer coast reported halibut fishing was good near East Chugach Island.

Significantly fewer reports of chalky or jellied halibut are being made this year, compared to past years.

The bag limit for halibut is two per day with four in possession.

Salmon

At the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon, fishing for silvers was slow last week. The silvers seem to be staying on the outside of the lagoon. Perhaps the higher tides this week will help move more fish in. Herring, spinners, and spoons work best for fishing on the outside of the lagoon. Silvers will be available in the lagoon into September. Remember, the fishing lagoon is closed to snagging of all species until further notice.

In Cook Inlet, fishing for silvers and kings seems to have picked up, as many fish were harvested near the Homer Bluffs, Flat Island and Point Pogibshi.

Lingcod

Lingcod anglers venturing to the outer North Gulf Coast are bringing back fair catches. There is a minimum size limit of 35 inches, and a bag limit of two per day with two in possession for lingcod.

Personal Use

The Lower Cook Inlet silver salmon personal use fishery opened August 17. Permits are available only at the Homer Alaska Department of Fish and Game office. You may not fish in this fishery if you obtained a personal use permit to dipnet/gillnet the Kenai or Kasilof rivers.

Clams

The next series of good clamming tides run September 6-12. The best time is one hour before to two hours after low tide. No permit is required, just a sport fishing license.

Diggers are reporting many small young clams and few large clams within several miles south of the Clam Gulch access. Go further south, or head north for adult-sized clams in this area.