Fishing Report Week Ending 8/28/11

The beginning of the week the silver fishing remained hot, but by the end of the week it slowed considerably. We still caught fish but not everyone caught their limit. Pictured above is Team New Hampshire (John, Jack, and Richard). You can obviously tell that Jack caught the largest one of the day.

Pictured above is Gwen of "Team Banana". On Sunday I was fishing Gwen and Billie and the bite in the morning was steady. Mid morning Gwen reached for a snack and pulled out a banana. Oh boy, the dreaded banana. For a couple of hours we didn't have a bite and then Gwen hooked on to this 15lb beauty. She said "so much for bananas". After that I wish Billie would have brought one because he didn't get another bite.

It's the ninth year that Dan and Mary Meyer have been coming to our place. There's always a certain mojo in the boat (Kit Kat bars?) when they show and the fish sure seem to cooperate for them.

Here's the morning results for Vern and Nancy Gulliksen, Jane, and Lars. We sure enjoyed our time with the Gulliksen's and after purchasing property nearby we can now officially call them neighbors.

Here's Ron of Team BP. The other guys in the boat didn't want to be in the photo so that only makes me believe that there might be an outstanding warrant or two out for them. Ha! Just kidding. I had a blast spending the day on the water with Team BP and hope to see them again.

We are in the middle of some very large tide cycles this week and based on how the last couple of days fished I'm thinking that we'll have to put our time in to catch our fish. Every day is new so it should be interesting.

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/21/11

Hi ho silver! What a great week of fishing. Lots of silvers kept and lots of silvers released. The picture above is a father/son moment of Mac and me fishing the Kenai in the evening. Mac is on his way to college this week so it was nice to spend time in the boat with him. No doubt the kid has the Holtan luck.

Here's Lars Ohlin with a nice Kenai silver. This is the fourth year that Lars has been coming to the Kenai. For a young man he sure is becoming an old pro.

Verne and Nancy pose with a quick morning limit. They're scheduled to fish with me a couple of more times this coming week and regardless of the bite their attitude will make the day an enjoyable one.

Here's Myron, Dan, Ken and Tim proudly showing off their morning's catch.

Lars and Team Lehtola had no problems reeling in their fish. I think all the Minnesota blood in the boat proved to be too irrestible to the fish.

I think the week ahead should be steady fishing. Some days better than others but nonetheless it should continue to be very good.

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/14/2011

Fishing this past week was a little bit like the weather....sometimes hot, sometimes not so hot. All in all it was a great week to be on the water. Pictured above are four girl scouts that I fished in Senator Lisa Murkowski's Jr. Classic fishing tournament. Hey girls, thanks for the Tagalongs!

Not to be out done is Eagle Scout troop 389 from Mahtomedi, Minnesota. No doubt we had to work for these fish but it was a lot of fun hearing about what these guys have done in Alaska and what they have left to do.

Team Beavers from Oklahoma (two "outsiders" from Colorado came as well) proudly display their catch. It was a terrific day on the water but not quite as fast and furious as their saltwater trip the day before. Glad I could slow things down a bit for you so you could recover.

It was great to fish with Minnesota Dave and Missouri Dave once again. Great guys who make my day really enjoyable. Hope to see them again during the pink/silver run next year.

Finally, Bob and Sue Slaybaugh hold up a couple of nice silver salmon. Great weather and as they would say in Nisswa, "pretty good fishing".

The week ahead should be much like this past week. An early morning bite and then living and dieing with the tide cycles. Should be fun and challening.

Fishing Report Week Ending 8/7/11

The guided silver salmon season officially began on Tuesday, August 2nd. It was less than stellar. Let's just say on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we caught more trout than we did silver salmon. As my dad would remind me, "you can't catch what's not there."

However, on Saturday and Sunday the fishing improved dramatically. The fish were "there". The photo above is Dean and Nancy posing proudly with their fish.

Here's Toby kneeling next to the fish that he caught with his brother-in-law Ron. Toby will quickly point out that they caught more fish but decided to let 'em go so they could spend more time on the water. It's always fun to make it a day on the Kenai.

Here's Ron posing with a 14.5lb silver salmon. Very large for this time of year and it surprised the both of us when it came to the net.

Decided to add a photo of our silver salmon bycatch. Here's a beautiful 20" lower Kenai River rainbow trout.

Based on how the king fishing ended, the first week of silver fishing was as I anticipated.....sketchy. From here on out until September I expect the fishing to be consistent.

A Few Extra July Photos

Thought I'd post a few photos from the last ten days of July. Above is Susan with her "little" king. She was the first person in the boat and she was the first person to catch a fish that day. Do you think she was excited?

Here's Tony and Shelby with a mess of red salmon.

