Fishing Report Week Ending 6/9/13....The Big 5-0!

It's funny how the world works.   It's often said that when one door closes, another one opens.   On Wednesday the group that scheduled a fishing trip with me on Thursday called and said they had to cancel.....door closed.    I was a little disappointed because the river was starting to clear and the fish counts were improving.  I felt like we would have a great day on the water but I completely understood why they were cancelling.  Before I could get too down I got a call from my friend Boo, from Tall Tale Charters and he said he had two seats open for halibut fishing in Homer on Thursday and he asked if Jane and I would like to go.....door open! 

I always love Homer whether I'm fishing or not.   Homer is a great town and we had a great day on the water.   Nice weather, a great crew on the boat and plenty of fish that wanted to bite.   Between Jane and I we caught and released over 30 halibut.   Nothing large, but perfect eating size halibut.

This is one of the reasons I like being in Homer.  If you're a fan of the reality show Deadliest Catch, and who isn't, quite a few of the boats featured are docked here in the offseason.  This is the boat that Wild Bill is running in the current season of the show.

This is the boat that Elliot Neese captained in 2012.   I normally see the Time Bandit in port, the Hillstrands are Homer natives,  but not this time.  The thing that always amazes me is how small these crab boats really are.   Mike, who was fishing with us on Thursday, said he couldn't believe how small the galley and sleeping quarters were.   I told them that's why they often fish for 30 straight hours, because no one wants to climb into a bunk unless they're dead tired.

So, on to the Kenai report.  My friend Jeff had a group of 11 people that wanted to fish on Saturday and I was fortunate to receive a call from him to help out.   All I can tell you is when the call comes from boat 003 you feel honored.  To use Jeff's vernacular, "I was on the A-Team."   So the photo above is the first fish of the year in my boat.   That's one of about 20 hooligan that found it's way on our hook Saturday.  But fortunately, hooligan weren't the only fish that we caught.

Just before noon we had our first real bite of the year and to the boat came a nice 12 pound Kenai king salmon.   This is the first fish Colby has ever caught which also makes it the biggest fish she has ever caught which also makes it the most fish she has ever caught.  Trifecta!   After a couple of quick photos in the net, we released this fish unharmed and I am more than confident it continued it's journey to the spawning grounds.

 

 

Couldn't make this report with having a photo of the real "A-Team".   That's mom and dad in the front (Jenelle and Kevin), Colby and Cydney are in the back.  With moose, eagles, hooligan, salmon, perfect weather, and great company, it was hard to beat the day.   Thanks guys for sticking with your trip even though the river changed to catch and release after you booked it.

 

Okay, so tomorrow seems to be a big day for everyone in my family.  To me it's just another day, and another number.   On June 10th I turn 50 years old.   Jane has been asking me if I want to do anything special and I told her not really.  She seems disappointed but I remind her that I feel like everyday is my birthday so this day is no big deal.  There's no reason to go "all out" so I told her a nice home cooked meal is an excellent way to celebrate the day.   You know, it's kind of funny that when I look back on my life I use to think that being 50 was real old.  Now that I'm here I've changed my opinion (imagine that).   I've got my health, I've got a good life (and wife), and I can't wait to see what the next 50 years will bring.

 

Come back next week and visit the blog.  This old man will have another report for you.  Ha!

 

 





Salvage Run

With a rising river and a report from my friend Jeff saying he recovered 5 anchors, I felt I was too late to float the river for my annual Salvage Run.  I thought, "what the heck, good or bad I have to get out there."    I hadn't drifted more than a couple of minutes when something shiny caught my eye.  That's a three dollar lure. Yeah, baby!   It was going to be a good day after all.

After finding mostly fishing lures in trees and snagged on rocks my first non lure discovery was this: a genuine Alaska license plate.  

 

The expiration date on the plate was 2008.  For being in the river for at least 5 years it was surprisingly in good shape.

 

 

 

Not far downstream from the license plate I came across this.   Let's see, a license plate, a tire, what next, a truck?   Well, that didn't come together but a guy can dream, can't he?   By the way, the two white objects near the top of the photo are dead hooligan.

My next big find was this.  Hard to tell but this is a hooligan dipnet.  After close inspection I found it was broken so I hauled it out of the water and placed it on the bank.  This was a little too large for me to strap on my cataraft so figured I should at least take it out of the water and leave it visible so maybe a boater would notice it and take it to the landfill.

As I was floating the homestretch coming into Beaver Creek I came across this gem.  This is a full fledged king salmon spinning rod and reel.   It always makes me wonder about the story behind something like this.  Did someone carelessly drop it in the river?  Did a fish rip it out someone's hands?  Did someone get frustrated with it and decided to chuck it in the river?  Who knows the real story but it's always fun to speculate.

 

This photo is of my final haul.  No anchors (darn), but I did find a few "firsts".   A knife, a boat roller, a running light, and a license plate made this list.  All in all, a great day on the water.

 

So, on to the fishing report.    After a couple of cancellations I'm back on track this week with a couple of trips.   ADF&G has estimated that 16 Kenai kings have been caught and released to date with the overall run being weak.  No one I personally know has caught a king, but I hope to change that real soon.

