Kenai Closed!!

[Fish Head]

I just got off the phone with the Fisheries Dept. The Kenai river is now closed to King Salmon fishing for the early run. They said they had no choice. This was the lowest amount of Kings they have ever seen in the river, by a long shot.

My plane leaves tomorrow morning! I could just scream!!

[waterbound]

Wow, that's a bummer! I guess I'd rather they close it so it can be fished in the future though.

[traveler]

Fishhead; did you have charters set up for the Kenai? Runs vary widely from river system to river system, and the rivers in the mat-Su valley north of Anchorage could be a totally different story. And it's prime time for the Nushagak and several other Bristol bay rivers. maybe you can still set something up elsewhere? I know it's not the plan, but....

I feel your pain man, I'd be going nuts as well:(

[npotter]

Not to worry. Just go out to Lake Creek via float plane from Anchorage. It is easier and you don't have to rent a car. Fewer people and no crowds like the Kenai. There are a number of lodges or you can book a day trip at www.anchoragedayfishing.com. Give it a try.

[Sherpa]

That sucks but you have options still. You will still have a great trip I'm sure.

[jwmiller33]

ya.. lots of really good info and insight on the closures and alaska fishing in general in the all alaska outdoors forums. just google it if yourlooking for the info

[redhooks]

I agree w/ npotter, I spent two summers guiding out out at Lake creek. Nice flight, beautiful river and the fishing can be fantastic.

[Brad B]

fish head you could always skip the salmon fishing and hook up with a halibut charter out of seward or homer. I was there back in 2003 and the halibut fishing was great. also did get to spend two days chasing salmon 1 days was out of seward where we were staying and the other was we went to the russian river.

[Sherpa]

I just read that they are reopening the Kenai to catch and release due to a good amount of fish showing up in the river. Maybe you still have a shot.

[jwmiller33]

i just landed in alaska today.. we are in soldotna for 3 days... going out on the ocean to go for halibut tomorrow. our guide told us the halibut fishing is on FIRE right now... so we are going for halibut tomorrow in the ocean and some other fish (ling cod/rockfish).. then the next two days we are doing fly ins to some very remote river for king fishing and our guide said we should have no problem for all 6 of us getting our kings for the day. then after our 3 days here in soldotna, we going to wasilla for 4 days to fish for kings and then to talkeetna for the last 3 days of our trip.. going to be targeting kings and reds.

we are staying at all alaska outdoors lodge in soldotna and our lodge is on a lake with rainbow trout and tonight i went down to the dock and took the canoe out and was casting some panther martins and caught about 10 nice rainbows.. i had hte itch and couldnt wait til tomorrow to wet a line.

alaska is an amazing place to be! you can catch something basically anywhere you are!

[chillincarp870]

its back open but there is a very strict slot. look into it i don't know all the details. there are rough seas in the seward area now we are not running trips, up to 20 footers. ling cod doesn't open til the first of July. good luck and keep the lines tight

[jwmiller33]

the slot opened back up on the kenia is this:

At 12:01am Saturday, the Kenai River will REOPEN allowing Catch and Release king fishing with the following conditions:

JACK Kings 20 inches and less will be allowed to be retained. Limit is the normal 10 per day under 20 inches.

TROPHY Kings 55 inches and greater will be allowed to be kept and must be sealed by Fish & Game in the usual manner.

ALL other kings are Catch and Release Only with No Bait, Artificial Only tackle restrictions.

[Fish Head]

I just got back and thought I would post my experience. We spent 3 days fishing the saltwater out of Homer and just had a great time! One day we did a long range halibut trip with Captain B's and 2 days we did a halibut/rockfish combo with Mike Mann. If anyone is looking for a referral, I would HIGHLY recommend Mike Mann. If you do a Google search, you'll find him. His combo trips are truly awesome. He works his tail off to put you on good fish. My freezer is full of halibut and black bass.

We also spent a couple days doing a float trip on the Kasilof. Fishing was a little slow, but we caught our king and had good time.

This was my first trip to Alaska, but it won't be my last!

[jwmiller33]

the deshka got reopener for bait this past morning, which happened to be our last day of king fishing before we catch the red eye tonight. too bad it was a saturday and there were about 200 boats out there. i have never seen boats tie up together in a line at the mouth of a river like they do on the deshka for the baiting... that is unreal! who would want to fish in that mess of lines and anchor ropes? i am totally not a combat fisherman, and couldnt understand why someone would want to be literally tied up to about 10-15 other boats? is this a common practice on all rivers in AK when there is baiting allowed?

we ended up bringing home 450lbs of mostly halibut and salmon (king and reds), with a little black sea bass and yelloweye mixed in. what a great trip! already made our plans for next year! were going the 3rd week of june, renting a drift boat, and doing a 5 day drift + camping! I can't wait! it is going to be super fun to do the camping part, as we have only stayed in nice lodges thus far. I also am excited to carry a handgun around for protection from bears!!! anyone else done a multiple day drift?

[Ufatz]

Am very happy to hear you have such a good time in Alaska. But please, do yourself and everybody you travel with a favor and think very carefully about your "excitement about carrying a handgun for bear"...etc.

Quite a few people have either shot themselves or one of their pals when whipping out their trusty handgun.

