When the king fishery closed in June, the pause made me realize how much I missed the connection with the river. What I missed even more was sharing the day in the boat with friends. Needless to say, when the river reopened to king fishing on July 1st, I knew my first trip would be a great one. My friends Kim, Shana, Mandy, and Todd were here and they love to have fun.
Kim has fished the Kenai with me before and has caught king and silver salmon. I was really hoping Shana, Todd, and Mandy would experience that too. Sadly, the fish simply were not there. Shana did have a bite early in the day, but that was it. Well, Mandy caught a stick, but I’m not so sure that should be called “action”.
Hopefully, the next time the four of you fish the Kenai you’ll have different results. I’m looking forward to a do-over.
Since that was it for fishing on the Kenai for me, the rest of my fishing report will be about the saltwater fishing that Kim, Shana, Todd and Mandy did in Homer. They fished with my friend Mike Wheat of Mike’s Hooked For Life Guide Service. Other than the sea being a bit lumpy (I feel for you Mandy because I don’t do well in rough seas either), the fishing was excellent.
Here’s Kim showing the halibut who’s the boss.
“I’ve got to reel this thing up from how many feet?” That’s Shana with the classic halibut facial expression.
Speaking of Homer, last week when Jane and MJ were there, they saw this otter taking a nap in the harbor.
Thanks, MJ, for sharing your wonderful photos with me.
For the week ahead, I plan on spending some time with visiting friends and exploring the peninsula. We plan on getting out on the river a few times. Based on how the early king run ended, and how July has started, I’m not expecting a lot of action. In addition to low king abundance, we are between the red salmon runs so the likelihood of decent action is remote. Saltwater and fly out fishing opportunities are your best bets right now.
Enjoy your 4th of July and see you next week.
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/26/22