New Friends
Truth: Making friends is hard for me.
That got deep. I am not going to apologize. Let’s talk about fishing.
Like most Thursday/Fridays, Wes and I were talking about what our plans were for the weekend. This particular weekend, he mentioned that we had the opportunity to float the Kenai River. Since deciding to move to Alaska, the Kenai has been at the top of the list for places to take the raft out and fish for rainbows – not just salmon. Of course I was excited! However, with our experience from our whitewater days and floating new water, I wanted to know who we were going with, how many times they had been down the river, what the terrain was like, and the logistics of how we were running the shuttle. I love adventure, but sometimes I’m really into the details of what we’re doing before we do it.
Wes gave me a quick breakdown: he met some new people, they knew the river, they had floated it a lot, they have their own boat, we can do the shuttle together, we have someone to follow, they seem super nice and like to fish. I thought okay, cool.
Wait. How did you meet these people? They’re not from your work…and we’re in a pandemic…we haven’t been anywhere to make friends outside of work or people we already know – who are also working from home.
Wes: I met them online.
Me: Oookeey. What?
Sorry, Lisa, Kenley, Sarah, and Tyler. You are all wonderful, genuine people. I clearly don’t have enough faith in the internet, and have been living under a rock for the last 15 years. Thankfully, my partner-in-crime hasn’t.
New Places: Kenai & Russian River
The Kenai River is the longest river on the peninsula and is world-renown for its rainbow trout fishery. If you go to Idaho for browns, you go to Silver Creek. If you come to Alaska for trout, a good place to start is the Kenai. Like many of the larger river systems in Alaska, the Kenai has its signature salmon runs. The micro-ecosystems that feed off of these salmon runs are what continue to fascinate and amaze me.
The stretch of river we floated starts at the Cooper Landing boat launch and ended for us at the takeout before the canyon section – Jim’s. The canyon section continues on after Jim’s and winds its way through the Wildlife Refuge and Kenai Wilderness ending at the beautiful Skilak Lake. The whole float for us took about 7 hours, but I imagine if you didn’t stop as much as we did, it would only take about 4 or 5.
The day before we floated the Kenai, we met our new friends at the Russian River campground where they were kind enough to share their campsite with us for the weekend. We pitched our tent, and were invited along a tour of the Russian River from the falls to the campground. It wasn’t long into our conversation until we realized that we had found kindred spirits in Kenley, Lisa, and Sarah. We happily followed our hosts on the easy hike up to the falls and immediately found ourselves at home in the pocket-water of the river, sight fishing for rainbows on dry flies.
It reminded me so much of small-creek fishing in Idaho, that it almost made me homesick for places like the Malad River and countless clear creek waters in the Thousand Springs area. Our short half-day trek of the Russian didn’t do it justice. We had had a long day before we had met up with our new friends, and I would love to go back to this section of river and fish it with more attention to detail and time.
The next day brought a partly-cloudy sky and perfect float conditions on the Kenai. Tyler joined us as an addition to our party, and we were thrilled to have yet again another kindred spirit in our group for the weekend. Thanks, internet.
The river itself is wide and mostly lazy with a few small class two rapids and shallow rocky bars. There are some arms that branch off and become narrow or too shallow for a boat, but mostly we kept to the main channels. The water is a deep milky turquoise as it comes out of the lake and turns to a crystal green-blue as it gets shallower and into the main currents of the river itself.
This time of year, some of the best things to catch rainbows on are beads because everything in the river is gorging themselves on salmon eggs. Finding the salmon is half the battle. Targeting the deeper tail-outs and ends-of-the-pools where the salmon are staging is where you’ll find rainbows and dolly varden. It’s not as tricky as it sounds. Be willing to change beads, read the water, and keep feeding the fish. You’ll do just fine.
Feeding the Fish
Wes was our guide as we followed Kenley, Lisa, and Sarah down the river for our first float of the Kenai. Wes is much better at oaring than I am, and can read water like a fish. Of course when we stopped for lunch or a snack, I passed him a fly rod and he stepped off to fish. On this such occasion, we pulled into a spot and anchored the boat to the shore. He stepped out to cast to the fringes of a pod of salmon staging in the deep pool not far from the raft. A few casts and he was onto a pretty dolly varden. Bella, our fishing companion, immediately saw he was hooked into a fish and eagerly wiggled to his side as he fought the fish to the net.
A few more casts and he hooked into a strong rainbow who immediately turned to the current and headed for the ocean. The symphonic whizz of his reel and astonished look as the fish took foot-after-foot-after-foot of line made me laugh. I grabbed the net, and he started running with the fish down the bank, Bella hot on his heels. His laughter was only masked by his shouts to get the net and hurry.
I don’t know if you’ve ever run in waders and water before, but it’s a bit like running in snow boots in the sand. It’s not always productive, and never graceful, but I obliged. We were well rewarded for our 100 yard-or-so run down the bank with all of the smiles, brilliant color, and of course Bella’s boop (see above photo). Beautiful and healthy fish like this are always worth it.
Combat Fishing
Anyone who has heard of the Kenai and Russian rivers has heard the horror stories of combat-fishing. We had heard and seen videos of rivers chuck full of salmon and just as many people vying for a spot on the river to get their limit. As an outsider looking in, these stories, videos, and pictures always seem an excessive nightmare of claustrophobic anxiety. I go fishing because I find peace in the mostly-quite solitude of a river or lake. I don’t go fishing to be around people – sometimes not even to really catch fish. Being outside and present in the wilderness is my meditation, as mother-earthy as that sounds.
Before going to the Kenai and the Russian, we stopped in Hope to fish for pink salmon. Without a doubt, this was our most populated river-experience to date; with 70-100 families, their friends, and their children at the mouth of Resurrection Creek. Everyone subsistence fishing for their limit.
For those of you who don’t know – subsistence fishing is VERY much different from catch-with-intent-to-release, especially when it comes to fly fishing. This doesn’t make it bad or un-sportsmanlike; it’s different and distinctive in its own right. Our purpose at Resurrection Creek was to get experience with salmon on a fly rod. We were not disappointed. We were similarly and pleasantly surprised that we weren’t’ the only ones fly fishing, catch-and-releasing, or in a generally good mood. Everyone was equally happy to be there catching fish and sharing space in an almost family-style environment. My only hope is if we do encounter a similarly populated place in the future, that it can be just as pleasant. If not, I’ll pass and be content with people-watching.
For more information on the Kenai, Russian, and Resurrection river systems visit:
History & Culture: Sqilantnu Archaeological District
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r10/learning/history-culture/?cid=fseprd505805Russian River: Alaska Department of Fish & Game
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/static-sf/Region2/pdfpubs/RussianRiver.pdfResurrection Creek: Roadside Anglers
http://www.roadsideanglersguide.com/reports/hot-spots-of-the-week/Kenai River: Alaska.org
https://www.alaska.org/detail/kenai-riverAlaska Magazine: In Defense of the Lowly Pink Salmon
https://alaskamagazine.com/authentic-alaska/in-defense-of-the-lowly-pink-salmon/Pink Salmon: Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Species Profile
https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=pinksalmon.mainFish Alaska Magazine: Kenai River Rainbow Trout
Disclaimer: None of the above links are sponsored. They are resources we’ve found helpful when planning our trips and as a starting place for researching new places to explore. They are also interesting reads and finds for educational and informational purposes. Enjoy!
https://www.fishalaskamagazine.com/kenai-river-rainbow-trout/
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