Most ALL lodges will NOT let you out the door if they know you are packing a handgun.

If you MUST pack a weapon in bear country research something more suitable and do some thinking about how and WHEN to use it.It is NOT necessary to shoot at a bear 50-yards away because it MIGHT attack.

Okay. I had to say it to make myself feel better. I sincerely hope I do not read anything about you and that you do not endanger any of my old pals.

And I hope you have a fantastic time in Alaska.

[traveler]

sounds like ya had a great trip JW...but I agree, I was a little scared when I read the line about you carrying a handgun. I have a 454 Casull and do carry at times, but trust me, "exciting" isn't really the feeling I get. Be VERY careful, and do LOTS of reading on the subject before you make a decision on "packing".

As for the drift trip; I'd like to do one, so far my trips have been like yours, with a variety of types/places of fishing. BUT...I have a friend who is a fly-guy all the way, and the only couple trips he's made have been drift boat trips where he's spent all his time on one river/type of fishing. And he wants to do one of my trips:)

Variety is the spice of life i guess....

[jwmiller33]

we have done tons of research on the subject, and have talked to about a dozen different people in alaska on our two trips about how to do the trip properly. every one of them has said it would be foolish NOT to have a gun. especially with a group of 6 or 8 people, when there is a chance people might be split up and have some people fishing and some people back on shore at camp, your going to want more then one gun. you dont want to be the unlucky person when everyone else is out fishing and your at camp and your greeted by a big bear who is making his way down the mountains from hibernating all winter and is VERY hungry. i dont know about you guys, but i would much rather have a gun in that situation. we are also going to be packing plenty of bear pepper spray too.

and to say that i would shoot a bear at 50 yards away just to shoot it is extremely dumb and kind of upsetting to me. i am a sportsman and i respect everything from the water i fish, to the woods i walk, and all of the fish and the wildlife along the way. i dont kill for fun. i would only shoot a bear IF it were a life or death situation. to be honest, i would be extremely happy if we did our whole 5 day drift without seeing one bear. however, it would be extremely foolish to go into that situation without proper protection.. there are just too many bears waking up from winter and coming down the mountains to feed on the same salmon that we are fishing, and i would not want to run into one

its not like we are a bunch of rednecks and going to be shooting beer cans and chipmunks and every little thing we see. we are responsible adults who have handled guns many times in our lives, and know proper safety and whatnot

with that said, traveler, variety is the way to go when it comes to alaska trips.. if you go every year like i do, i think it would be kind of boring to go and do the exact same thing year after year. we like go spice it up and do something new and different each time we go (i.e. staying at new places, new methods/places of lodging/camping and new rivers and species to fish)... when you actually are in alaska, you truly realize there are wayyy more things to do then the time you are there for. we havent done a drift trip yet and we talked know a guy who is going to come with us who isnt a guide but he goes and does this exact same trip every year... he says we will be throwing a bunch of kings back because you will fill your 5 tags very quickly... we will be fishing on a river above the weir, and there is nobody but other drifters you will see, which will be nice to get away from all the combat fisherman traffic and motor boats.

the only problem we see with the drift trip is how the EO's change daily... if we are going on a 5 day drift trip, there is a good chance there will be a EO either put into place or the use of bait either allowed or disallowed in our time there. does anybody know a good way to stay informed of the EO's when you are gone on a multiple day drift? we were thinking about bringing some type of radio or satellite phone since cell phones won't work where we are going

[Ufatz]

When you have determined which river you are going to float call the ADF&G office nearest and talk to someone in the Sport Fish Division. Tell them what you plan to do. Tell them you are concerned about EO's and how to stay informed. It may well be that the river you are fishing has no need for quick open/close pulsing.

Every year bears are shot at when they are 50-100 yards away because somebody lost their cool and "suspected he was going to charge." In my 40+ years in AK and Yukon I saw many examples of that. I also know SEVEN men who have been jumped. Only TWO of them saw the bear before it had them. They were cool-they stayed alive. I also KNEW a few fella's who did NOT survive.

And I only know ONE man who actually killed a bear with a pistol, a .44 magnum which he emptied into its head at a range of perhaps ten feet while he was atop a rock while it tried to get to him.

I don't want to debate bears and the north with you. Just want you to be careful and aware of what you are doing.

Have fun.

[Down Deep]

Bears are common and it is thier habitat and we are guests. The locals will tell you that they want the fish and not you. I've had bears as close as 100 feet and I've always moved away. A couple of years ago one guy that was with us walked down river about 100 yards from the rest of the group and a bear came out of the woods and stood on the shore between us. I would say the bear was less than 50 feet away from him. I could hear him clacking his teeth which is a warning of aggression. Three of us grouped up next to the boat which is what it is recommended to make you look as big a possible. The bear stepped back into the woods and disappeared. The guy who was downstream walked back to the group and was white as a sheet and sat out for an hour or so while his nerves calmed. Moral of the story no one takes off from the group and we stay as close togeather as we can. When a bear shows up we move away and keep and eye on him.

Last year while we were in AK a bear attacked a guide who was walking his dog near Soldotna. He had a 454 and killed the bear. It covers the bears actions before the guy made the decision to shoot.

http://www.adn.com/2009/08/13/897940/twig-snap-alerts-dog-walker-to.html