# Kenai river report 8/1-8/3



## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Headed up to Alaska to visit an old army buddy Matt and to do a little salmon fishing. The weather was absolutely fantastic, sunny and in the upper 60s the entire time. We fished two different areas. The first trip we went to Soldotna down to the lower Kenai to try and get some fresh sockeye that were just making their way into the river. The fish were certainly there although there was a bit of a learning curve for me figuring out how to catch them. After watching Matt catch his limit (I had yet to land a salmon) I was getting frustrated. Well I finally learned how to do it and caught a nice pink which I released. After that it was game on and we both limited, waited until midnight and limited again and took it to the house.

The second trip we hit the kenai just below the Russian river ferry. I had told Matt I wanted to see a brown bear and the bears did not disappoint. We watched a sow with two young cubs play across the river from us for about 45 minutes. Then a larger bear came out near them and started catching salmon and eating them. Meanwhile Matt and I are doing well ourselves, catching some nice sockeye. All of the sudden about 100 yards down the bank a massive sow and two cubs come busting out of the brush and down on the bank. That big girl immediately sees us and let's us know that it's her river. We happily back off and let her have that section of bank and move on. It was a really cool experience to see such a massive wild animal up close. We didn't do quite as well on this section of river as many of the fish we were catching were already spawned out. Still brought back some fish though!

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I can't wait to go back!


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)




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## panhandleslim (Jan 11, 2013)

Great story and good looking pics.


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## 16983 (Sep 12, 2011)

Hope ya had time for a halibut trip while you were there, and were able to catch one of those Kenai King salmon, they're huge. Sockeye are the best eating salmon though. Hope you get to do it again sometime.


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## sniperpeeps (Mar 5, 2011)

Mac1109 said:


> Hope ya had time for a halibut trip while you were there, and were able to catch one of those Kenai King salmon, they're huge. Sockeye are the best eating salmon though. Hope you get to do it again sometime.


We didn't do any halibut fishing. King season was closed on the Kenai but I did hook one. Unfortunately he was to much for my 7wt and damn near spooled me before I had to break him off.


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## Joerob5 (Feb 5, 2010)

Great Pics!


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## Worn Out (May 10, 2008)

*Great post !*

Brings back some fine memories of my foray at the Russian river last summer. That ferry is amazing as it slews across the current !


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## mitchamafied (Jun 16, 2014)

Nice work man. Alaska fishing is great. Really makes me want to return.


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## oysterman (Jan 23, 2012)

edit


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