Once again a Colorado angler managed the near impossible by leading this 34" by nearly 22" rainbow to the net. The struggle took 45 minutes and nearly ended on a rock. Congratulations Dustin!

Season Highlights 

The Kenai River continues to provide big rainbow excitement. Rainbows of all sizes can be memorable, but those epic 28” to 34” inch monsters that were landed will likely be remembered for a long time. While late fall may be known as the big fish time, we found plenty of large fish during the balance of the summer. June, July and August produced fish of 31”, 32”, 33”, and 34”. We saw great fish on a daily basis all throughout the season.

Once again, sockeye swam up the Kenai in record numbers. It was unusual not to land an easy limit during June and early July of Russian River bound sockeye. The late Kenai run was late, but we never ran out of fish between the peaks for those willing to put in a little time. The late Kenai run surged from late July, all the way through August. It was a very unique sockeye year.

Fly-fishing for silvers has become very popular with many of our guests. From late August into October, Silvers were available and on some days very abundant. Watching large silvers inhale flies and launch into the air is something that most anglers are willing to witness time and again.

Dolly Varden may not get the press that the rainbows and salmon do, but they provide great fly-fishing action in the fall. Many anglers were astonished when they hooked colorful dollies that jumped and ran them into backing. It might have been the quantity of food, but the dollies were fat, sassy and often outclassed the rainbows in size and fighting ability. At times, guests hooked dollies of 18” to 26” on nearly every cast for hours.

We saw our fair share of overcast and sometimes rainy days this season. Not that we didn’t have any clear sunny days, but the cooler summer and milder fall was great for consistent fishing. It was the first season in years without forest fires, for which I was thankful. The quality of gear available to anglers (Gore Tex etc.) makes fishing easy to enjoy, even on the worst weather days.

On August 26th, I was honored to receive a plaque commemorating my induction into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as a Legendary Guide. I would like to extend a special thanks to Elmer Guerri from the Hall for the presentation and to all the guests who made it happen. I would like to thank my wife Erin and our children Keeli and Kyle for allowing me to do what I do. Thanks to my parents and sister for coming and for allowing me the time and places to feed my fishing desires. I would like to thank Stacy, Shannon and their families for putting on a fantastic party with excellent food and drink and thank those who helped celebrate late into the night.

Recommend Mysticfishing.com