July 1st Bait Opener......Wow!

I don't have much time to write but I thought I would get these photos on the site as soon as possible. What a difference bait makes. The two fish we kept were 44lbs and 48lbs. I'm holding Ms. Dorothy's fish (she got even) and Jane is holding up her own fish. I'm proud of the fisherwoman that Jane has become. Not too many years ago she would worry that she didn't know how to hold the rod correctly and she wouldn't even think about touching a fish. Quite the Alaskan for sure. One quick comment about Ms. Dorothy, she said that was her first king that she has caught in 32 years of living in Alaska. I'm sure glad I was there to be part of her achievement.

Let's hope July continues to be as good as the first day.

Week Ending June 28th

No photos this week but we did manage to catch a couple of salmon. They were on the small side but at least they were salmon.

Saturday by far was the best day for action. We caught one and everybody at least had a good bite or two. The heartbreak for the day happened right at quitting time. Ms. Dorothy had a salmon strike so hard that it almost took the rod and reel into the river. She was having problems holding onto the rod so I tried to assist while everyone else was trying to get their lines out of the way. As she was holding on for dear life she accidentally hit the release lever on the reel and the line backlashed into a knot. I grabbed the rod and tried to get the knot out but the king headed down stream and snapped the 30lb leader with no effort. There's no doubt in my mind that was a large fish and if there is an upside I'm sure it would have fallen into the slot limit and we would have had to let it go. Ms. Dorothy said she will be back to get even and to get one of my favorite plugs back!

Overall, the fishing on the Kenai remains very tough. It seems like the sonar counts have been fine but the catch rate does not coincide with the numbers. I would have to say that this has been the slowest fishing that I have seen for the early run of Kenai kings. 2002 was worse but since they closed the river in June for fishing I can't tell you exactly how "slow" the fishing truly was.

So, how is your weather? On Tuesday and Saturday when I walked down to my boat I had frost on the seats. Good luck with the triple digit temperatures down south.

Week Ending June 21st

The run and the catch rate for Kenai king's this past week has been difficult. The Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game has amended its forecast and now says the first run of king salmon will be below the historical average. I will agree. We had a few chances this past week but could not put a king in the boat. Each day we would see about 6-10 kings landed but in spite of that my clients maintained a positive attitude and enjoyed their day on the water. Thank goodness for good weather, moose, eagles, and the occasional boater running aground on a gravel bar to keep us entertained.

The saltwater fishing for halibut continues to be good and the Russian River red salmon run continues to be strong. This year has been more important than ever to be flexible and to spread out your fishing adventures to cover other areas. Luckily my clients this week planned in advance to not only fish the Kenai, but Homer and in Seward as well. Somewhere in their week they'll have one of the best fishing trips of their lives. My fingers are crossed that it will be the Kenai.

Russian River Continues To Be Red Hot

My Thursday group cancelled their king trip so it was time for me to make lemonade out of lemons. I packed my gear early in the morning and headed up to the Russian River.

Once again, the fishing was outstanding.

The second picture is a six fish limit of red salmon. It took me about 1/2 hour hour to catch them all. To get to my six I had at least that many on that I lost and also snagged three more (they were returned to the river). It was great action.

The first picture is of the famed "combat" fishing zone. This picture was taken about 5:30a.m. and the zone only got ighter after the first ferry of the day crossed at 6:00a.m.

I learned two things on this trip. First, when the fish are in, the river never sleeps. Quite a few anglers fished throughout the night. Second, when the fish are in so are the bears. I saw one one black bear and one brown bear working the shoreline for coolers and carcasses. Even though these bears have been around people all of their lives, they are still wild and caution should be exercised. Also, it doesn't hurt to wear tennis shoes when the guy next to you is wearing hip boots.....feel free to finish the punch line to this joke.

Back on the Kenai for kings tomorrow.

Red Salmon Fishing Is Hot!

The Kenai/Russian River red salmon fishing is fantastic. Today, the Dept. of Fish and Game increased the limit from 3 to 6. Jane and I decided to see if the reports were true and I can tell you that they are. Fishing was very good and the average size salmon was above normal. This run should continue to be strong for the next week or so.

The Kenai king fishing remains slow and a few fish are being caught daily by the fleet. Every tide and every day we are all hoping that the bite will increase. Oh well, at least the weather has been great!