Fishing Report Week Ending 7/26/09

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The best because I'm guided a lot of friends but the worst because the king fishing was not as expected for this time of the year. As far as I can tell there were two factors that kept the catch rate down. The first was the low numbers of kings entering the river. The second is that the river is at flood stage due to rain in the mountains and the increased melting of the glaciers that feed into the Kenai. This has produced high and muddy water, a bad combination for fishing.

The few fish that were caught include Sarah, Dave, Ursula, and Adam. In addition, there is a photo from the halibut trip that Jane had taken with the Sporrer/Johnson/Dawson group. A definite positive this week is the red fishing with most groups limiting out daily. Also, the minus tides produced great clam digging for many of our guests.

Four days left in the king season. I hope mother nature will be kind..........

Week Ending 7/19/09

As you can see we are knee deep in the run of red and king salmon.


Overall, I would say the red fishing has been great and the king fishing has been good. At the beginning of the week I personally saw my largest king ever. It wasn't in my boat but landed in a boat next to me. The hawg of a king was measured, photographed, and released. It was 58 inches long and had a girth of 34 inches. It was conservatively estimated at 90.5 pounds. Conservation of large fish is often talked about by guides but until the moment hits you and it's hard to say how you will react. I was glad to see such a large fish released to once again help populate the mighty Kenai River.


Here's a recap of the photos. Photo one is Tim, Eli, Phil and I after a morning of dipnetting. Photo two is Joe Schnitzler with his first Kenai king. It took him four attempts to get his prize. Photo three is Ed Stamper and Daisy 3 Irons with a couple of dandy fish. Photo four is of Derek, Joe, Ed, Ron and Rick with their daily limit of red salmon. Photo five is Debbie and Jason with a pair of 50 pounders. Photo five is Collin with the quickest king to the boat this year (sitting in his seat without a rod by 6:11 am). Photo six is Phil and Don showing the success of their early morning trip.


Stay tuned, the fishing should only get better.

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/12

I'm glad to report that the fishing this past week has been exactly as it should be. We're still between runs which means the size of the king salmon have been all over the board. The good news is that we've caught fish every day but not necessarily every trip. Also, for you fans of red salmon the second run is just starting.



The top photo is Alec and Jacob with a bunch of red salmon. The next photo is of Alec (son) and Todd (dad) with their kings. It's not often that Todd outfishes his son but I guess he was due this time. The next photo is Mike and Dylan proudly posing with their king. The next photo is Travis, his uncle Bill, and me. Travis was trying to show his uncle a great time in Alaska and based on their smiles I think the mission was accomplished. The next photo is of a mama moose and her calf taking a nap in front of the Chinook cabin. The next photo is king that Grant released. And the final photo is the king that Derek Lively caught to start the week out.

Week Ending 7/5

Happy Birthday America.

What a difference a week makes. I'm happy to report that the Kenai is finally back to it's old self again. All week we had multiple fish days with a typical mix of the "between the run" king salmon. What that means is that we got some big fish, some medium fish, and some small fish. We also caught a red salmon and a flounder as well. Alisa (top photo) was skunked last year but you can tell by her smile that this was the year for her first king salmon. The other photos are of released salmon.

If you're still thinking about putting together a king salmon trip I do have seats available between now and the closure at the end of the month. The way July has started it looks like the rest of the season should be a good one.

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.