Flightseeing and Fishing on the Kenai River

Kenai Peninsula and Soldotna

The drive over to Soldotna on Wednesday was spectacular.  From the look of the mountains, you'd think the Canadian Rocky's extend up into this area.  But these mountains are separate. We went up over a high pass then followed the Kenai River down into town.  Quite a trip.  It only took about two hours. 

We found Gary and Marlene Turner’s house.  It sits on a bluff overlooking the Kenai. What a terrific setting.

They have fish in their back yard and Bald Eagles in their trees (above).  And bears.   “You have to be bear aware each time you leave the house,” Gary cautioned us.  They have had Brown Bears in their yard and on their back deck.  Not something you want to meet unexpectedly. We have Black Bears in our neighborhood in Show Low, of course.  But Grizzlies are a type of Brown Bear.  A whole different thing.

We go Flightseeing

Gary and I used to work together at NASA.  He now runs Kenai Peninsula College here.  On Thursday he arranged for us to take a flightseeing trip with biology professor David Wartinbee, in David’s 1959 Cessna 180. 

That’s actually not very old for an airplane and David’s Cessna is in really good shape. Except it has no wheels. He explained that he has three flying seasons:  Wheels, skis and floats.  The skis came off not long ago when the lake melted and it became time to put the floats on.  While he was taxiing down to the other end of the lake, I realized that he has no brakes on this thing. On the water it essentially becomes a boat. 

A C-180 has tons of power so we got airborne after a very short takeoff run (above). 

David headed east and we flew over the very large Skilak Lake, which the Kenai River flows into at one end, then out of at the other end. 

The water comes out of a series of glaciers, so it is a brilliant blue in color.  The bright blue color comes not from reflecting the sky, but from glacial minerals in the water, just like Muncho Lake in Canada which has similar origins. We made a steep turn over a lake at the foot of the arm of the  Harding Ice Field glacier seen in the photo below.  

The lake had icebergs in it. And Goat Creek, which flows out of the lake, seemed to be full of brown bears.  They and their cubs were apparently fishing.  Given that the water just came out of icebergs, that must have been a bit chilly.  Gary told me later that he has fished that stream and your fishing companions there are wearing fur coats and are not using poles.   They have a priority, which they exercise with teeth and claws.

David flew us back across Skilak to his home lake, and landed smoothly.  Neatly avoiding the boats and jetskis.  I got out and he installed Marsha in the right seat. But the plane wouldn’t start.  She has that same effect on horses. I felt bad, and David felt bad, but that’s the way it is with airplanes.  They have complex systems and Murphy’s Law often applies to complex things.

Visiting Old Kenai

On Friday we went to the nearby town of Kenai.  Dip net season had just opened, so there were lots of people there with huge nets on really long poles.  We ran into Gayle and Jack Stayton there, so they showed us where the dip netters were operating, out at the mouth of the Kenai.  Alaska residents are allowed to net salmon as they return from the sea to spawn in the river.  This is not fishing.  It is freezer-filling.  But they get to load their freezers with dozens of salmon that would have cost hundreds of dollars if they had to buy them commercially.

Dippers line up shoulder-to-shoulder, and the fish swim into their nets.  Or they float down the fast-running river in boats, with four or more nets out on all sides.  The salmon are speeding upstream as the nets speed downstream.  The only thing missing on the day we were there was the salmon.  The run hasn’t started yet.  A few people did catch the occasional fish that apparently hadn’t checked its calendar and came in early.

We found an interesting place to eat.  The Burger Bus in old Kenai came originally from Arizona.  They make a mean burger if you don’t mind a 45-minute wait.  

We also visited a Russian Greek Orthodox church in old Kenai, which has been around since Alaska was part of Russia.  The priest had an accent you would recognize immediately if you have talked with Navajos and Apaches down home.

