The fishing week started on Sunday. I got to spend a wonderful day on the water with our friends Taylor and Colette. We were hoping to target red salmon, but due to a declining run,  decided to go after pinks and silvers. Not a bad Plan B at all.

On Tuesday, the pink and silver numbers picked up considerably for Greg, Pat, and Nick. A consistent bite made for a great day.

Nice silver Nick!

Day 2 for Greg, Pat, and Nick was a lot like Day 1.  Lots of action and lots of fun. 

The next day, long time guests/friends Mike and Mary joined Chris and Martin for an action packed morning.  

After a quick break at the cabins, Chris and Martin were swapped out for Lance and Audrey. The willing biters did not disappoint.

Mike and Mary joined us again trying to complete a limit of silvers. Here’s Mary with the last fish of the day. Nice silver, Mary! 

The following day it was Lance, Martin, and newcomers Jessa and Barry. Jessa had the hot hand and Barry caught the largest silver of the day. Since he is a novice, he said it was all luck.

We took a break, cleaned the morning catch, and went back out to focus on silvers. The action was consistent. We ended the day a couple silvers short of a boat limit. 

The week ended with a third trip for Greg, Pat, and Nick. Another fun day catching fish and telling stories. I look forward to the next fishing trip with this trio!

For the week ahead I expect plenty of action to continue. We’ll be casting, trolling, and anchoring for anything that gets in the way of our lures.

Come back next Sunday to see what a grand river that owes us nothing has given us.  

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The lower Kenai River red salmon run went from white hot to ice cold.  

And it happened quickly.  

The week started with mayhem and chaos. In a couple of hours Dave, Lindsey, Ken, and Sue were back at dock with their limits. Always fun to see you guys…

The next day I was on the banks with Todd, Renee, Alec, and Mollie. I was scratching my head wondering where did the fish go? That’s Mollie above with her first red salmon.

The four of them fished hard in the morning and took a much needed lunch break at the cabins. This is Alec and Mollie with the results.

After lunch, we went back out and caught these. 

Would the action improve on their second day on the river?

It did not.

We fished on the banks and decided to spend time in the boat too. Despite another solid effort we ended up with a couple of red salmon, pink salmon and a trout.

On day three we ditched the waders altogether and stayed in the boat. It was a steady day of bites from nearly every species swimming in the Kenai River. A salmon Grand Slam was caught (red, silver, pink, and king). That’s Renee and Mollie in the photos above. The four of them ended up keeping 8 more salmon.  

Catching fish and seeing moose and caribou on the river can be exciting. I’d like to think it was the highlight of Alec and Mollie’s trip to Alaska.

But, it wasn’t.

Before they came to Kenai they got engaged. Congrats you two! Alaska is always special, but now it’s extra special.

Besides fishing with Todd, Renee, Alec, and Mollie, I was able to spend three wonderful days with long time guests/friends Kathy, Karen, and Susie. We gave it a go for reds in our waders and ended up with a couple of them. We spent the next two days fishing from the boat catching and releasing pinks and keeping a couple of silvers. 

Here’s Karen with a nice silver salmon.

Susie, Kathy, Orvis, and Karen with the final silver salmon of their trip. Our conversations were great, the catching not so much….

I almost forgot about this trip. On one of the days I fished Kathy, Susie, and Karen, I snuck in Nere and Tatiana. It was a steady morning of bites and the two of them kept their limit of pink salmon.

For the week ahead I anticipate a building pink and silver salmon run. I haven’t completely given up on red salmon, but there has to be a large school moving through before I put the waders back on.

Come back to the blog next week to see how a grand river that owes us nothing treated us.

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The catching wasn’t hot and heavy for us. It was just good enough.

It had to be fish Karma.

Three years ago Nick gave me a custom color Brad’s K15 fishing lure. Since it was custom, I’ve kept it stored in my tackle box and haven’t used it since he was last here.

I broke it out and boy did it produce.

Nearly every salmon Nick caught was on that lure.

You know, if I could do it all over again I would have used that lure even more.

This is Brittany’s first silver on the first day. 

And, this was the morning catch on Day 1. However, we weren’t done for the day. 

After a three hour break, we went back out to fish the incoming tide. Not as much action as I was hoping for. Ken caught a bright red salmon that we kept and Nick caught another silver salmon. The final tally was six salmon on Day 1.

On Day 2, Brittany had the hot seat (it should be noted that Nick gave it up). Here’s the first fish of the morning.

After a little bit of lull, Brittany caught 2 more within minutes of each other. Limit!

Ken “The Electric Banana” got on board and caught the next three silvers. Another limit!

Unfortunately, Nick did not get a bite on Day 2. Still, the end results were pretty good.

On Day 3 the bite was slowest of the three days. We worked all day to get three fish. Nick had the hot seat and lure and caught all of them. Limit!

Thanks Nick, Brittany, and Ken for coming back to fish. I look forward to the next time we do it. 

I’ll end on this. I usually have a pretty good feel for what to expect when predicting the fishing “for the week ahead”. Not this time. I’m not sure if it was weather, tides, seals, belugas, or the run peaked as the reasons why the fishing was a bit slow.

