Rainbow Trout season starts around July 1st and runs through October. These are carnivorous fish, they live and thrive off the bounties of the spawning salmon in the river system, and because of that we target them with unconventional fly patterns such as the “steak and eggs”. All Rainbow Trout, as well as the Dolly Varden that are ever so abundant in the river systems, are a catch and release only fishery. The reason behind catch and release for these species is the great amount of time that it takes a Rainbow or Dolly to reach maturity in these cold glacial fed waters. It can literally take years even a decade for these fish to grow to sizes that they are potentially able to, and in that time many of these fish are caught multiple times. I have some old Rainbow Trout buddies out there that like to test the strength of my line each year, and because we let them swim another day they allow us and other’s the privilege of doing battle with them time and time again. Rainbow Trout unlike Salmon live in the river system all year long and thrive off the decaying salmon of the summer. Fishing for Rainbows is primarily done with terminal tackle, yet don't let that scare you, light line and long light rods can have just as much play, feeling, and fun as a fly rod, only they allow us to use the larger weights needed to get the egg or flesh pattern down to the fish in the fast and heavy current of the Kenai.
There are many opportunities to target these fish with a fly rod and we will be more than happy to set you up with this type of package. There is also some fantastic small stream fishing to be had on the Peninsula and ACE can take you there and show you around the best spots. This is a great place to wade amongst spawning salmon as well as casting a light weight rod for the Rainbows and Dollies that are feeding behind them. It is a truly unique and indescribable experience that I am sure you will always cherish.
We have a multitude of options for fishing for Rainbow Trout so contact us and let us help you choose the one that suits your needs the best.
