Fishing Report Week Ending 7/28/19

Same old, same old.

King salmon fishing was once again tough this past week. A few were caught, but it was a struggle to find willing biters. The positive takeaway from the week is that the red salmon run is smoking hot. The run is coming in so strong that the limit has been doubled from three to six fish per day. Better get 'em why they're here!

On to the weekly report. That's Harold in the photo above. He's a high school classmate of mine so I think the ol' BHS magic is what got this king salmon to bite. At least that's the story I'm sticking with.

Here's Martin with a hard earned king salmon.

And his son Chris also logged a lot of time to catch this king salmon.

I wish I could have put the youngest of the crew, Jacob (third generation) on a king salmon. Even though that didn't happen this trip, the most memorable day this past week was fishing with him on the river bank for red salmon. Jacob expertly used a fly rod with a circle hook to catch his limit. He was hooking quite a few fish, but then he was struggling to find his last one. After twenty minutes of nothing, I decided to take a look at his gear. There was a sinker, a swivel, a leader, but no hook. That explained his cold spell. I tied on another hook and in a matter of minutes he caught his last fish. Martin, Chris, Jacob, thanks for the sweet corn, the Moose's Loose apple fritter, and the memories of good times in 2019. See you all again in two years!

Here's a pile of reds that the Sorenson, Janz, and Hefner clan caught. If you’re wondering why there’s so many people on the dock, it’s because I helped Boo Kandas with this group. Wish we could have found a few kings, but this was a heck of a Plan B....

It's been quite a few years (17?), but I finally got to fish again with Matt, his wife, sister in law and brother in law. Matt wanted to catch reds, and that is what we did. It took about an hour to limit out.

I finished the week fishing with Randy, Jake, and Leslie. We couldn't find a king this day, but we sure found the red salmon. Hey guys, it was a lot of fun.

For the week ahead I anticipate the king fishing to be the same: tough. I think we'll find some fish, but there will be no easy ones. Oh well, if that's the case, I'll be packing the waders and the red gear...

That's the report. Come back next week to see how the final days of the king season pans out.




Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/21/19

It was a tough week of king fishing. A lot of hours for not a lot of fish. I think the fish didn’t get the memo that this is the peak time for the run. Sure, we caught a few fish, but the amount of effort given did not produce the results I've become accustom to.

On to the good stuff. How about that mother/son photo? That’s Lance on the left, and Kris on the right. These fish were caught on Thursday. Here's a little backstory. Lance sat for two days in the boat without a bite. On the third day, he decided to go golfing in the morning with his aunt Teresa. He shot an 89 and nearly had a hole in one. He then came out fishing in the afternoon and caught this 40lb king. To quote Lance, "it was a good day."  It got a little bit better when his mother followed up with her second king.

I normally post photos chronologically, but the mother/son photo was too good not to have it on top. The fish above Kris caught on Super Tuesday. I was really hoping that would foreshadow the week ahead, but.....

How's this for luck? John Zemke ended up with the Charlie Brown Award.  "I caught a salmon! I caught a trout! I caught a rock...." Yup, that's right. John was able to hook and land this rock. It was his only bite for the week. Good grief.

The other big catch for the week was towing a disabled boat back to the dock. I figured being a Good Samaritan would produce good fishing karma for the rest of the day. Nope. Not a single bite afterwards.

Here’s the rest of the Zemke/Rosenquist clan. In the front are John and Teresa. In the back are Libby and Dennis. We joked about participation awards after four days of limited action. All I can say is you guys get it, and I can’t thank you enough for your attitude and patience (the camaraderie was great too!). 

I finished the week by fishing Jason, Katie, Dylan, and Tyler. That's Jason with the one and only fish and bite for the day.  You guys should also be commended for your patience. Fishing was tough.

It’s not all gloom and doom because the sun will come out tomorrow. Even though I can not guide for kings on a Sunday, I plan to hit the banks with an old friend to fish for red salmon. From what I’m observing from the boat, the red fishing has been steady. The run is coming in much stronger than last year and that’s a good thing.

See you next week for another up to date Kenai fishing report.




Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/14/19

We caught king salmon everyday this past week. Some were kept, some were let go, but overall, we really had to put our time to find a fish or two.

So that's John and Linda pictured above. John hit the trifecta of fishing: first fish, biggest fish, and the most fish ever. Glad to be a part of that, John.

The next day I had the pleasure of fishing the Vastila family. Here's Zane with his catch.

His son Talan quickly followed dad with his own king salmon. Notice how much clothing he’s wearing. I’m happy to report our temperatures are back to normal. 

What was interesting about the next two days of fishing is that we caught king salmon on the first trolls of the day. Since we had all day to fish, both Mike and Todd decided to let their fish go (once a king salmon is retained on the Kenai, you have to stop fishing). They said they were here to fish and that's what they wanted to do. The fish above is the one Mike caught.

This is Todd's fish. I wish we could have found more of them, but it is what it is.

I finished the week by fishing the Lawlis family. What a great bunch of guys. Fishing was difficult, but Parker managed to find this fish near quitting time. It’s always great to end my week on such a positive note. 

The week ahead will be a very difficult time for Fish and Game. Our king salmon run is tracking near the bottom of the escapement goal, and a tough decision about further restricting the fishery may be warranted. I'm crossing my fingers that the sonar counts improve.

See you next week for a new fishing report.






Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/7/19

Baked Alaska.

High temperatures, high water, and high amounts of floating debris did not make for ideal fishing conditions this past week. If the fishing was good, you know I'd start this blogpost off with a fish photo...

 

I am not good with hot temperatures. The only time I felt worse on the Fourth of July was when I ate two pillowy sticks of cotton candy chased by a large cherry snow cone. An eight year old should not eat that much sugar in a span of 15 minutes.

