Kenai vacation: Steelheader.net- Steelhead, Salmon and trout fishing

After several years since my last trip to the Kenai Peninsula I was happy to be able to put together a trip for myself and family members. My brother Mike, who lives in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin [suburb of Milwaukee] had never been to Alaska. Son Travis had been to Ketchikan a couple times but this would be new territory for him. My son Adam unfortunately had to back out of the trip and friend Tom quickly stepped in to take Adam's place.

John [Luv2fish] came through in a very big way for us by connecting us with his close friend, and one of the best guides on the Kenai - Luke Haman. Many thanks John...I owe ya. Luke helped me plan out our time on the trip, securing great lodging and booking and/or guiding us personally...but we'll get to that part in a moment.

After a couple National Park Service related business trips in the past to Alaska I finally got the opportunity to see some of Kenai Fjords National Park on this trip. Our crew took a 6-hour boat tour out of Seward and our ultimate thrill was to get close up to one of many active glaciers in the park. Several tours are available, some of longer duration, but this trip was advertised as the most popular and I understand why.

The glacier seemed to be constantly "calving" where sections/chunks were breaking off. Incredible explosions of thunderous reports as slabs of ice broke off into the sea or into hidden crevases. When I saw this hugh slab approaching our boat I quickly confirmed that our vessel wasn't named "Titanic".

Incredible scenery and lots of wildlife to see and enjoy.

On our way back to port a pod of porposies took joy in racing in and out of the waves braking off the bow of the tour boat.

I was glad we had the opportunity to see this incredible area, and equally happy that we all had put on Scopolomine patches before embarking on the trip because rough seas in some of the exposed areas of the coast resulted in chumming by those who came unprepared.

uke:

uke:

Our first day of fishing was supposed to be a combination halibut/bottomfish charter out of Seward. Unfortunately due to continuing rough seas charters were unable to get out to those fishing grounds, so Luke got us connected with a silver charter [via The Fish House] that would ply the more protected waters in Resurrection Bay. Our skipper, Captain Cat [one of several lady guides in the area] of the Kenai Klipper, provided encouragement with reports of alot of action and limits the previous day. After about 30-45 minute run to the "hot spot" it didn't take long for us to start connecting with scrappy silvers on our mooched hoochie/herring rigging.

Several boats in the area did equally well both from anchor and drift presentations. Happy with the 22 fish we put in the box, our crew decided to call it a day and leave the 2 remaining fish possible for our group limit as a good karma offering to others fishing the area. There would be more fish to

in the coming days and besides.....happy hour was quickly approaching.

The next day we joined Luke in his boat on the Kenai. I for one was excited and filled with anticipation of seeing some really big fish. I've never caught a salmon larger than 25 pounds or so, and have never been in a boat when large salmon were caught. When Luke told me that the fish in this run averaged 30-40 pounds, and 50 pounders were not uncommon, I was stoked. To add to all that were recent reports of 80-90 pound fish being caught in the previous week on the river.

Plenty of boats, private and guide, plyed the waters that day and for whatever reason the action was slow....but nets were occassionally flying providing hope to other boats. Our rigging included wrapped kwikies, and cheater/egg set ups. Overall, the eggs ultimately outfished the lures.

My brother Mike was the first to connect with one of those average 43 pound bucks....his biggest-ever fish.

About an hour or so later it was Tom's turn when he connected with a 47 pound hen - his biggest-ever fish.

During the remainder of the day my rod got tagged twice with very short term hook ups before the fish came unpinned....Dammit, I hate that feeling...like, what more could I have done...hopeless. So that was it for our first day on the river and here's the porn display back in camp.

There was some anxiety regarding our next day on the water which was to be a halibut charter on Cook Inlet...our last opportunity to put some white meat in the box. Reports from the past day or two were not promising with boats either being blown off the water or unable to launch. Fortunately for us the weather and seas were cooperative and we launched the Gamefisher at Anchor Point the next morning.

After about an hour's run we were in the

killing zone. Two guys from Medford were on the boat with us and one of them almost immediately hooked into and landed a 50 pounder. Things were looking promising. For awhile the strong currents pulled the heavily weighted offerings at a sharp angle and the bite was slow. However, as the tide flow changed and we were able to make a vertical presentation it seemed as though it was FISH ON!!! as soon as the bait hit the bottom. The action was hot and fast with doubles and triple hookups. The fish averaged 25-30+ pounds, all good eaters, and some culling was done to upgrade our catch. Within a couple hours we were tagged out and it was time for the guide and deckhand to fillet the catch and head home. Other boats, hearing of our good fortune didn't hesitate to move in on our honey hole.

Our last day of fishing put us back out on the Kenai again with Luke. River conditions were deteriorating....water rising, visibility decreasing, and lots of trees/logs/stumps flowing by. Luke had received a phone late the previous evening telling him that an ice dam had given way somewhere apparently up in the headwaters, and flood warnings were being issued for Coopers Landing upstream from us.

Not as many boats on the water this day and action seemed to almost come to a standstill. While a couple boats reportedly accidently snagged a fish, nothing else seemed to be happening. Luke tried every trick in his book and eventually it was game on for Mike who managed to bring in one of those "average" 40 pounders.

Eventually it was both Travis and Tom's turn...both hooking into fish estimated at 35 to 40 pounds, and both coming unpinned just a few feet away from the net. That REALLY sucks!!! I really felt bad for Travis cause I so desperately wanted him to catch one of these giants, but he wasn't complaining.

So that was the end of fishing for this trip....back to camp where we could process our fish and enjoy one last night in camp [St Teresa's Lakeshore Resort, Soldatna]. Final tally was about 200 pounds of salmon and halibut fillets...........YUMMY!!!

On our way back to Anchorage the next day we did some additional sightseeing along the way. Stopped by the Russian River Ferry to see how folks were doing with sockeye - slow, didn't see any caught during the brief period we were there.

Briefly visited Portage Glacier and visitor center, and then spent some time viewing the Wildlife Conservation Center just down the road from there where they rehab and eventually release animals back into the wild....including some orphaned moose calves.

All in all an incredible journey and experience and again, thanks John, for your help. I know that Travis and I are anxious to go back up again and draw some blood from those "average" kings.

TEAM JACKSON BALDWIN
TEAM MOOSE DROOL

Edited by BorntoFish (07/28/09 08:12 PM)

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