​The king run this July was definitely above average.  We had strong king salmon fishing through the entire month with some kings still being caught while targeting chum salmon on the fly from the sand bars!  The only slow periods occurred during warm spells that brought the river temperature up into the mid 60 degree range.  This is normal, but with the river being so low, it did not take long for a few warm days to really spike the river up to high levels.  Chum salmon fishing and braids fishing were great while this was happening and we were able to keep going day in and day out with bent rods a common sight.  The mighty chums kept us going with plenty of rod breaking action and amazing runs.

Alaska has hundreds of rivers that have king salmon runs.   There are only a few that experience consistent runs with strong enough numbers that allow anglers a great chance to catch them on a daily basis throughout the season.  When you mention king salmon fishing to most people, fishing the Kenai River comes to the forefront of conversation.  The Kenai River at its prime was no doubt the best king salmon river in the world.  It had not only the largest run of king salmon in the modern era, but also yielded the largest kings on the planet every year.  Those fortunate enough to fish this river in its hay-day had a legitimate chance at landing kings on a daily basis over 60 lbs and some over 80 lbs!

Unfortunately, this river has gone through a major down swing in its fishing cycle to the point that they even closed it to sport fishing in past seasons trying to get its numbers back up to support sport fishing again.