While his father was landing a nice 25" bow, Jeremy hooked up with this monster. After a screaming run capped off with huge, crashing jumps, the fish took us out into Skilak Lake where the battle became one of determination. Congratulations Jeremy Cook.
Once again, as I look back on the season as a whole, I must say it was amazing. Beyond the highlights, there were simply no bad days. Weather, water, fishing and the best guests a guide could ask for made the season shoot by like a freshly greased fly line.
Rainbow action on the Kenai continues to be exceptional through much of the season. The most challenging days tend to be in mid summer if the sun is bright, but everyone usually catches some great fish. Our moderate water flows also gave us a shot at some top water action this year and a couple of days were made on dry flies. While the exception rather than the norm, some decent fish do feed sporadically on the surface and they can be a blast to catch. Most of the time though, we are nymphing with flesh flies until the egg drop begins.
As usual, the trout fishing went off in August. Fishing was unbelievable by the end of the month and most days through mid September. Then it went back to being excellent. Due largely to lower numbers of spawning sockeye, the food supply was steady enough to keep the fish feeding throughout the day. Unlike the past few seasons, the trout and dollies did not reach a food coma. Known locally as “the glut”, the fish can find so much food during the peak of the spawn, that they only feed sporadically. The positive result of lower sockeye numbers this season was steady trout action all day long.
All trout are great, but many of our guests do love to land the big ones. This year we had three fish taped out at 33” along with several at 32”, 31” and a number at 30”. Many Kenai fish have impressive girths and some fish under 30” are still over 10lbs. If you did not land a monster, you likely caught a fish pushing 24” or better and there is nothing wrong with that.
While dollies are generally included in “trout fishing”, they bear their own mention. As most anglers know, dollies are char. Think of them as large brook trout with the potential to jump, run and tear you to pieces. While many consider rainbows the better game fish, dollies deserve plenty of respect. Dollies tend to be more voracious and less picky when it comes to eating. As such, they often make up a large portion of the daily catch. Many anglers are amazed by their beauty and stamina. The Kenai has both resident and anadromous dollies. We often see bright, steelhead like dollies in late July. They arrive with the sockeye, anticipating the spawn. By early September, many of the dollies display vivid spawning colors. The larger dollies of 24-26” will blow you away.
Early run Russian River bound sockeye fishing was fair to excellent depending on the day. The number of fish counted in the run was far below the last two seasons, but most anglers willing to put in some time were able to catch limits if they desired. There were some golden days when the fish seemed to literally hook themselves and the action was fast and furious.
While late run Kenai River reds showed a little earlier than last year, it seems that in recent years, the run timing has been a bit behind schedule. The peak began in the lower Kenai on July 19. As the fish moved upriver, the fishing was very good. Lower water made wading on both the Upper and Lower sections of the river very easy and limits were the rule in late July and early August. While strong, the overall run was considerably smaller than the past two seasons that posted well beyond a million fish. The final count this season was 833,200 fish.
After some incredible seasons recently, the silver action was a bit of a disappointment. Low flows made the prime holding areas less productive. Silvers were often seen moving through the shallows or holding near the banks where they were difficult to approach. Because the trout fishing was so good, we spent far less time targeting silvers this season. Those that wanted silvers did get their shots though and some great fish were hooked.
It was a comfortable season of moderate weather. Many mild overcast days made for great fishing. When the rain did fall, it was generally light. Only a few days all season demanded a full day of Gore Tex outerwear. Summer snowmelt was gradual and flows throughout the summer were moderate to low followed by low flows all fall. Wading was very easy the entire season. Heavy fall rains were minimal and it was reasonably mild until the first week of October when freezing temps finally chilled the mornings.