Come back next week to see what this grand river that owes us nothing has given us.

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Not only are we between the first and second runs, a rain event caused the river to rise over two feet in a short amount of time. A rising river means dirty runoff and debris. Fish (and fishermen) don’t like that.

That being said, it was still a pretty good week of fishing. 

Catching the first fish of the week was Kelly. Recently retired, Kelly and her husband Jeff drove an RV from Minnesota to Alaska. Fishing for salmon was on their bucket list.

Klair followed Kelly with his first salmon in Alaska. Klair and his wife Beth started their adventures on a cruise ship to Alaska with friends. The three couples are all celebrating their 40th wedding anniversaries together. 

This is what we ended up with at the end of the day. Not the numbers of fish I would’ve like to have seen, but the quality was impressive. Sorry, Jeff. You’ll get ‘em next time…

I had to include this photo on the weekly fishing report. On the same day I had Klair and Beth in my boat, the other two couples fished with Trevor. Smiles for all!

The following day I fished with Mark, Mary, and Ben. The action was steady throughout the day. The highlight was a 15lb silver for Mark.

Even though we ended up a couple fish short of a boat limit, it was still a good day to be on the river. 

For years I’ve been hearing stories from Boo about “the Canadians” that would come up and fish with him. Well, since Boo is now only running charters on the ocean, it was my turn to fish “the Canadians” on the river. Grandpa Albert got the trip started with a nice silver. 

Grandson Kolton followed up with another. 

When we called it a day, everyone at least ended up boating a salmon. Thanks Albert, Bailey, Kolton, and Eric. I enjoyed my time on the water with you all.

For the coming week I expect the fishing conditions to improve. The water levels are starting to drop, and the second run of silver salmon should be building.

Come back to the blog next week to see what this grand river that owes us nothing has given us.

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Normal is good.

The steady action has been a welcome relief compared to what we experienced last year. I’ve got my fingers crossed that the second run of silvers mirrors the first run and is normal too.

On to the fishing report…

The past week I had the pleasure of getting to know Dave, Joe, Dan, Mike, and Steve. A great family and great fishermen made it an enjoyable week for me.

Since they were my only clients for the week, I’m just going to roll with the photos from their days on the river.

Dave, Joe, Dan, Mike, and Steve also worked in a couple of saltwater trips to round out their fishing adventures. If I were a betting man I would say this will not be their last trip to Alaska. 

I’ll end with this photo. The last morning of silver fishing a momma moose and her calf gave us quite a show. They were were literally a rod tip away. Moose on!!!

Come back to the blog next week to see what this grand river that owes us nothing gives us.

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On to the weekly fishing recap.

Hot breakfast at Louie’s!

I often say every Kenai fishing guide’s dream is a a hot breakfast at Louie’s restaurant. Having a hot breakfast at Louie’s means your client’s caught their limit of fish early enough in the day that there’s still time to order breakfast. John and Kris, thanks for a memorable morning. The biscuits and gravy at Louie’s are about as good as it gets. 

Super Tuesday was just that. After catching 2 silvers last Friday, Team Potvin came through with a boat limit of silvers. Kneeling are Jordy and Cade, standing are Jace, Brent, and Poppa Bill. It’s always special for me to have three generations of fishermen in my boat. 

On Wednesday, the early morning bite continued for John and Kris. Since I gave John a stand alone photo in this report already, I figure Kris deserved one too.  Such a beautiful silver salmon….

By 7am, we had 6 salmon in the box. If you’re wondering why Jane is in the photo it’s because John and Kris asked if she could join us. Jane had a free morning and gladly jumped in the boat. This could have been a second hot breakfast at Louie’s this week, but I didn’t want to be too greedy.

Thursday was Day 3 for Team Potvin. It wasn’t as good as Day 2, but it was better than Day 1. Thanks Brent, Cade, Jace, Jordy, and Poppa Bill. It was fun spending three days on the river with all of you.

The week ended with a strong morning performance from Dave, Joe, Dan, Steve, and Mike. Welcome to Alaska guys! This is Day 1 of a solid week of river and ocean fishing for the five of them.

Come back next week to see what this grand river that owes us nothing gives.

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There’s another thing I like about silver salmon. Year in, year out, it’s our most consistent fishery.

Well, that is until this year. It was tough fishing. 

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) monitors the state fisheries and the silver salmon runs in Upper Cook Inlet were in trouble this year. So much trouble that most streams and creeks were either restricted or closed to help protect future runs.

Specifically, on the Kenai River the silver salmon fishery was restricted to single hook and no bait on 8/1. The run struggled to build and on 8/24 the limit was reduced from 2 to 1 fish per day. A week later, on 9/1, the September limit was reduced from 3 to 2 fish per day. 

This has been the first time in my life I experienced an in season reduction of silver salmon limits on the Kenai River.

If there was a “silver” lining to the season, there was only one trip where we weren’t able to boat a silver salmon. We caught a few pinks that day so we weren’t fishless, but no silvers found their way to our gear.

