Fishing Report Week Ending 8/30/15

It was a week of excellent fishing and beautiful sunrises.  Everyone that wanted a limit of silvers, caught a limit of silvers.

Here's Sandy and John with their limit on the first day they fished with me. The next two trips that they had they decided they wanted to catch and release silver salmon. They said they loved being on the water and they had plenty of fish to bring back to New Hampshire. No problemo.

Here's one of many fish released unharmed.

And here's another.   John set a record for my boat for the most silver salmon caught in one trip. Believe it or not, he brought in 15 for the day.

Here's Cherilyn, Raime, and Stephanie with a limit of silvers and a couple of bonus red salmon.  It's been a strange year for the reds.  All week long we we've been catching them.  Some were fresh, some where not, but it was all good fun to reel them in.

Here's Travis, Garret, Milo, and Justin with their limits.  Thanks, Milo, for getting me off the river with 8 minutes to spare!

What a fabulous way to end the week.  Long time readers of the blog will recognize these four. That's Dan and Mary Meyer on the left, Judy and Bob Kingsbury on the right.  No doubt, the women definitely showed the men how it was done.  But the men had patience and it finally paid off with two silvers at quitting time.

So, for the week ahead.  According to the biologists we are in a transition period from the first run of silvers to the second run of silvers.  What that means is the numbers are down until the middle of September.  I believe we'll be able to scratch out 3 fish limits beginning on September 1st.  Not sure everyone will get all their fish, but some will.  Find out next week how we did.  See you then.

Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/23/15

....It's another Kenai sunrise....

It was an excellent week.  Family, friends, and fish.  Hard to beat that in my world.

In the beginning of the week it was the Rafael Schnitzler show.  Raf was up in July with his dad but decided he needed to get his fix of silvers, reds and trout before taking a new job. If he wasn't sleeping or eating, he was out on the water fishing.  He probably wouldn't like me sharing this but if anyone finds a Gloomis fly rod attached to a monster red salmon some where in the vicinity of Bing's Landing, Raf would like his gear back.

Here's Mike and Mary with their limit. They had a productive week catching silvers with me, and fishing for red salmon on their own.

Here's Ted, Vincent and Mark with a few silvers.  These guys were staying in Homer and when their halibut trip was cancelled they called to see if I could get them out for a few hours in the afternoon. Not always the best time to fish for silvers but these guys weren't complaining (as they all said, it sure beats sitting in a hotel room all day).

Here's Chris with his son Jacob, Rick and Mary. All I can say is I would hire 8 year old Jacob to guide for me anytime.

Another family with their limit of silvers. Jacob, Grandpa Laverne, Spencer, and Chris.

Here's the "my" family part of last week. My baby sister Heidi, and Christa came up for the week. They were here to hang out, see the peninsula, and work in an afternoon of silver fishing.  It was great to get caught up, especially with Christa. Jane use to babysit her and I've known her since she was a teenager.  Jane and I hope to see you both on an annual basis.

Mary, Rick (again!), Rich and Ken with a limit of silvers.  It was fun to visit with all of these guys, especially Mary. Turns out we have a mutual friend so it was good to swap stories about him.

One of the only hiccups this past week. Here's Grandpa Leroy, Adam, and Michael posing with the days catch.  Not a bad haul if it were just the three of them.  What you don't see in this photo are the two uncles who were fishless. Hey, we'll get 'em next time, boys....

We ended the week with the fastest limit of silvers so far this season.  I often struggle with ending the day so soon. But, with fishing, you never know what can happen and these guys were okay with being back at the cabins for a hot breakfast.  On the left is April and Mike from Big Lake, MN.  On the right is Judy and Arne from Moose Lake, MN.

I'm not as confident predicting the week ahead like I was in my last post.  I think the fishing will still be good, but hard to say what the daily tides will bring.  I do know with absolute certainty that I will be out everyday chasing 'em. See you next week.



Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/16/15

The beginning of the week was a lot like the previous week.  Fishing was a bit slow.  Sure we caught some silvers, but there was a lot of time in between bites. In the local newspaper our area fish and game biologist said there were plenty of silvers in the river, more than we realize, but with the nice weather the fish had "lockjaw."  Kind of interesting how the bite picked up towards the end of the week when the commercial fisherman stopped fishing for the year.  Anyway, that's Kate pictured above with the first silver of the week.

Here's Phoenix with her first silver salmon ever.

And here's her husband, Tom, with a silver as well.  Tom fished with me a couple of years ago so I can't say this was the biggest or the most fish he's ever caught.

Wednesday afternoon I was guide/participant in Senator Lisa Murkowski's Junior Classic.  This event is held for the children of military personnel from Joint Base Elmendorf/Richardson.   Fishing wasn't so hot but the kids had a wonderful time on the water.

Here's Alexis with her first ever silver salmon.  This girl sure knows how to fish and it would be fun to watch her wrestle with a king salmon.

What's not to like about this photo?  Not only did Jacob catch this beautiful silver salmon, he caught a red salmon before anyone else could get their lines in. Fishing is definitely in his DNA.

This is Team Chesney.  Jacob, his dad Chris, Grandma Linda, and Grandpa Marty.  We had a nice steady bite and quite the mixed bag of salmon.   We caught reds, silvers, and a pink.  The only salmon we didn't catch was a king. Jacob was sure hoping we'd get the Kenai Grand Slam but it just wasn't meant to be.

