Cook Inlet Sockeye Trolling 2017

I've been threatening to put some serious effort into sockeye trolling in the salt, both at Seward (May/June) and Cook Inlet (July) but never pulled it off yet. The Lake Washington sockeye sport fishery in Seattle had prompted my interest in the possibility of catching reds by trolling.

Now that I've got a new Outback the potential for running and gunning along CI beaches when the reds start showing becomes a much more likely possibility for me on short notice or when time is limited. I'm a firm believer in "matching the hatch" for what sockeye typically eat and I picked up ten of these for a buck a piece from Hong Kong. A bit spendy but when you consider up to $9 for a pack of troll herring for king fishing they are more durable and should take some punishment if successful. Even glow in the dark.

Obviously you need clean/clear water for putting these in front of a sockeye so fishing Deep Creek and Ninilchik would be the cutoff point for good conditions.

I've also given some serious thought to trolling the high tide slack water in Bluff Hole on the Kenai (between Cunningham and Beaver Cr) when the sockeye counts are pushing big numbers to see if they could be enticed. The kayak will make that a likely outing launching for free at Cunningham on the incoming tide. And if that doesn't work I can always swap tackle and work on some kings while I'm in the hole.

Has anyone caught reds with any consistency when trolling in saltwater? Or is this a new sport to open up for the masses?  I know Rudy has dabbled a bit on the subject. And my friend Capt. Shane catches sockeye every summer in CI trolling hardware for kings, silvers, pinks and chums for his clients. He's even caught the Pacific Grand Slam of all five Pacific salmon in his boat on the same day on 3 different occasions. When you have 4+ million reds moving up CI during the summer there are bound to be a few in the mix that are willing to bite something.

BTW, by fishing the Deep Creek area, you are south of the beginning of the commercial beach site nets. So literally every sockeye moving up the Inlet along the beaches is available on any given day. The Ninilchik to northern Kasilof district beach sites can harvest 40,000 to 100,000 reds on a single fishing period. Just think if ALL those fish, plus the ones that escape the nets are swimming out there past your offering at Deep Creek BEFORE they even see a comm net. With the Offshore Test Boat Index at Anchor Point providing a very timely indicator of big fish schools moving up the Inlet, its not so much of a hit and miss game.

In lake washington (when the run allows) single red or black hooks alone about 18 inches back of a very slow moving flasher/dodger set worked amazingly well as silly as it seems. Not sure it that would be worth a try in the salt but the set up is cheap.

In lake washington (when the run allows) single red or black hooks alone about 18 inches back of a very slow moving flasher/dodger set worked amazingly well as silly as it seems. Not sure it that would be worth a try in the salt but the set up is cheap.

Yes, those Lake WA articles are what got my attention many years ago. So I passed that info on to an AOJ follower back in 2002 (yeah been working on this concept since then) who was stationed out on the Aleutian chain at Adak Island where there was a very good size sockeye run there.  I'll post his entire report. Those of you in Washington who participate in that sockeye fishery might give his technique for success a try. I had several reports from him that summer where all the boats were limiting once they found the "secret."
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ANGLER: Adak Jeff
EMAIL: ----------@hotmail.com
MONTH: 07
DAY:   12, 2002

REGION: Aleutian Islands - ADAK
WATER: Gallis Point
SPECIES: SALTWATER REDS

REPORT: Hey fellow anglers,

We had a very good evening out here at this end of the world last night! Nine folks with three skiffs, and a whole lot of reds to go around. We fished the straits off of Gallis Point with a nice slow troll with red and blue hooks and pixies and for the first time this year we had take-downs on bare hooks as well as pixies (the pixies have been what works so far, 1/8oz orange and blues). We are trying just about everythng we can to fair hook sockeye in the salt out here (and we are foul hooking our fair share as well...) but I must say that so far it has been nothing short of a total success for us. I am hearing that the success we are achieving could be nothing short of a "break-through" for anglers accross the state that are interested in saltwater reds, but I have to tell you guys, break-through or not, these fish are sh*t hot into what we are doing with them, and that is the point of this report...nothing short of being bull-headed and stubborn will get results in a new fishery, so somtimes throw all caution to the wind, THANKS KK FOR THE ADVICE YOU GAVE US IN THE FORUMS...IT IS PAYING OFF!!!

Anyway fellow anglers, I just got a digital camera this week and my 9 year old son already knows more about it than I do, so as soon as we can get together and he finds time to show me how to work it we will send you all some great pictures from the beautiful Aleutian Islands as well as our fish, and how we are learning to re-think fishing in this part of the world.

Tight Lines to All!
Adak Jeff & Friends
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And yes, I'll be picking up some 1/8 oz pixies too. 

Here is one of the articles for Lake WA reds that's pretty good at giving you the full setup.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/howtocatch/lakewa_sockeye.html

I've also used the orange flat fish and tried that in salt but no luck.  It worked well in the lake.  It's a flat fish, hook removed and a trailing red hook about a foot back.  Tried various things like wrapping some shittamuck for tinsel around the hook.  Bare was as good as anything.  There hasn't been a fishery in Lake WA for years.  About 30 years ago a friend and I put on weight suits, snorkels, masks as sneakers and floated a good way down the river walking when we had to a fair number of times.  That was pretty interesting watching trout bump the salmon for eggs (they might have just been running into them but bumping sounds more predatory).  Sliding into a 3-4 foot pool with several hundred fish was hard on the snorkel mouthpiece! They had color and an occasional big trout or steelhead in the middle of them.  Have fun.

  There hasn't been a fishery in Lake WA for years. 

Sorry to hear the river has not been producing runs strong enough to provide some sport fishing in the lake now. (Perhaps you should lobby for a sockeye hatchery program to supplement the run. It works great here in Alaska on many streams and lake systems for boosting the run and commercial catch potential.) At least it brought to attention the potential for "trolling" for sockeye, even in a freshwater situation like Lake Washington. Apparently one of the secrets was to move as slow as possible, often just drifting with the wind to provide just enough wobble movement to the dodger and hook to encourage a strike. Well, we have plenty of sockeye here in AK to practice on and attempt to discover perhaps some new additional tackle that works. Those fish are eating food all their lives so there should be one or more magic bullets out there that would trigger a response with some consistency.  I'm going to investigate the use of UV treatments on my tackle too. I saw a remarkable program on PBS about what fish really see through their eyes which can detect ultraviolet light and the resulting colors from that light frequency. MIND BLOWING! There is nothing drab or mundane in the watery world of fish even though it appears that way to humans. 

One of our potential freshwater sockeye trolling opportunities will be where the Upper Kenai dumps into Skilak Lake. Reds often stage in the area in the lake before committing to the river migration again. This spot should be boiling with sockeye and because the upper Kenai waters visibility is much better than Skilak Lake and below, the river inlet zone should have a good clear water lens to fish in.