I’m not the only one having difficulty with the heat.

Moose are coping by hanging out in the shade and taking a swim. Can’t blame them at all.

Enough about the weather and on to the fishing report.

My report can be summed up like this: fishing good, catching bad. A few boats caught some fish, but overall it was very quiet. My day with Richard, Mary Anne, Faith, Abel, and Pauline saw our best opportunities to land a fish. We had two fish on for several minutes, but both fish won the fight and got off. Dang.

Here’s Ray, Lydia, Devin, and Julianne making the best out of the day. Sure, they would have liked to catch a fish, but the river experience still made this a successful day. Thanks guys, for your patience and your high fishing IQ’s.  

An interesting observation about the two photos above. With the temperatures in the 80’s, one group wore long sleeve shirts and pants. The other group wore shorts and were shirtless. Can you guess who’s from El Paso, Texas, and who’s from Alaska?

What a treat. Kevin Aiona, and his wife Janet brought us a cooler full of Wisconsin sweet corn. I’ve fished with Kevin in the past and he remembers our conversation about not always finding good vegetables in Alaska (one big exception are our carrots, simply amazing). Thanks guys, it’s truly appreciated.

On to the forecast. I’m not sure what to think of the week ahead. The king and red salmon run should be building, but a high pressure system is parked over Southcentral Alaska and that means it will continue to be hot (by my standards). All I know is I’ll be giving it a hundred percent and we’ll see if the fish will cooperate.

Come back next week to see how we do, and how much sunscreen I’ll go through...






Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 6/30/19

This is is it. This is the last early run king salmon caught in my boat. I could pretend and say I caught this on Saturday, but it was actually caught earlier in June. I did spend time on the river this past week, but it was for boat maintenance and I did not fish (and by the looks of it, no one else was fishing). That all will change when the second run management of king salmon begins on July 1st. With retention, comes more fisherman, and my next three months will be busy. I do have a few openings here and there, so if you're still looking to get out, check with me or Jane about availability.

Zzzzzzz. 

If you don’t have new fish photos, you use photos of napping moose. 

The next part of the fishing report will come from others who actually fished. Dan and Mary Meyer went to the Russian River earlier in the week and were very successful. The report now is the run is past peak, but with perseverance and luck, reds can still be had.

Returning guests, Kathy and Jen switched their Kenai River fishing trips to Seward, Homer, and the Kasilof River. Here they are after a day in Seward.

Can anyone say witness protection plan?  That's a nice yellow eye for Kathy.

Here's Jen with one of the many fish she caught while fishing out of Homer.

Kathy and Jen finished their fishing with a trip on the Kasilof River. Here's a nice 18lb hatchery king that Kathy caught. Thanks for sharing your fish photos with me. Next time, I plan on being in them with you...

With the first king salmon run nearly done, the minimum escapement goal has been exceeded (it was not last year). Hopefully, that will foreshadow a decent second run. Comeback next week to see if we start the second run with a bang, or if we ease into it. 





Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 6/23/19

I didn't think I'd be fishing for red salmon on the lower river this past week, but when another guide asked if I could help him with a family of seven, I gladly, but reluctantly, agreed. I asked if his clients knew that most of the red salmon were further up the river. He said they did but they still wanted to try the lower river. 

They were a wonderful family who just wanted to be out together and not in a crowd. The bonus would be to catch enough red salmon for a barbecue. Mission accomplished. 

As predicted in my report last week, the Russian River is still going strong. How strong? ADFG has raised the limit once more to an unprecedented NINE RED SALMON! Even though I have a group next week that are scheduled for three days of king salmon fishing, I'm strongly encouraging them to cancel a king trip or two and go to the Russian River.

What else is going on? Other than an hour of king fishing that didn't produce a strike, Jane and I have been staining.

The Steelhead cabin was long overdue for a touch up.

So was the dock.

I had these little fella's keeping me company while working.

I'm looking forward to the week ahead. Not only do I end my three month commitment to grand jury duty, I also have several days of fishing planned. Over and above that, this will be the last week of catch and release fishing for king salmon. Although the emergency order has been tough on local businesses (including us), it looks like ADFG will reach the lower end of their escapement goals. That is good news for the future.

See you next week for a new report.




Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service

Fishing Report Week Ending 6/16/19

Reds, reds, reds.

We're in the middle of a strong, June run of red salmon. For the next two weeks the red salmon fishing on the Kenai/Russian River should be fantastic.

How strong is the run? Try following this timeline. The Russian River opened to red salmon fishing on June 11th. On June 12th, the Sanctuary (staging area at the confluence of the Kenai/Russian River) was opened early. On June 14th, the limit on red salmon was increased from three to six fish. There's no doubt that ADFG prefers to liberalize a fishery, rather than restrict one.

Speaking of liberalization, we are not the only area experiencing a strong run of red salmon. The Resurrection Bay (Seward) red salmon bag limit was increased from six to twelve fish per day. If you want to fill your freezer for the year, and don't own a dipnet, this is where you'll want to be.

All good things must come to an end, and based on how the action was this past week on the lower Kenai River, I would say the best fishing is now past us. Sure, you can still catch a red salmon or two, but to consistently catch red salmon you'll have to follow the bulk of the run up river. The middle river below Skilak Lake, the upper river, and the Russian River proper are sure bets for action.

Caribou near Bridge Access Road

For the week ahead I plan on staying close to home and will start to target king salmon once again. Better water conditions, and steady king sonar counts should make for decent fishing. At least that's my story right now...

Before I say “see you next week” I want to wish all the fathers a Happy Father’s Day.  See you next week.  







Beaver Creek Cabins & Guide Service