Alaska Fly Fishing Report 2003

Mystic Waters Kenai River Guides

2003 Season Review

Rainbows, Rainbows, Salmon, Dollies and Rainbows, Rainbows...

Rainbows..
Our guests landed some epic rainbows this past season including the 20lb something fish caught by Ben Matheson. Another guest landed a fish estimated at 34" that was camera shy and slipped away ahead of the shutter. Then there were those that got away (LDR), sometimes after several crazy jumps and/or screaming runs. Of course some were enormous and we were left with nothing to do but “bow to the rainbow.”

Late May through mid June was prime this year with low water making it easy to find concentrations of fish. Trout fishing remained strong into July, but really kicked into high gear in August. Lots of Kings made it to the Upper Kenai and the early egg bite was fantastic. Often, several spots produced twenty or more fish over 20" each, in a single day.

By September, the sockeye spawn was intense. Some sections of the river contained fish glutted by an unending supply of eggs. There were only a few spots where the bite remained excellent, but in those places, days were made! Our boats landed rainbows over 10lbs daily. The smiles and silly laughter were continuous.

Trout fishing remained strong well into October, with a 29" rainbow landed on Oct 18. Winter finally set in during November. Now, we wait until May.

Dollies...
Few anglers come specifically to fish for dollies, but many are pleasantly surprised by those they catch. This year our guests caught many 22-24" dollies in the 4-5lb range in addition to a mix of smaller fish and a few monsters pushing 30". There are always a few dollies in the early season, but the majority of the fish move in-river during July. They were readily caught when the spawn turned on in August.

Sockeye
Our early sockeye run was a bit of a disappointment when compared to the last three phenomenal years. Despite more average numbers, we had some great days in mid to late June. The late run was another story. More than a million fish stormed the river. From mid July through the first week of August, Sockeye put a strain on many a forearm and broke a few rods. Action was often hot and heavy as push after push of fish moved past our chosen points of intercept. Once the spawning began, our rainbows and dollies soon developed enormous girths from the bounty of eggs. Thank you salmon!

Silvers...
A big sockeye run often has a negative effect on our in-river Silver Salmon catch. Due to the Sockeye bounty, commercial fishermen were given extra opportunity to harvest Sockeye late into the run. This results in a by-catch of many of our early silvers. Thus, it was mid August before the Lower River got strong and late August before fish began to stack in the Upper River runs. Once they arrived, we had a few hot holes, but our effort for silvers this year was minimal. Trout fishing was so good when the silvers were available that we simply let most of them slip by.

Mystic Waters Guests
A big thank you to all who joined us this year. What a pleasure to meet so many great people and to spend so many truly fun days on the Kenai River. After 15 years of guiding, I (Fred Telleen) can’t wait to start another season and see you all again on the Mystic Waters. Stacy Corbin and I will be eager and ready in 2004.

Mystic Waters guests with Kenai River Rainbows