Video: Grizzly encounter Kenai

Greeting,
I just wanted to share a little clip from some video a shot while fishing with Mark Collett on his Mini drifter in the upper Kenai River 2 weeks ago. After shoving off into the Kenai near the confluence of the Russian River we were immediately surrounded by the steep canyon walls near Coppers Landing and a river so cold and clear you could easily see both Reds and Rainbows at almost every spot as we drifted over. We worked the river from the left and to the right hitting pretty much every seem, boulder and run we could find in search of one of these hefty 10# Rainbows. After working the first mile or so of the river with only 1 takedown so far on my flesh colored fly, we decided to pull around the next bend and target reds from the bank. As we made our way around the corner and towards this nice long gravel bank we both looked up to see a mother Brown Bear with her 2 cubs right near the area we were about to land. As you will see from the camera angles in the video we end up anchoring about 60 feet off the bank in about 7 feet deep of water to record our encounter using my Kodak Playsport. This is the closest I think I've ever been to a Brown Bear and hopefully the last time I get that close. We actually both felt pretty comfortable in our situation until towards the very end when we "all" agree its time for us to leave. What a day! Thanks again Mark. You're a great guy and an AMAZING host!
Cheers

p.s. Video is in HD. Just choose 720 in the bottom menu.

That's some pretty awesome footage Jammer!  Your video of the foul hooked sockeye was pretty cool too! 

That's awesome!  Must have been a rush to be so close!

I had my close encounter this year a little upstream on the Russian River.

This was shot with my iphone!  I think I may have alrady posted this one.

That's some pretty awesome footage Jammer!  Your video of the foul hooked sockeye was pretty cool too! 

The bright red Sockeye in the video shows you how easy it is accidentally snag these big fella's. Mark was reeling it in to release it, but when I realized how bright red it was, I jumped out of the boat to video. Its amazing the difference in color from these red's when they are at the mouth of the river or river mile 1(bright Chrome with sealice) to a bright red with green heads near river mile 48. These reds wanna fight!!! The bears were the highlight of the trip. Well so was the 100# of bright chrome Sockeye fillets I brought home.. Thanks again to Mark and Rudy for showing me around the river. Good times!

IS all that heavy breathing the bears, or the filmmaker???   

Great stuff Jammer. Thanks for sharing. Whenever I am out in the wilderness I always remember that I am part of the food chain! Did you see the video of that nut case from Cali that thought that the bears were his friends? The Grizzles use him for the main course.

Great report.  Those are some great videos Jammer.  Love the underwater salmon video.

Nice videos.  I was going to see if you wanted to try for steelhead or maybe some salmon this weekend but it doesn't look like you have any room left in your freezer. 

   Here is another perspective of that same day.Enjoy...
      Sorry but I had to link it this way.

  Another one (I hope this works ) 

Nice videos.  I was going to see if you wanted to try for steelhead or maybe some salmon this weekend but it doesn't look like you have any room left in your freezer.

I can always make more room for fish. I'm heading to Lincoln city this sat thru wed and plan on rock fishing in Depoe bay at some point. If anyone is interested in meeting up for some ling action, let me know.
Cheers

That's some pretty awesome footage Jammer!  Your video of the foul hooked sockeye was pretty cool too! 

The bright red Sockeye in the video shows you how easy it is accidentally snag these big fella's. Mark was reeling it in to release it, but when I realized how bright red it was, I jumped out of the boat to video. Its amazing the difference in color from these red's when they are at the mouth of the river or river mile 1(bright Chrome with sealice) to a bright red with green heads near river mile 48. These reds wanna fight!!! The bears were the highlight of the trip. Well so was the 100# of bright chrome Sockeye fillets I brought home.. Thanks again to Mark and Rudy for showing me around the river. Good times!

That freezer looks about two thirds full. Plenty of room! I can see the back wall and even some rack space!!  I should take a pic of our freezer AFTER I bought a small chest freezer for my bait and other fishing related stuff. 

Of course you can just start eating sockeye every day!!!  Canned salmon is also a great way to eat fish!  You may never buy normal canned tuna again!