Fishing Report Week Ending 6/19/16

First off, Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there.  I know today I'm going to celebrate the memory of my father by going to the Dairy Queen and ordering a pineapple shake.  It was his favorite flavor and by coincidence it's my good friend George French's as well.

On to the fishing report.  My first real trip of the year happened on Thursday. Beaver Creek regular Rob Hunsaker came with his son Jarred, and four other friends.  Only a few trolls into our morning, Max had a hook up at the Toilet Hole.

 After a nice little fight....

...and with net in hand, the barbless hook came unbuttoned alongside the boat.  Not a bad way to start off a morning.  Unfortunately, after trolling all over the river for the rest of the day, that was the only action we had.  Thanks guys, for a great trip, and for great attitudes. It was a nice way to start off the guiding season for me.

The big news for the week happened on Friday when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that the early run Kenai king escapement goals had been met and they were reopening the river to retention of king salmon on Saturday, June 18th. I was guiding Debbie, Bill, Don, and Ben on Friday and Saturday and they were excited to have the option of actually keeping a king salmon to eat.  On Friday, the fishing was okay. Debbie hooked into a fish on our first troll but we lost it at a net lengths away from the boat.  Not too long after that Bill fought a fish, but it too came off just as the leader became visible.  Finally, Debbie did get a fish to the net and it was gently released to continue it's journey to the the Promised Land.

Saturday was an interesting day. With retention, the boat traffic on the river increased tenfold.  I figured we would see quite a few fish being caught, but somebody must have told the fish that they could be kept on this day. Where the heck were they? When the day was done I saw two fish landed, and one was in our boat.  Our only action came just before noon. It was at that time that Ben decided he would eat a banana in the boat (matching rain clothes helped seal his fate); much to the chagrin of a few superstitious fisherman in our boat.  A short troll later he catches a king. Since there were several hours left in our day, he decided he would sooner fish than not fish, and released it. Good on ya, Ben!  That, however, was the end of our action.  Sorry, Ron, for no bites in two days, but as you kept saying, "hey, that's fishing."  Thanks guys, for your patience, and for ending my week on such a positive note.

What's on tap for the week ahead?  I do have a couple of trips on the books. Come back next week to find out how the Kenai treated us.





Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service