By Nick Varney

The rumors are true folks, the massive staff of Reeling ‘Em In has signed on to this flagship in order to provide widespread, profound and incisive reporting involving fish enabled topics, including outlandish pontificating by piscators at the cleaning tables (liars with poles).

As an added bonus, we’ll include some of the unique behavioral patterns of a few of our returning visitors who arrive each year styling in motorhomes the size of the Starship Enterprise while sporting more satellite gear than the CIA.

Hey, I needed the extra bucks to gas up the lawnmower or maybe buy a goat.

This time around may be a bit braggadocios because our team will finally employ well-oiled reels, fresh line, rust-free hooks and poles featuring complete tips with functional eyelets not sealed by Gorilla glue.

We figured it was about time for an upgrade after we suffered more malfunctions last season than Congress trying to pass bills to keep government employees’ paychecks humming for other than themselves.

So let’s start off with some cool news.

When the kings finally start to arrive, they won’t be concussed by smacking into ice slabs the size of commercial freezers while rushing into the fishing lagoon on the tides.

Old Man Winter lollygagged around here like he was trying to set up the bay for an ice-covered cross-country ski trail to Seldovia but finally skulked away leaving a trail of obnoxious cold winds, rain and a few hit-and-run snow showers.

Hopefully this week’s smokin’ tides will result in some of those Chinooks showing up for the Memorial Day weekend hungry and with an attitude.

Time now to take a look at the fishing report for the week of May 19:

Freshwater Fishing

The Anchor River and Deep Creek are closed to all sport fishing through July 15, 2026.

Well that’s a gloomy start.

The Ninilchik River is open to fishing for hatchery kings, May 23 to 25. Although water conditions are fishable, expect slow action given the low counts. The excitement builds …

Spinners and spoons are the best bet since the fishery is closed to the use of bait this season.

If you incidentally hook a steelhead or wild king, get that puppy to the bank as quickly as possible and release it without removing it from the water. This will also keep you from an unfortunate face-to-face with an Alaska Fish and Game Trooper who assumes you haven’t read this report or you wouldn’t be standing there like a clueless dipstick with a Chinook in your paws.

Saltwater Fishing — Kachemak Bay/Cook Inlet

Halibut

Halibut fishing is off to a slow start but should kick up a gear soon.

Typically, the shallow water from Bluff Point to Anchor Point is a good place to try for larger fish this time of the season. Fishing around slack tide is the best time for nailing halibut so you can hold the bottom with less weight.

Of course, if you’ve been chasing them during this week’s tides, the only way to hold bottom would have been to deploy a battleship anchor.

Herring on a circle hook is the most popular bait; however, octopus, salmon heads, jigs and blind luck also work well.

King Salmon

King fishing south of Bluff Point has been high on the suck-o-meter so far this spring but could improve at any time.

Anglers are finding the fish scattered throughout Kachemak Bay including Bluff Point, Bear Cove and Eldred Passage.

Small troll herring or spoons behind a flasher is the most fashionable setup, but spoons, hootchies and tube flies will also bring on strikes.

To get into kings at any location, try setting the gear at different depths including mid-water column and 10 feet off the bottom.

Surf Fishing

Surf fishing on Cook Inlet beaches has been somewhat of a drag recently.

Fisherpersonages are catching a variety of groundfish including halibut, sculpins, skates, sharks, flounders and cod, oh my.

Don’t forget about fishing off the tip of the Homer Spit – that location can be productive for a variety of groundfish, some of which would love trying to make a meal out of you if you fell in.

Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon

The king run at the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon has yet to make an appearance, so don’t get your hopes up over the weekend.

Fishing the incoming or outgoing tide is typically your best bet – the tide should be flooding into the lagoon around the +11-foot height.

Roe under a bobber, herring and spinners are all good for attracting strikes by the kings — that is if they show before you pass out from boredom.

Seldovia Slough

Similar to the Dudiak Lagoon, there haven’t been any kings reported yet in Seldovia.

If you still want to give it a shot, try cured eggs or herring under a slip bobber or spinners.

The incoming tide is the best time to pop kings salmon at the bridge. High tide is better in the lagoon.

Check us out next week. Hopefully, the news will be better along with the weather.

Nick can be reached at ncvarney@gmail.com if you have any tips or tales you’d like to share and are printable in a family-friendly publication. Yeah, some of you need to lay off those special gummy bears.