King George....Fishing Report Ending 6/27/10

Another interesting week of fishing. The action was okay but the sizes of the fish were definitely on the side of small. As my friend Kyle said to me on the river the other day, "someone forgot to invite these fish to the buffet."

George took top honors for the week with the salmon pictured above. After showing everyone else the Kenai and what the king fishing is all about he has now officially scaled the mountain. His brother Jerry still points out that his king in 2008 is still the largest amongst their family. The bottom photo is Linette proudly posing with a 60lb halibut that she caught with her husband Mike.

See you next week.

Kenai Opens To Bait

Strange days indeed.

In a matter of a couple of weeks the Kenai River went from catch & keep, to no fishing, to catch & release, to catch & keep, to opening up to bait. The Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game has decided that the Kenai River reached the optimum escapement goal and has liberalized the fishery to bait. Needless to say my head has been spinning trying to keep up with the changes.

So, the report.

Fishing was challenging this week with only a few kings boated. I have to give a shout out to Jim, Tina, Paul, and Chaquita for their perseverance. With wet and cold conditions and a slow bite they definitely kept a positive attitude day in and day out. That's Jim in the top photo and Paul is in the second one. The third photo is Jon and Nathan and the final photo is of George and Jerry with some nice red salmon taken at the Russian River.

Hard to say what the Kenai will hold this week but there's no doubt that the red salmon are in full swing on the Russian.

Kenai Back To Normal!!!

The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game has announced that the Kenai River will be open to the taking of king salmon beginning Tuesday, June 15th. It will remain as usual with a slot limit of 46"-55".

Wow. It's amazing how dymamic this fishery can be. I'm scheduled for several trips this week so I hope to give you a report before too long.

Thank you George.

Kenai River to Reopen 6/12/10

I have received word from multiple sources that the Kenai River will reopen to fishing as of 6/12/10. It will be restricted and the only salmon that can be kept are 20" and under or 55" and over. All other fish must be released. The official announcement will occur this evening.


The Alaska Department of Fish and Game erred on the side of conservation and I applaud that. The fear was that the salmon would NOT return and the few that did needed to survive so that the run in 5 years would not be a complete disaster. The first few days after the closure was in effect the amount of salmon passing over the sonar remained small. This past week, however, the daily sonar counts have been 500 to 600 salmon. It's become obvious that the salmon were just late and needless to say the collective mood on the peninsula has improved 1000%.


On a personal note, Jane and I would like to thank George for praying to the salmon gods and keeping a postive attitude since the closure was announced. They heard you all the way from Florida.


Long live the kings!

Making Lemonade out of Lemons

What a great state Alaska is. Although we can't king fish on the Kenai there are plenty of other Alaskan adventures to experience. Clamming, hiking, saltwater fishing, red salmon fishing, trout fishing, pike fishing, rafting, bear and glacier viewing are among many alternatives to king fishing. Imagine booking a trip to Kearney, Nebraska to view the annual migration of sand hill cranes. Imagine if the cranes did not show. What plan B could you muster up in Kearney, Nebraska?


Jane and I have contacted all of our June clients and the overwhelming majority have decided that a "plan B" is great. A few plans have been adjusted but we will have the good fortune to see our customers and friends in the coming month. Although I won't be guiding my usual June schedule and the closure will affect any last minute fishing clients, Jane and I will be just fine.


Long live the kings!

Kenai River Closes to King Salmon Fishing 6/5/10

By issue of Emergency Order the Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game has closed the Kenai River to king salmon fishing from 6/5/10 until 6/30/10. Normally at this point in the run about 3100 fish will have entered the river.....this year we are at 739. Closing the river at this time is the right thing for the the health of the river, but disappointing to those who planned a trip of a lifetime. Keep in mind that if the run does improve the Emergency Order can be lifted and fishing will resume.


Jane and I are in the process of contacting our June clients. We are offering alternatives to king fishing such as red salmon fishing, trout fishing, pike fishing, and clam digging. Also, if you haven't already made plans to fish in the saltwater for halibut, we would be happy to assist you in finding a captain.


Keith & Jane

p.s. I wasn't planning on posting a picture but as I was preparing this post a momma moose and her two calves were standing in the front yard. Hard to resist.

Post Memorial Day Fishing Report

Slow.........


Low fish counts and low water visibility led to a weekend of slow fishing. Luckily the weather was near perfect, the clam tides were good and Hobo Jim started his summer concert schedule on Friday and Saturday. Above are Samantha, Sidney, and Shelby Brown posing proudly with their hooligan. Dad Tony did not want to be in the photo until he caught a king salmon......I guess we'll wait until Tony comes back in July to fulfill his wish.


The overall first run has been disappointing. Since May 16th the cumulative count was 675 king salmon. Officially this is the worst May since the sonar began counting in 1988. 2002 was the second worse run with 895 king salmon. Just to give you an idea of what is "normal" just two years ago the May run was 2590. The highest May recorded was in 1988 with 5574 king salmon.


Overall the fishing community on the Peninsual are holding their breath with this run. There have been many years when the count started slow and then a couple of tide cycles later everything was alright. Time will only tell how this run will shape up. On the up side, there have been reports of red salmon being caught at Bing's Landing and a few reds already up in the Russian River system.