Gene is holding a nice red salmon he caught back bouncing for kings.Nothing but trouble for these three guys. Nice job on the reds, Bill, Dave and Carey.

It was interesting that when Wayne jumped in the boat he had to pull out a photo of a king he caught with me three years ago. Although this one didn't match the 58lber he caught back then, it was an impressive fish to catch without bait. The man is a perfect two for two on the Kenai. I told him he's on a roll and he needs to pack up and head to Vegas....

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/30/11

Fish naked.

A couple of years ago Brett Johnson coined this phrase. In the middle of July during the peak of the king season the bite was on and Brett said, "I don't want any eggs on my hook, I want to fish naked." He was feeling it and in the middle of all the bait being fished in the river his bare spin 'n glo lands him a 56lb king. This past week we had no choice but to fish naked. You know what, through hard work, perserverance, and a lot of luck the bite was pretty good.

The photo above is my good friend Kathy Ingram. This fish measured 50"x30.5" and weighed in at 63lbs. This fish was the largest landed in my boat this summer and in her many years of king fishing it was the largest one for Kathy. It couldn't have happen to a nicer lady. By the way, thanks Peg for the nice assist.

Here's the Ragin' Cajun Gary Smith with a nice 39lb hen. I'm not so sure Gary was a fan of the color pink but when this fish hit his spin 'n glo he became color blind.

Here's Chris, Benjamin, and Davis with 3 nice fish all in the 30lb range. These fish came on the last afternoon trip of the king season and the only way it could have been better is if Paige would have gotten one too.

Dave Sporrer holds up a respectable king caught two minutes into the morning. If I had any disappointments this past week it's that the the Sporrer clan came up a little short this year king fishing. Oh, they more than made up for it with red salmon, but there's nothing like seeing Sarah, Amy, Ursula, David, Bill, Susan, or Carey wrestling with a large Kenai king. They all had bites and opportunities, and the did catch a few, but it just wasn't in the cards this year. A note to Susan.....I can only post a few photos at a time so I'll use yours next week.

Here's Team Xtratuf showing off their 35lb hen. That's Bob on the left, Trent who caught the fish in the middle, and Mike Hoops on the right. These guys were on their way to Kodiak and worked in an afternoon trip on the Kenai.

The 2011 Kenai king season is officially over and starting next week I begin fishing for silver salmon. A few silvers were caught last week but my educated guess is the fishing will be good but the catching will be somewhat difficult.

A final thought on the king season. I'd like to thank all of you who chose to hire me a a guide this past year. The Kenai was difficult, very good at times, and not so good other times. One thing that was constant every day is I enjoyed spending time with the people that were in my boat. Seeing a beautiful Kenai king is great but you are the reason why I love doing what I do.

Fishing Report Week Ending 7/23/11

Fishing this past week was up and down. There would be a little flurry of activity and then nothing for hours on end. There's no doubt that the people who fished full day trips had more "catching" success than the half day trips.

The photo above is Jeff "Long Live the Kings" Provost releasing a nice hen. Jeff and his wife Christie caught and released king salmon on every single trip. It was a lot of fun fishing with them and I look forward to seeing them again next year.

Andy Hochmayr is pictured above with a 42lb hen he caught in the Pasture. Glad Andy kept the hook in this fish because on his prior bite he set the hook so hard the sinker and the wing on the spin 'n glo came off his line. A lot of power and adrenaline in this guy but his smile says it all..."you didn't get away this time!" Andy was up with Trevor Millerbernd and after a two year absence and it was great to fish with them again. The only thing missing was Tony and hopefully he'll be back next go 'round.

Here's Gene Miller, Mike Stacken, and Dick Miller posing with their half day catch. Father/son moment number one this past week. Gene released two smaller kings this day and tried to outdo the "kids" in the group. Unfortuntately, the only keeper Gene caught was a red salmon. We tried real hard to get Ben in the group photo but four bites with none landed kept him on the other side of the lens.

Father and son moment number two this past week. Here's Gary and Jason Smith after a morning trip. Nice action and lively conversation made the time go by fast.

Finally, father and son moment number three. Here's Chris and Trevor proudly showing off their catch. I've had many father/son moments on the Kenai with my dad and with my son so it's always fun to be part of this experience.

So, the week ahead will be challenging. The red fishing should continue to be white hot, but the king fishing does not look promising. Due to lower than expected returns, the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game has issued an Emergency Order (EO) restricting the use of bait for king fishing until the end of season (July 31st). I expect we'll continue to catch kings, as you can see on the blog we do fine in May and June without bait, but the action will be below the normal final week of the king season.

Always the optimist, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good king numbers and for good weather for the week ahead.