The “not-so silver” lining is boat limits were hard to come by. On average we’d land 2-4 silvers in a full day. Let me repeat that last part…a full day. Call me spoiled, but that’s very un-silver like.

With 2024 in the books, my sights are now set on next year’s fishing. I’m cautiously optimistic for it and hope the actions ADFG took this year will insure a better fishing future. I can always handle an off year and rationalize it as “that’s just fishing.” However, considering we’ve had multiple years of poor king salmon returns, it’s hard not think that the silver runs could follow suit. Time will only tell…

In the meantime, I’m going to spend my winter dreaming of a river full of salmon from May until October. 

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This past week was a lot like the previous week. Long days on the water with only a few willing biters to be found. Patience was the key word. Luckily, the people who were with me had plenty of it.

The first group of the week, Jim, Rob, and Tony, were newcomers to the Kenai River. I had a lot of fun getting to know the three of them.

The second group of the week welcomed Martin, Chris, and Jake. They are regulars and have been coming to our place for nine years. I know them well. I always enjoy their company in my boat.

With the introductions being over, it’s time to move on to the photos of the week.

Here’s Tony starting the trip off with a dandy silver salmon.

Jim followed that up with another beautiful silver salmon.

Even though this silver salmon escaped the clutches of a harbor seal, it couldn’t get away from Rob.

Jim with his limit. 

On Friday, Martin started the morning off with a nice silver salmon.

Chris was next.

Jake followed with the last silver salmon of day. I find it really satisfying to be part of three generations catching fish on the Kenai River. It never gets old.

The above photo continues the trend of strange and unusual happenings on the Kenai River in 2024. Chris caught an ocean bright, red salmon on Friday the 13th. I was shocked to see a red salmon of this quality so late in the season. 
On Saturday, Martin once again caught the first fish of the day.

Later that morning, Jake caught the last silver salmon of the day. The top photo happened on 9/14/24, and the bottom photo on 7/28/2017.  Clearly, Little Jake is now Big Jake…

My guiding season is nearing the end and next week is the last of the scheduled clients. Come back to the blog on Sunday to see if we end with a bang or a whimper.

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Day 1, Blinn Week 3. Larry, Steve, Jo Ray, and Josh. The extra fish is a bonus red salmon.

Day 2, Blinn Week 3. Robert started out with the first silver of the morning.

The second silver of Day 2 was caught by Larry. Unfortunately, that was it for the day.  Sorry, Taylor and Josh…

Day 3, Blinn Week 3.  Jo Ray, Robert, and Taylor.

Later that morning Steve caught this beauty. The lucky yellow rain pants came through once more.

I took Chuck and Kate out in the afternoon and it took Kate about 2 minutes to hook and reel in this beautiful silver salmon.

Day 4, Blinn Week 3.  Kate continued her hot hand and started the morning off with a nice red salmon. Steve followed Kate with a bright chrome silver (sorry Steve, no photo of you and your yellow rain pants).

We ended the day with this. From left to right are Richard, Chuck, and Kate.

Day 5, Blinn Week 3. This was the final day of three weeks of guiding the Blinn groups. Unfortunately, it was the slowest day of the entire month. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable spending time with Clint, Rick, Jesse, and Jeff. I’ll see you guys in a couple of years!

My final thoughts. Jane and I have had a busy three weeks with the Blinn crew and we’re always sad when it ends. The fishing, the conversations, the shared meals are all cherished. I often tell people when the Blinn crew takes over our place it’s like a family reunion that you want to go to. Not the family reunion you have to go to. We really missed seeing Gary this year, but we’re glad he will be coming our way next season. The makeup trip can’t come soon enough.

See you next week.

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That being said, it’s time to share the daily photos of happy anglers.

Day 1, Blinn Week 2. Steve, John, Brandon, and Shane.

Day 2, Blinn Week 2. Brandon, Will, and Cody

Day 3, Blinn Week 2. I actually fished John, Steve, Derek, and Russell. This was a day we released pink salmon and targeted silvers. 

Here was the highlight of the week. The first silver salmon double of the year. That’s Derek and Steve (John let Steve pose for the photo).

Day 4, Blinn Week 2. Don, Brandon, and Steve. They kept just enough pinks to grill that night for everyone in the cabins. 

Day 5, Blinn Week 2. Steve, Shane, Steve, and John.

Day 6, Blinn Week 2, Transition Day. Jo Ray, Leslie, and Steve.

You might be wondering why there are only 3 silver salmon in the photo above. There is news I’m not excited to report on. The usually robust pink and silver salmon runs in SouthCentral Alaska have been anything but. Many rivers and creeks have been closed or restricted. On 8/23 the Kenai River daily limit has been reduced to a single silver salmon. Starting 9/1, the limit will be reduced from 3 to 2 silvers. Let’s hope that ADFG wasn’t too late in taking action to preserve and maintain future salmon runs. 

In the meantime, we’re going to keep fishing and take in all the Kenai River has to offer.

You never who’ll join you for breakfast…

See you next week.

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