Anyone Up For A Float Down The kenai River In July ??????

Jammer,

The fishing for reds is OFF the charts!!!!!!!!!!!  Best i have seen it in 40 years so far.  Off shore index remains strong so plenty of fish in the inlet still!

Good slug of kings the past few days as well. Throw on pinks at hope and early silvers and you could conceivably catch all 5 species if you can find a chum! 

   Jammer,

  According to Alaka Fish & Game's website The fish (sockeye on sonar) this Sunday ,230,000 sockeye went past the sonar station @ river mile 19.On Monday the count was 177,000 fish.These are the highest numbers of fish going through the sonar since it started in 1979.And those fish had to get past commercial net,dipnetters,and plenty of sport fishers to get that far upriver.It's not gonna get much better than that.
  I called kardinal-84 a ehile ago and he is up to a float next Monday also.We are gonna make it a party,dude......If you aren't bringing any poles and stuff---don't worry about it---we've got ya covered....
You just have to get here.....................

Jammer. Go for it!! I was on the Kenai in'87 and they said that was on track for a record run of Reds. When we looked over the mouth of the river, it was just like Kardinal's video. Trolling Alaskan style with the long handled nets over the gunals and people standing on the shore with the same planted out in the river scooping them up. Pound for pound I think they are the strongest fighters of salmon with the possible exception of Chum.
  Kardinal..... I'm familiar with the area you are talking about on the river and with the incoming tide you probably are right. Also right is bondoggin'(especially from a yak) could be hazardous to your health. Good luck to all. Wish I was there. Ps... remember fishing near Soldotna with a Sockeye fly,pencil weight and the fish were so thick, you hooked one every cast. Lots foul hooked but some in the kisser and I took one home at 11lbs.Trophy size sockeye. HAVE FUN.

The volume of fish on the Pennisula right now is amazing! Some of our processors have put the fisher men on restriction b/c they can't handle the volume of fish. One guy just had to unload ten trucks (32,000 pounds per truck) b/c his freezers couldn't keep up. Several plants have been processing a million pounds a week. The crazy part is this is right on the heals of Bristol Bay only coming in at 75% of last year.
Have fun!

Jammer,

The fishing for reds is OFF the charts!!!!!!!!!!!  Best i have seen it in 40 years so far.  Off shore index remains strong so plenty of fish in the inlet still!

Good slug of kings the past few days as well. Throw on pinks at hope and early silvers and you could conceivably catch all 5 species if you can find a chum! 

IT'S ON! I can't Fu@$ing wait!!! We'll be landing in Anchorage tomorrow and into Kenai by Sunday afternoon. I have the green light for a full day of kayaking the river Monday for "No PB day". Thanks for all your help today K84 and look forward to meeting up with guys in a few days. Does anyone have a paddle I can borrow? Or maybe K84 will trade me his Outback for the day. Ya Right! Time to flex the paddle muscles
cheers
jmr

  Sounds great JAMMER,
 I know Rudy wants to try his new Hobie out on the Kenai as well.Mondays being drift-boat only days (as far as fishing from a boat) would be absolutely perfect.Get on down here and we'll make it happen.Should be fun.

  Hey Rudy---did you put up any of those sockeye eggs ? Bait under a bobber would be a do-able way to fish them kings and still control a kayak.Whatya think bro ?

Mark, I'll be in Kenai this evening.  Looks like some rain and no bait.  If the weather sucks I think we should keep the float short, even if we have to do it again.  High tide is at noon.  I say we start off fairly early up moderately high, if for no other reason then to give us a decent shot at finding a nice gravel bar for reds...not sure where....  I think the best plan might be to secure our limit of reds if they are running and plan on being down by Beaver hole around 11am for a noon high tide.  Then we should be able to loiter in the area for until say 2pmish when the tide starts falling again.  Smaller tide sereies.  Good for fishing, not so good for pushing boats back up river.  I'd seriously consider bringing an anchoring system if you got one.  I hear everyone anchors anyways down there since the drifters hit at the end of their day and they get lazy killing time before they time their run off the river.  I'm not sure where drifters would take out this Monday.

Hey Mark,  Headed down in a few hours.  You got a good spot to fish reds from shore?  I always do it from a gravel bar on a boat.  Might be fun to hit a limit before the trip tomorrow.  Will call but will be out of cell range sometime this aftternoon.  Got a text from jammer, he seems ready to go.

If we can get reds from shore somewhere early, maybe we just launch from Eagle rock.  Having said that, if we have a shuttle lined up, we could always launch way up high and take in the scenery if the weather is tolerable.

This will be my first River trip and I have to tell ya, I have more concerns than being in the middle of the Ocean.  But the new yak seems very stable and I suppose if we don't take any risks and avoid the crazy dipnetting boaters with full loads and big wakes, we will be fine. lol. 

I have no idea how to fish it best.  With my mirage drive, I plan to try and backtroll or bottom bounce a K16 kwikfish.  A float and jig should work in most places.  I think the best set up is going to be backtrolling for you guys.  You only have to paddle fast enough to get your diver down and with a kwikfish that shouldn't be too bad.  You still might be flying down stream but your lure should be working. 

I'd consider bringing a few spinners along for any frog water we might want to stop and rest at if we start up high.  There used to be a time in the 70's where I remember doubling up pixie spoons and swinging heavily weighted mepps for kings too. 

Ok...gotta get ready.  hopefully it won't rain on us too bad. 

  Points taken Rudy....Jammer is gonna stop by my place on his way to Nikiski and I'll get him all set up with whatever he's comfortable with.Shuttle--no problem---I volunteered my wife and she fine with that.
Weather--only forecast for 50% rain wsw wind @ 5-10 mph so no problem there
Fishing---since the "no-bait EO" I'll be trying jigs,kwikfish,spinners,and maybe S-N-G's .Plus 8 wt.flypoles for sockeye.
Yeah---I'm getting pumped too.I like the dea of getting some reds 1st (get some blood in the boat)then work on the kings.We will find the perfect gravel bar for them reds.
Not too sure about an anchor set up on the Natives though I can rig up something I'm sure.
This is gonna be awesome----let's Git-R-Done......
                                                                      Mark

ps    If you want to stop by on your way to Kenai-----the beers are on me......