Fishing The Anchor River

On a cold September day in 1992 (note the ice flows), my Father caught me releasing my first Steelhead on the Kenai's Anchor River. I went on to catch half a dozen Steelhead that day.

Anchor River Steelhead are not large.   The average fish is about 26 inches and weighs around 8 LBS.   Steelhead in Canada reach 45 LBS. According to The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Anchor River hosts the Northernmost major run of Native/Wild Steelhead in North America.

The Anchor River also has a large population of Sea-Run Dolly Varden.   Typically, many Dollies are caught during the course of a day of Steelhead fishing. Most of these Dolly Varden are around 13 - 15 inches.   Every now and again a fish well over 20 inches will be caught.   These are post spawn fish, and are very skinny.

My fishing partner Chris Pettine casts into a favorite Steelhead pool on the Anchor in the early morning sunlight. Autumn in Alaska is a beautiful time of year.  The crowds have gone back south, and the colors are fantastic.  I suppose this is part of my fascination with Steelheading.

This beautiful Buck was caught in September 2000.  It was a pretty slow day and this was the only Steelhead that I hooked.  One of the most colorful Steelhead I have ever caught, it made the day worthwhile. I caught his fish on a small Egg Pattern fished nymph style through the pool.   This technique has been the most effective for me on the Anchor River, though Chris usually does just as well with an Egg-Sucking Leech.

A close-up of this specimen reveals the remarkable coloration of a fish that has been in the river for some time.  A sea-fresh Steelhead would be much more silvery. This Steelhead was just over 28 inches long.  It was probably about 10 LBS.  Anchor River Steelhead do get bigger than this, but not much prettier.

Chris holds another 28 inch Steelhead that he caught the next morning.  In fact, both of us hooked up with several Steelhead in just a few hours after having worked the River hard the previous day for one bite between the two of us. Notice how silver this fish is.  This Steelhead has not been long from the saltwater and has not developed spawning colors yet.