Month: July 2023

Fishing Report for July 5-12 and July 12-19

It’s been another fantastic two weeks on the Goodnews River!  The water temperatures, as well as ambient temperatures, remained cool and consistent, mostly overcast with scattered rain. The week of July 5-12 continued to provide plentiful numbers of sizable King salmon. As most of our Guests this week were from Great Britain, they enjoyed fly fishing with the 2 hander with great results.  One party reported catching 20 kings , including jacks , to the net in a single day. And despite the closure of all the Rivers on the west coast of Alaska by ADF&G to sport fishing for Chum salmon (including the Goodnews), there were plenty of them hooked and released while fishing for Kings.   


The week of July 12-19  saw a small break in weather , with an afternoon or two with sunny blue skies. With an absence of rain came a decent drop in the water level and an increase in clarity . Lodge owner Mike Gorton and veteran guides describe the past few weeks as “ The best King run they’ve seen in several years” On a sunny afternoon guests had a great chance to head up river to successfully target Grayling and Rainbows , and enjoy a beautiful shore lunch. On overcast days Guests were successful in catching and landing large Kings. One of our junior fishermen managed to land 4 30lb+ Kings in a single day! Chums , Sockeye , as well as Pink Salmon continued to show themself in increasing numbers daily .It was a great week for Guests to harvest Sockeye to take home to their family and friends . 


Next week we are excited for our “Kids Kast and Katch” week hosted at the lodge. We are anticipating a lot of fish and fun for everyone, so be sure to come back here in a few  weeks to read all about it! 

June 21-28 and June 28-July 5

What a difference a year makes! Unlike the past 2 seasons, our Guests arrived at the Lodge to find the river much higher and much colder than it has been in the past few seasons, due to the increased snow melt and constant rains. The water temperature hovered around 45F, and combined with overcast conditions forecasted for the foreseeable future, the King salmon were happy and waiting for our Guests. The first week, June 21-28 saw a build-up of the run with a number of 30+lb fish coming to the fly that first week. The occasional sockeye and mint bright Chum were by-catch as well.

Conditions remained the same throughout the second week of June 28-July 5, and everyone was sore and happy from catching lots of big Kings. There were also numerous Chum and Sockeye landed as well. The downside to the high and cold water was the effect on our Rainbow and Grayling fishing. The rivers and creeks were so swollen that they were not wadeable. Only one boat tested the Trout fishing on Friday, and managed only 1 skinny Trout of 21” to the net. That was enough to keep everyone else salmon fishing for the rest of the week.

The big full moon tides hit us at the end of the week, and brought in another push of big Kings. Despite very difficult wind and weather conditions, the Kings were happy to play with our Anglers. One Guest commented over dinner-“It took me 4 days to figure it all out, but where else can you hook and land 5 30lb+ Kings in a single day”. All in all, a fabulous two weeks at the Goodnews River Lodge.