Float Fishing the Upper Kenai

On Saturday we got to start fishing.  No, the Red Salmon run hasn’t started, but Gary set us up for a float trip on the Upper Kenai to fish for trophy-size Rainbows and Dolly Varden trout. Dollys are salmonids also known at Arctic Char, and they are quite beautiful.

We met guide Andy Szczesny on a stretch of river above Skilak Lake at 6:30 in the morning!  I didn’t know people were even awake at that hour, but Andy was chipper. We and another couple from Georgia left our cars at a place called Jim’s Landing, and got into Andy’s truck to drive up the river a few miles to put the drift boat in.  A drift boat features a high prow and high stern and has oars in the middle.  We all loaded up in the boat and Andy shoved off.  That boat just flew down the river; the current is that swift. 

Andy didn’t need to move an oar except to point the boat.  We noticed lot of Bald Eagles, but most of them were mottled brown and white color and were standing on gravel bars.  Andy said these were this year’s chicks just recently forced out of the nests. These  chicks are the size of Thanksgiving turkeys.  One (below) was standing on a log next to a seagull and a raven.  Andy scolded him for the company he was keeping.  Ah, well.  Kids.

Soon Andy rowed us over to an island in the river and announced it was time to fish.  He handed three of us a Sage 7-weight rod and showed us where to wade out on the rocky bottom. 

The swift river current made wading here interesting.  Wading downstream was easy, but coming back wasn’t.  And, dang!  That water was cold.  I was wishing I'd worn heavy wool sox.  Casting is also fun. We soon caught on to the roll cast technique that keeps us from having to back cast and snag the fallen trees or willows behind us.  I got several strong bites but couldn’t reel in a fish.  This is a trophy fishery that is catch-and-release only, so we were fishing with barbless hooks to keep from injuring the fish.  But it makes good fishing technique much more important, and I don’t have any. The fish were in a hit-and-run mode.  But they really hit strong.

We moved on to a different island and I got results immediately.  On my first cast, I hooked a 3-pound Dolly Varden/Artic Char. What a pretty fish!  Andy netted it and got the fly out of its mouth, then handed it to me for a picture.  But before Marsha could focus, zoom and release the shutter, the fish got bored and became what Gary later called “a flying fish.”  It flew right out of my hand and did a nice dive back into the river. I think I heard it laughing.

The photo at right is of the other guy's Dolly.  Andy said it is almost the size as the one I caught. Andy didn't let go of this one.

Marsha declined to try fishing, so Andy got a rod out and hooked a medium sized Rainbow.  Then handed the rod to Marsha to reel it in.  She had both cameras so I had no way to get a photo of that.  I then caught another, somewhat smaller Dolly.  And later, two 12“ Rainbows.  Andy said typically he catches big fish one day, then not the next.  I asked how he did the day before. “They were huge,” he said.  This fishery routinely yields 30 to 35 inch-long Rainbows.  That’s a Rainbow Trout a yard long!  I wasn’t so lucky, but had a great time.  Just being there was such a treat.  Marsha enjoyed the scenery, so both of us had a great day.  About 2 pm Andy rowed us over to the pullout ramp and our trip was over.  Darn.  It is a bucket list-caliber trip; one I recommend to every fisherman.  The Upper Kenai is really special.  Here are some other photos:

This was my second Dolly Varden.

                   

                                   And a small Rainbow (right)

 What a great place to fish!

  Marsha on one of the islands from which we fished.  Look at the color of the water!

We are now back in Soldotna, awaiting the arrival of the Red (Sockeye) Salmon here on the lower Kenai River.  Gary says that they arrive historically around July15th, so it should be any day now.   When they arrive, there will be 25,000 to 50,000 fish, many in the 13-pound class, going past Marlene's and Gary's boat dock each day.  These are the same fish you see in the meat case at Safeways.  The good stuff.  And they arrive here fresh from the ocean.  That's pretty darn fresh.

So stay tuned, there is a lot more Alaska ahead.

John and Marsha

(All photos copyright 2013 by John B. Taylor)