As the snow melted and the river became ice free, it was evident that the global pandemic would severely impact tourism in Alaska. I thought, “ oh great, the Kenai River will have an epic run of salmon and there won’t be any visitors to enjoy it.” Have I ever mentioned fisherman are optimists by nature? Looking back, my lofty …
2020 Tourism in Review and the Outlook for 2021
The three legged stool of the Alaska economy is oil, commercial fishing, and tourism. The global pandemic has made it a bad year for all three. Since I’m a fishing guide and lodge owner, I will focus this post on the obvious: tourism. The 2020 preseason forecast for tourist visiting Alaska was 2.4 million. Considering …
Thank You’s
With high water and muddy river conditions, the choice was obvious not to fish the Kenai this past week. And, forget about the ocean. I had tentative plans to fish out of Homer one last time, but conditions there have been terrible too. This blogpost will end the weekly fishing reports for 2020. Yes, it was difficult …
Fishing Report Week Ending 9/27/20
I had big plans to get out on the river this past week. Unfortunately, that’s all they were...plans. I do have good excuses though. I was waylaid with end of the season chores. 4 cabins, 2 boats, 4 outboard motors, and 1 camper needed to be winterized. On top of that, the Stanley Cup finals have occupied my time in the evenings. …
Fishing Report Week Ending 9/20/20
That’s it. John is holding the lone silver for the week. To say the river fished tough would be an understatement. What the heck happened? It’s not all bad news though. At least I didn’t disappoint many clients. Hmmm, come to think of it, not having many clients is not the best news either....Thanks, John and Gary, …
Fishing Report Week Ending 8/23/20
Foggy mornings and the fireweed plumage is beginning to drop. It can only mean that summer is coming to an end on the Kenai peninsula. Summer of 2020, I hardly knew ya... After reviewing my fishing forecast for Blinn Week Number 2, I was mostly right. The pink salmon fishing was incredible, but by the end of the week it was …
Fishing Report Week Ending 8/9/20
I’ll start with the bad news. The red salmon run has fizzled out on the lower Kenai River. Now the good. The red run has been replaced with a bazillion pink salmon (and a few silvers). When you think about catching a fish on every cast, this is when you want to be here. Danielle gets the opening photo all to herself. …
Fishing Report Week Ending 7/05/2020
In the beginning of the week, I made a return visit to Spirit Lake. The trout fishing there was excellent. Most fish were released, but I did keep a few for my neighbor Nancy. She enjoys fresh trout, and I was happy to be of service. The Kenai River reopened to king salmon fishing on July 1st. Since I’m …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/28/2020
I was restless. The Russian River weir counts have been low and appear to be past peak. I was faced with the choice of fishing or not fishing. Fishing will always win that battle. Quite a few of my friends have made the statement that it will be great to fish without all the tourist this summer. They say it will be less …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/21/2020
I got a late night call from my friend Boo of Tall Tales Charters wanting to know if Jane and I would like to join him in Homer for a “shakedown cruise” and a little bit of fishing. In the off-season, Boo replaced water and gas tanks, the toilet, bilge pumps, wiring, and the outboard motors on his saltwater boat. He even gave …