Wow. It was a tough week of red salmon fishing on the peninsula. Not only did I send a group to try the Russian River where they had no luck, I also canceled a couple of trips on the lower Kenai River. When the fishing is this slow, in good conscience, I’m going to let my clients know and give them an opportunity to …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/12/22
It happened. Only a week after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game restricted the Kenai River king fishery to catch and release, the other shoe dropped and the fishery has now been closed. It will reopen once again on July 1st to catch and release. Details of the emergency order can be found here. The …
Fishing Report Week Ending 6/5/22
There were a lot of firsts this past week. Kip and Brenda, our first guests of the year, had a front row seat to all of them. On Tuesday, during the first troll of my first guided trip of the 2022 season, Kip caught and released the first king salmon of the year. That has never happened to me before. Bingo, bango, …
Dave Sporrer: Memorial Weekend
Memorial Weekend is the unofficial king salmon fishing opener for south central Alaska. Not being one to break tradition, I went out fishing with my neighbor’s Dan and Dave. I’m sad to report that we were unable to entice a single salmon to strike (trout don’t count). I’m not surprised by our lack of action. The low sonar …
The Dock Is In!
I hope you had an opportunity to see the Blood Moon this past week. I know I did, and it was spectacular. In other lunar news, large moons mean large tides, and large tides mean it’s time for the dock to go in. On Tuesday, conditions were perfect to float the dock in place. The highest tide of the month, a …
It Takes A Village
I reached out to friends this week to see if they could help with a much needed dock project. It was short notice, but I desperately needed their assistance. Every single person showed up. I’ll repeat that. Every single person showed up. I’m a lucky guy. I’ve always been self sufficient and …
Happy Mother’s Day
Today is the day we honor our mothers. For those of you who met my mom, you knew she could be the funniest person in the room. You would also know she could say the most cringe worthy things as well. There was never a dull moment. I miss you mom, and I’ll always remember how fortunate I was that you were in my life. I …
You Said What?
jar·gon1 noun special words or expressions that are used by a particular profession or group and are difficult for others to understand. Fisherman clearly have their own language. Coded words and phrases are tossed around like everyone knows what everyone else is talking about. It can be confusing if you’re not part of …
Endorsement (Not Paid)
I’m at the point in my life where I have work rain gear and dress rain gear. Come to think of it, I also have work Carhartt’s and dress Carhartt’s… My work rain gear is tough. It has to be. Rain or shine, I wear it every day during the fishing season. The new technology breathable fabrics are great, but they don’t work …
2022 Homer Winter King Derby
Because of bad weather, the 28th annual Homer Winter King Derby was moved from Saturday, April 9th, to Sunday, April 10th. Based on the overall catch rate, it appears the salmon didn’t get the memo about the change. The fishing wasn’t awful, but it was slow for the majority of anglers. For six hours, 1366 anglers in 408 …