Upper Kenai? Lower? Both!!

So quick report. Thursday floated the upper. LOTS of reds! We caught one nice bright run but didn't think much of it till we ran I to pockets of frog water loaded with them.

Caught a dozen nice bows and dollies mainly by my guests. Flesh flies in slower sloughs was the ticket. Saw a bear close up...but my guests have all the pictures. I'll post them when I find them.

Two twenty something year olds from Japan. 16 days sleeping in a car in BC and now in Alaska sleeping in a honda fit WITH an inflatable raft packed inside!!  It must be nice to be young...

Today I floated the lower Kenai from Centennial Park to Cunnigham. Thousands of people. I saw maybe a dozen reds hooked up. Didn't even get out of the Kayak until I got all the way to Beaver Creek. Then Lo and behold, my favorite hole is void of people. I quickly landed but pulled up the regs. Did they close this area off? 

So three flips I to it I have a red. Nice!  2 hours later I finally get three but it's not a limit since I have my Dad's proxy.

But I ran into people who were amazed I got three. I just got lucky. A party of 7 arrived 10 minutes later left about when I did and their total was 2.  So it's slow fishing.

GF managed two from shore last night on her own.

  Nice sockeye ............ but why do the ladies always catch the better fish

A few more pics...

Reds are slow but around. Two day dipnetting total for three boats was 531 sockeyes!

Reds are slow but around. Two day dipnetting total for three boats was 531 sockeyes!

...thats slow fishing?! 

Reds are slow but around. Two day dipnetting total for three boats was 531 sockeyes!

...thats slow fishing?! 

lol.  Yah...I guess that post does seem ridiculous.  But it is slow.  Red numbers have been considerably below historic averages though there are reports of massive schools in the ocean staging to enter the rivers.  They are almost a week late now.


But dipnetting can be a blast.  It helps fill our freezers and opens me up to other new fishing or more challenging fish where bringing home dinner is not quite so important.  I kept 50 reds for my parents and I. 

Here's how we get it done on a little better outing a few years ago.

Just curious, Rudy. How many households (permits) harvested those 531 reds? It's an incredible fishery. Lots of work in a short time period, but nothing beats those bright, big Kenai reds.  Congrats on getting your fish -- reports from other quarters have been spotty, especially those beach-bound dipnets. Latest I've had a big day was 7/26, earliest was 7/13...  it happens when it happens, but boy when it's gangbusters there's nothing like it.

I think we were still 50 or more short of limiting our permits. We had at least 8 permits going. Unlike a lot of boats we try and put seasoned veterans on board so any one boat is usually fishhg 3 to 4 permits at a time. For example in the above video, we have permits for 155 amongst the three of us. 

I have it easy. My parents have 7 chest freezers and they freeze most of their reds whole to avoid any freezer burn.

Wow...excellent haul!  You're such a show off. That being said, it's total zoo down in kenai.  I tried helping my buddies fill their permits but craziness deterred me from going down to the beach.  You should see-read all the rants going on the dipnet forum. It is UGLY.  People get way too emotional over fish.  My sympathy goes out to KP folks who have to deal with...well you know...stuffs.  Good news is that dipnetters can no longer process the fish on the beach.  Now if they can only prohibit beach camping and remove all access to motor vehicles...it will be  heaven.

Back to my fishing story. Because it was way slowww dipnet action on Fri-Sat morning, I went to WG and saw those mean waves.  No other kayakers to be seen...thought about launching the kayak and getting swamped... so instead I went to homer to meet friends, where it was raining and windy...still better than KP. 

Kayak fish around the Land's End on Sunday morning and caught flounders,  pollacks(crap load of them), and 1 brown cod...all released.  I was hoping for halibut but it wasn't meant to be.  Heading back to Anchorage and I got this urge to swing by WG again...sunny, no wind but still little wavy for my taste.  Looked at the tide table and just in time for high slack...went for the launch.  Long story short, got swamped... lost my rod & reel, my sunglasses (brand new) and my pride.  Anything that wasn't tied down got swept away in a instance.  Licking my wounds, I made a mental note to buy bungee rod holder and floating croakies.

That is all.

Ps. I hope kenai red is not crashing like king salmon fisheries. 

Wow...excellent haul!  You're such a show off. That being said, it's total zoo down in kenai.  I tried helping my buddies fill their permits but craziness deterred me from going down to the beach.  You should see-read all the rants going on the dipnet forum. It is UGLY.  People get way too emotional over fish.  My sympathy goes out to KP folks who have to deal with...well you know...stuffs.  Good news is that dipnetters can no longer process the fish on the beach.  Now if they can only prohibit beach camping and remove all access to motor vehicles...it will be  heaven.

Back to my fishing story. Because it was way slowww dipnet action on Fri-Sat morning, I went to WG and saw those mean waves.  No other kayakers to be seen...thought about launching the kayak and getting swamped... so instead I went to homer to meet friends, where it was raining and windy...still better than KP. 

Kayak fish around the Land's End on Sunday morning and caught flounders,  pollacks(crap load of them), and 1 brown cod...all released.  I was hoping for halibut but it wasn't meant to be.  Heading back to Anchorage and I got this urge to swing by WG again...sunny, no wind but still little wavy for my taste.  Looked at the tide table and just in time for high slack...went for the launch.  Long story short, got swamped... lost my rod & reel, my sunglasses (brand new) and my pride.  Anything that wasn't tied down got swept away in a instance.  Licking my wounds, I made a mental note to buy bungee rod holder and floating croakies.

That is all.

Ps. I hope kenai red is not crashing like king salmon fisheries.

Wow.  Don't worry.  I bet 90% of us have had your expereince in one form or another.  Just keep at it and sometimes these types of things are necessary tp gauge your comfort level.  I can tell I have become increasingly LESS gung-ho as I get more and more involved in Kayak fishing.  I have more confidence to get in and out of the surf, but I have just learned that sometimes its just not worth it when so many other options are available.

Glad you are ok.  We will see ya down there sometime.  Switching to Halibut again soon.