I ended the week fishing with my old friends, Bob, Janet, and Todd Laflamme. Never a dull moment when these guys are in the boat. One of the many highlights included getting a double. Now Dean-O knows why I carry two nets....

For the week ahead I expect excellent fishing.  This is because we are at the historical peak of the run and the commercial fishing season has ended for the year. Make sure to come back next week to see how we did.




Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/9/15

Jane and I had the pleasure of hosting the Bloch family this past week.  The group was here to celebrate Bob and Ruth's 50th wedding anniversary.    From Grandpa Bob and Grandma Ruth to 18 month old grand daughter Mara, the entire clan, except Nate who was seriously injured prior to the trip, piled into our cabins and boat for a week of adventure.

Five minutes into our first morning of silver fishing, Kim showed everyone how it's done.

It didn't take too long for Bob to show the grand kids he still had the touch.   Ruth did too but unfortunately I didn't get a boat photo with her catch.

Allison proudly holding a 12 pound silver.

Bob, Ruth, Andrew, Ben, Allison, Mason, and Brody

Results of day 1 between my boat and Jeff King's boat.  A very nice start to their fishing adventure.

Day 2 proved to be more challenging. Here's Audria and Melana with the days catch.

Day 3 was much like day 2.  Silver fishing was slow but with perseverance we were able to put a few in the box. The highlight of the day was five year old Kayla picking out a pink mag lip lure and then catching this silver.  Can you guess what her favorite color is?   

Here's Daniel, Kayla, Allison, Dan and Michael with the results of day 3.  

Bob and Dan

On their final day of fishing it was still on the slow side.  We caught 3 silvers and missed just as many. The unfortunate highlight of the day happened when I reeled in Melana's line and Dan was standing to my side.  The kwikfish lure came flying out of the water and hit Dan in a rather sensitive area.  If this was the National Hockey League, the injury report would read "lower body injury". So you can imagine what Dan did the next time I reeled in Melana's line.  Glad she had her phone out to capture this defensive pose.....

The "catching" this past week wasn't exactly red hot, but spending time with the Bloch's made me think of the sign that's in Will Jahrig's shop:  The least important part of fishing is fishing.  What a terrific family.   Lot's of love, laughter, and caring.  Something that was good for my soul at this juncture of the season.   I look forward to fishing with Nate on their next visit.

In the week ahead I'll be busy on the water and hopefully a big pile of silvers will find their way into the river.

See you next week.

Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/2/15

The king bite started out strong last week and by the end of the season it had slowed down. I guess it wasn't a surprise but, considering the run strength, I thought we would have fishable numbers up until quitting time.

On to the week in review.  The king Michael is holding is perhaps the most epic battle ever in my boat.   Not the largest fish, but one of the stubbornest.   We hooked this fish near Mud Island and it ran all over the place.  It went under the boat several times, the line got wrapped around the exposed prop of my kicker motor, and it ran from bank to bank.

At one point during the fight it broke the eye on the fishing rod.

And then this happened. Michael accidentally hit the lever on the reel and backlashed it.  The line snapped and I thought that was the end of it.  The knot from the backlash, however, was large enough that it could not pass through the tip of the rod.  I grabbed the line, cut the knot, and restrung it. I tried in vain to tie a blood knot to connect the severed line but I couldn't get it to hold.  I then tied an old fashioned granny knot and cinched the drag as tight as it could go.  At this point of the battle I couldn't take a chance on the knot passing out of the reel.  After about five more minutes of the fight the king came to the net. Needless to say, I used up a seasons worth of salmon credits on that fish.

Here's Lindsay Nordberg with her first Kenai king.  No drama with this fish. Lindsay reeled this one in like she's been king fishing all her life.

Her husband Dave followed up with a nice one as well.  Here's a funny thing about this trip.  When Dave jumped in the boat I told him my grandmother's maiden name is Nordberg.   Turns out we're related. My grandmother and his grandfather were brother and sister. Small world and we had a lot of fun talking about our family's idiosyncrasies .

Here's one of my all time favorites, Joe Schnitzler, trying to lift a 50lb king off the floor.   I'll cut him some slack because it took 20 minutes to reel this fish in and Joe was a little bit fatigued (although you couldn't tell with that smile). This fish may look a bit blush, but it had sea lice on it and fillet out nicely.

A down side of the king closures the last few years is I haven't been able to fish with Grant Watt. This year was different so Grant and his son Jake came down from Anchorage for an afternoon of king fishing. Jake had a nice take down on a kwikfish early in the trip but unfortunately it did not stay on.  Grant, on the other hand, was a perfect one for one and landed this chromer.

On the last day of the king season I had Nick and Brittany for a full day of fishing. About 8 hours into the trip Nick hooked this king.

Two hours later Brittany got this one.  If Brittany looks familiar, you'll see on earlier post that she caught the very first king of the year with me.  Turns out she caught the very last one as well.  How cool is that?

The king salmon season closed at the end of the day on 7/31.  So on August 1st Nick and Brittany booked a silver salmon trip with me.  We gave it a shot for about an hour and switched over to red salmon.  As you can see, not a bad Plan B.

The week ahead will be a difficult one and hard to predict.  Hard to say when the red run in the lower river will peter out and when the silver run will begin.  I am hopeful that the silvers will show, a friend of mine fished all day yesterday and caught 2, but we'll give it a good shot and report about it next week.



Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service