In March, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the entire Kenai River king salmon run would be closed for the season. At that time, I questioned their decision. I understand closing the early run, but normally data is collected during the first month of the early run and then a decision is made on how to manage the late …
Fishing Report Week Ending 8/13/23
My prediction for this week was a bit off. I know we’re going through a transition, but the red salmon fishing has been quite good. The silver salmon are around, but not in numbers that will limit out many boats. Our focus stayed on the banks flipping for red salmon. Josh, Margret, Scott, and Norman started the week out. We …
New World Record King Salmon?
It’s not often that I blog about another blog, but a recent post by a fellow guide/blogger caught my interest. JD Richey, whose blog appears in Salmon, Trout, Steelheader, recently wrote about a world record king salmon that was caught and released in August at River’s Inlet, British Columbia. If you’re interested, the …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/18/21
I knew we would have fun. But, how was the fishing this past week? It wasn’t too bad for king salmon. Red salmon, on the other hand, was rather slow. On Tuesday, I fished with Rad and Matt. It was the last day that a king salmon could be retained. Here’s Matt proudly showing off the largest fish of his life. I’m …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/13/21
Reds, reds, reds. The hot fishing for the week was chasing red salmon on the peninsula. When Chuck, Deb, Larry, and Brenda left our cabins last week, they traveled to Seward to fish for red salmon. To say they were successful would be an understatement. It wasn’t just one day of great fishing, they …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/6/21
Last year, it took until June before a king salmon came to the boat. This year, we got it done in May. Just barely. On May 31st, after a three year hiatus, I was reunited with Chuck and Deb. On this visit, they brought their friends Larry and Brenda. Not too long into the morning, Larry expertly reeled in the first …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/26/20
As I feared, due to low returning king salmon numbers, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the season on 7/23. The 2020 Kenai king salmon season is now officially in the books. It was not pretty. Hopefully, ADFG’s actions will ensure strong future returns. On to the fishing report. The only king salmon …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/19/2020
If you like to catch and release king salmon, this was the week to be on the Kenai River. You really didn’t have a choice. On 7/13, ADFG issued an emergency order changing the Kenai River king salmon fishery to catch and release only. Even though the king numbers have been tracking below the preseason forecast, the fishing …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/12/2020
Between outboard engine repair work, and the Killey River dumping muddy water into the normal teal green Kenai River, I did not fish as much I would have liked to. For those of you who are new to the river, when the Kenai is muddy, it’s extremely difficult to get a king salmon to bite. It’s often better to find other fishing …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/7/2020
When I was a kid, my Uncle Dean gave me a sticker that said, “Fishing Fools Club...Persistent Counts” and said I was now an official member. I was too young to understand what that meant, but I liked the sticker because the illustration is of a man fishing. He had been fishing so long, by the time his bobber went under, he had …