 

See you next week.  

Fishing Report Week Ending 5/27/13.

I was out on the river a couple of times this past week with my old college buddy, Eric and his friends Rob and Greg.   To sum it up, the fishing was great, the catching not so great.   This is the second year in a row that Eric and Rob have been the first on my "shakedown" cruise.  It's also the second year in a row that we've been fishless.  Apparently the experience hasn't been that bad because this was the note they left me.   Hey guys, maybe in 2014,  the "third time will be the charm!"

I think it was a combination of two things why we didn't get the net wet.  Number one, it's been a very late spring, in fact, the water lines froze on the cabins twice this week.  This leads to excuse number two: low number of salmon in the river.   On one of the days we were out a researcher from Fish and Game told us that one salmon had passed the sonar.   It made us feel like Lloyd from the movie Dumb and Dumber, "....so you're telling us we have a chance."  One thing we were perfect on was moose viewing.  Two days, two moose.  The photo above Rob and Greg were watching a young bull walking the shoreline.  Eric, as you can see, wanted to be ready for his photo op and could care less about a moose.

Eric, Rob, and Greg are in Alaska because they were tagging along with their wives.   Terri, Debbie, and Tara were presenting at an education conference in Anchorage.  I'm sure they had a tough time convincing the guys to accompany them.   I don't know about you but I think the three should be nominated to the "Wives of the Month Club."

On to other things.  Saturday morning looked like the perfect tide to get the dock out.  Our friends Vern and Nancy wanted to help and I told them to come at 4:30 am.   Guess what?  What I thought was enough water to float the dock wasn't.   I  promised them if they came back Sunday morning the tide would be larger and there would be plenty of water to put the dock in.    Thanks for the help, Vern.  The extra set of hands came in handy.

The week ahead is a quiet one for me.  I have a lot of off water chores to do but I should be able to find some time to sneak out and fish.  At the very least I should be able to get out on my much belated Kenai River salvage run.

See you next week.

First Fishing Report for 2013

Ahhh, the first report of the season.   This is my latest "first report" ever and it's not because I didn't want to go fishing....I just couldn't.   Mother Nature has her own schedule and this was the first stretch of the season that you could actually get out (spoke too soon, there's snow in the forecast!).   My first trip came when Big Will called me up and said let's head out to the ocean to catch a few halibut.   Hard to say no to Will and to the invitation.   We didn't catch any halibut but we did catch a couple of spiny dogfish shark.   Always a blast being in the boat with Will.   

The next call came from the guy that started my guiding career on this river, Jeff King.    Jeff was the very first person to take me out fishing on the Kenai.  How appropriate that I'm out with him for my first day of fishing the Kenai in 2013.  Anyway, here he is sitting in his office; a chair he has held for more than 30 years.    Did we catch an elusive early, early run Kenai king?  Nope.  Did it matter?  Nope.

A  big reason why I like hanging out with Jeff is he reminds me of all the great times I've had on the river with my Dad.   For about 15 years it was usually just the three of us out chasing "Ol' Slimey" and making memories.  The photo above was taken in the late 80's and that's my Dad in the foreground with a young, virile Jeff  behind the wheel.   The story behind this photo is we were in the last hour of the day and my Dad hadn't had a bite yet.  He looked at Jeff and said,  "rally caps!"   Jeff didn't care that he looked a little crazy to the other guides or to the other anglers on the river.  The most important thing to Jeff that day were the people in his boat.  It was true then, and it's true today.    Good times (I miss you Dad!).

Well, that's about it for the first fishing report of 2013.  See you next week for the second fishing report of 2013.   

Early Run Goes to Catch & Release

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has announced that the early king salmon run on the Kenai will become a catch and release fishery beginning May 16th.    Keep in mind this order does allow the retention of any king salmon under 20" or over 55" inches but, in essence, it's catch and release.    Click here for additional details of the emergency order.

Just so there's no confusion, starting July 1st, the second, or late run management plan kicks in.   Although this early run emergency order will extend until July 14th, it only affects known spawning areas of the river (mostly the middle river) and not the entire river.   The areas I fish, the lower tidal area of the river, will not be affected by this emergency order change of management plans.

I've been told by Fish and Game officials that they decided to begin the 2013 season conservatively but if the run strength increases they will lift the restrictions.    This is nothing new, and something they have done in the past, so I'm okay with their decision.    After all, the fish come first!

I am in the process of contacting all my May/June clients and so far the response has been positive.   If  I haven't got a hold of you yet, be patient, I will soon.

Stay tuned to the blog; it's going to be an interesting summer....

Mother's Day

 

mom and Jane in Homer

 

 

 

Happy Mother's Day, mom.

Enjoy your day.

Love,
Keith

 

 



Traffic? What Traffic?

To paraphrase Yogi Berra, "the Kenai River is so busy nobody goes there anymore."

Probably my favorite way to describe fishing in July on the Kenai River to prospective clients is the river WILL NOT BE A WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE!   During the peak of the second run of Kenai kings the Alaska Department of Fish and Game estimates that there are over 700 boats a day fishing the river.   Do you still want to go?

I don't know about you but I can hardly wait to get the 2013 fishing season underway.