Wish I were there. The king season has closed and they should be dumping eggs, and their carcases beginning to line the banks with the reds. Meanwhile, the rainbows and dollies are gorging themselves on large, fresh king eggs, and taking large bead imitations.
Depending on the water levels in the rivers, the silvers should be moving up, and soon they will be providing fresh eggs for the trout and completing their life cycle.
And here I am chained to a desk…at 7:30 in the evening, nonetheless.
Yea? And here I sit, reading this stuff! We both should be there! 
just returned from Ketchikan. Rawthumb, you are absolutley right. The bears were having a ball but us humans cold only gawk from the river bank
Indeed the king season is closed, the sockeye are still trickling in, the rivers are replete with pink salmon and the coho are making a great start. The early run sockeye are just starting to drop some eggs, nothing evident on the kings yet. The Kenai trout/dolly fishing has been very sluggish so far this fall.
Nevertheless, here is a report from a small creek in Alaska:
The day started out at the crack of dawn, 31 degrees, and fog. Steve, Brian, Calder and Ed heading out to brave the elements to bend the fly rods on Dolly Creek. We shared the creek with bears and sockeye, not another human in sight.
It took some time to get the right color and size for the acceptable offering.
The creek is very small with an abundance of snags, log jams and leaning trees.
The evidence of fresh bear sign was everywhere! We saw one bear at about 30 yards and could hear others in the woods. Even found one sockeye that had 2 bear tooth marks.
Once the tackle was dialed in, the action began.
All in all, it was an awesome day on Dolly Creek, Alaska.
WOW! I really appreciate that report and the pictures. Thanks very much.
JC:
You can drive there in 3 days if you hustle. That is what it took me from Portland, doing about 1,000 miles per day. Of course, gas was a lot cheaper back then. It would probably be more affordable to take a rig up the Alaska Marine Hwy now.
AK Guide:
Thanks for the report. I’d love to find an airfare sale for early to mid September.
I agree with your time estimate… I did the trip 4 years ago to Eugene and made it in 3 days driving 20 hours per day. We did the round trip then for about $1500… probably double by now.
For Dolly Creek, typically early September is the best, but all is a couple of weeks late this year, so who knows. Nevertheless, the trout and dollies really come alive from here until freeze up on other rivers and creeks, like the Kenai and tributaries…
If you make it up here, look me up… I am a full time resident of Soldotna…
This time next month we will be on our 2nd day of fishing on Kodiak Island.
When we get back someone will have to explain to me on how to post pictures.
Bob.
Fishing was pretty slow for rainbows in the Sustina Valley too about a week ago when I made a trip up there from Anchorage.
In a section of stream where I always catch rainbows longer than 20 inches I didn’t hook up with any. Humpies were digging redds and I also saw chum and kings in the water. Found several kings who had turned very red farther up stream but couldn’t find any rainbows or grayling below them.
For once the stream levels are pretty good. But the cold spring has really messed up the timing on the runs.
I may have to make another trip soon in search of coho to eat and rainbows for sport.