Fishing the Kenai

[live4chrome]

after spending the last couple summers in Alaska guiding for other outfits Im doing it alone this year. We have caught some truly incredible fish up here on the kenai the last few years. Biggest last year was a 60 plus pound king which one of my clients caught and released, and I can point you in the direction of some great saltwater captains. start thinking about a trip to the river I have grown to love so much, the mighty kenai!

[traveler]

Kudos for having the gumption to get your own business up and running, I'm sure you'll find it more satisfying than working for others, and hopefully more profitable as well!

Now guiding on the Kenai...I expect you might have a different perspective (and opinion) but it sure sounds like that rivers getting loved to death. Heck, it was a circus when I first fished the lower river in 96, and they keep allowing more guides. What's your guide #? Just curious as to how many are working the river now.

[fivebucks]

Good luck on your guiding. If my wife comes with one of the next couple of summers I would want to get away from the combat fishing and would love to give you some business.

[live4chrome]

- since I'm not working for someone else I'll be getting a new guide # issued in may. I try my best not to target kings and leave them alone. If I do have clients who want to fish kings I let them know the situation and we practice catch and release only out of my boat. Kings have very good release rates, especially with single hook regulations.more and more guides are going voluntary catch and release every year.

Usually we just spend July targeting sockeyes as they are a species of abundance and they are perfect to fill your cooler with. Most people you see on the guide boats targeting kings have no clue about the dire situation the species is in. For the most part when you tell your clients if they want to target kings they can expect one, maybe two fish if lucky on a trip they will want to target sockeye where you can expect to catch many fish.

Five bucks, guide numbers have remained stable on the river. Although they issue new permits every year many of the older guides are retiring or going to the new oil fields so they about equal out

[JP Z]

Chrome,

I'll keep you in mind as my dad and I want to get back to Alaska here. Where are you fishing out of? I didn't catch it on your HSOforum. Good luck in this, you should do great as you sound like you know your fish

[mainbutter]

Correct me if I'm wrong - didn't they close king fishing entirely on the kenai last year?

Good luck with the new venture! I've never chased sockeye heavily, I tend to get up to AK during the later silver run. I've actually never fished silvers on the Kenai, how good is the run typically? The last few years on Kodiak we've been a little early, which amounted to lots of actions with pinks with the odd silver in the mix. When we did tie into a silver finally, they were AVERAGING 14lbs. That's pretty crazy for me as my mainland experience with silvers, especially early run, has them usually 7-9lbs with the odd big'n every now and then

[AKSalmonSlayers]

Good luck with your guiding thing on the Kenai - maybe see you on the river?

The Chinook fishing on the Kenai is only a shadow of what it used to be. Yes - expect emergency restrictions - closures - and at the very minimum slot limit for

Coho fishing is slowly becoming the new trend for visiting the Kenai River and having a sport fishing experience...from what we have seen the last couple years anyway. Guides have had to go to the sockeye and coho, or move clients to other rivers with open fishing for Kings.

Silvers 'coho' salmon have been abundant for sport fishig anglers - great story in 2014 November issue of Alaska Sporting Journal. Great cover too!

[fishkid]

would have been better if there was a kwikfish hanging out of the silvers mouth. Live4chrome you live up here all year or just guide in the summer?

[live4chrome]

Just guide in the summer.

[AKSalmonSlayers]

would have been better if there was a kwikfish hanging out of the silvers mouth.

Better? Why?

Kodiak Custom Fishing Tackle skirted GI spinners out fish everything.

[AKSalmonSlayers]

Planning your trip to AK in 2015 .... Here ya go :

http://www.ktuu.com/news/news/king-salmon-restrictions-released-for-kenai-peninsula-waters/31368242

[fishkid]

Better? Why?

Kodiak Custom Fishing Tackle skirted GI spinners out fish everything.

i threw them spinners for a few days at ship got nothing....put a kwikfish on and started landing them.

and we all know you got the "first" king out of ship last year on one but you have some competition this year.

did you get some free spinners for saying that?

[AKSalmonSlayers]

Its not our fault your not doing it right...let us know will give you a lesson on how to roll a spinner. GI spiners catch more than just king salmon - and by the way...

we get nothin for free, except our chicks. Thats the way we do it...

Why not give Tony Davis a call and ask the source? We are not interested in any free handouts... we only want to share stuff that works - the lures are made locally in Alaska by a fellow Alaskan fisherman - they work great - why would you not want to advocate for that?

We are not exclusive, kwikfish work well in the right circumstance - back bouncing them from a boat on the kenai River is very effective. However its been out experience that GI skirted spinners are very effective on all 5 salmon and other resident fish...just ask the fish:

[fishkid]

all 5 salmon eh. how many times you target reds with an inline spinner?

[AKSalmonSlayers]

Com'on Joe.. you already know our favorite method is stick and string to catch sockeye in the fresh water.

Flossin is by a landslide the prefered method by the majority for fresh water sockeye salmon.

We expect to see you in ADN this May!

[Alagnak]

Fishing/ guiding on the Kenai instead of one of the other thousands of options off the road system must be like someone traveling to MN to ice fish and only hitting up the big ice fishing contest in Brainerd. You're so close to the real Alaska, just not quite there. It only takes a few more bucks to get to a river to fish without dozens of boats per hole.

[live4chrome]

Different techniques all have their time and place. Those kodiak customs work great. Limit yourself to one presentation or type of fishing and you will be limiting the catching you will be doing. Verasatility allowed me to out fish many of the other guides this summer, even ones who grew up fishing the river because I was versatile, whereas many others were not.

Different water and pressure conditions call for different presentations. I can get more in depth with you in the boat if you want

What makes an angler skilled is knowing different presentations that work at different times and when to use what.

As for the other rivers, I would love to be on one of them. Id love to own my own guide business on the Alagnak, Nushagak or any of the other "real alaskan" Rivers. However, with a girlfriend in tow, Im lucky to be able to spend each summer on the peninsula. Lots of different angling opportunities other than the river a short drive away. Being way out in the bush without at least a few of the comforts of home probably won't cut it for her. I also don't have the funds available to start up my own operation in the wilderness and am done working for other people for a while. I can make more money on the Kenai in a shorter season than I ever could on one of the fly to rivers working for another outfitter. Plus I have the security where If the river ever really does die, I won't be out hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars like so many other Alaskan fishing lodges that have come and gone over the years. I will always have a steady client base because of the road systems which means job security.