The Kenai Peninsula

Our decision to spend the Independence Day long weekend in Anchorage had us thanking our lucky stars again as we motored south out of the city towards the Kenai Peninsula. With the throngs of people attending the annual Mount Marathon Race in Seward, coupled with holiday goers spending the long weekend on the peninsula, traffic on the single lane Seward Highway back into the city was moving at a crawl for almost 50 miles/80 kilometers in the opposite direction to us. No bueno. It was the first traffic we’d seen since leaving Washington a month earlier.

As we motored through the coastal mountains of the Kenai, the clear blue skies of the Alaskan Interior transitioned to the wet summers typical of this part of Alaska. Our route south through the Kenai Mountains was flanked by towering peaks and glaciers, but all we saw was mist and rain. Seward sits on the shores of Resurrection Bay and, when there does happen to be sunshine, boasts breathtaking views of the Kenai Fjords National Park and surrounding turquoise ocean. It’s also a destination for fisherman headed out on salmon and halibut charters, the town’s center reminded me a little of Sitka with its huge harbor and hundreds upon hundreds of fishing vessels at the ready. We ventured into nearby Kenai Fjords National Park to explore the Exit Glacier after catching up on some laundry at Stoney Creek RV Park, the glacier was a short hike from the parking area so was a nice little adventure in the misty weather. The wet weather continued and the Seward Brewing Company was closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which made it an easy decision to continue journeying around to the other side of the Kenai after our night in Seward.

The Kenai River – which runs from the coast through the towns of Soldotna and Cooper Landing up in the mountains – is world famous for its salmon runs. Anglers flock to the area from all over North America each summer to haul sockeye and coho out of the water as they race up the Kenai River by the millions. I’ve never seen anything like it: fishermen stand shoulder to shoulder by the hundreds on the banks of the river in Soldotna and Cooper Landing during the time when the salmon are running. And even with this incredible pressure on the fish stocks, anglers really don’t make a significant dent in the salmon numbers given the sheer volume of fish swimming through to spawn each year. Last year the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) sonars in the Kenai counted almost two million late-run sockeye. And that’s not even counting the coho and chinook. Incredible.

With some direction from Anthony Scheidler – a friend in the Bay Area who ventures to the Kenai every summer to fish – on both fishing locations and rigging, we headed along the Sterling Highway to Soldotna so I could try my hand at the Kenai salmon run. Our timing was a touch off: the first run occurs in June and was all but done, and second run sockeye were just getting started. The ADFG sonars counted about 11,000 salmon through the river on the day I was throwing in a line in Soldotna, which sounds like a lot but pales in comparison to the more than 100,000 that swim through the water each day during the peak of the run.

The rig used to fish for salmon in the Kenai and Russian Rivers is quite interesting. The salmon aren’t interested in eating as they swim into the freshwater, so to pull one out you basically have to gaff the fish with a hook. In Southeast Alaska, ADFG allows fishermen to jag the fish, which entails using a weighted treble hook and yanking it through the water as hard as one can in a school of fish with the hope that it pierces a fish somewhere and pulls it to the bank. But jagging isn’t allowed on the Kenai Peninsula, so to land a fish one has to gaff the salmon in the mouth (gaffing one in the body isn’t allowed). To do so, anglers on the Kenai use a method called flossing, the rig for which has a sinker and a leader fixed with a wet fly or beaded hook, which is typically connected to a heavy duty fly rod. The sinker bounces along the river’s rocky bottom and pulls the leader and hook downstream, with the leader floating a few inches above the rocks. 99% of fishermen (me included) use a fly rod, as the fly rod lends itself best to the repetitive nature and short amount of line used to floss. As the salmon swim upstream, periodically opening their mouths as they do so, the hope is that the floating leader drifts into their mouth and the hook then slides into their lips. Just like flossing one’s teeth.

The Kenai River is a glacial river so it’s cloudy, anglers can’t see the fish as they run so use a long leader to floss: fishermen stand there and repeatedly cast a few meters upstream, praying their bouncing rig’s leader drifts through a salmon’s mouth as it swims against the current. It’s an extremely repetitive way of fishing, but was actually somewhat tranquil and relaxing, especially with the picturesque turquoise water of the Kenai flowing by. I was lucky to hook into a hog of a sockeye on my first night fishing from our spot at Centennial Park Campground in central Soldotna, battling the thing for about five minutes and seeing it hoist itself clear out of the water twice before losing it just as I was pulling it onto the bank. A lot of fun, even though I lost it, especially with the anglers either side of me hooting and hollering as I pulled it in. I didn’t have waders with me so instead fished in river shoes and board shorts, the 52°F/11°C water was quite refreshing as I stood there for an hour or two! One woman from Florida – who was clad in waders with thermal underwear underneath – asked me if all the locals who are acclimated to the water temperature fish in board shorts.

Centennial was a great spot to camp given one can fish from the banks right in front of the campground, but the mosquitoes there were absolutely the worst we experienced anywhere in Alaska. It was like the final dogfight scene of Top Gun, but with mosquitoes. I unintentionally swallowed two when I was rushing to hook up the trailer the morning we were leaving. Not something I want to repeat.

We also spent a night up in Cooper Landing in the mountains on a section of the upper Kenai River between Skilak and Kenai Lakes. There’s a section of the river system west of Cooper Landing called The Confluence, where the Russian and Kenai Rivers meet and is one of the most popular spots for fishing on the Kenai. It’s so popular that ADFG runs a ferry just for fishermen to cross and stand in the waters of The Confluence. The Russian River – unlike the Kenai – is crystal clear, so fishing its waters was a little different. The trained eye can see the salmon in the Russian as they swim upstream, so the leader on a Russian fly rig is short for more control and the method of fishing is actually more like hunting. One has to sight a fish or school – which is harder than it sounds given the fish have evolved to blend into the river’s rocky bottom – and then floss in front of the fish as they rest in the slower moving water of pools along the river. Seeing the fish, waiting for it to rest, accurately casting the fly rig in front of it and then getting the leader to drift through its mouth when the mouth opens is no easy task. I will need some practice before being able to conquer Russian River salmon fishing, being able to sight the fish being the major hurdle even with polarized glasses. I saw scores of fishermen in the Russian during the morning I was there and only one of them was pulling out any fish. He was a local fellow who was a lot of fun to watch, able to recognize the silvery flash of the sockeye as they swam and then accurately place his fly in their mouths time and time again. I saw him pull out five of his six limit of sockeye in the space of about two hours, very impressive to watch. He pointed out a few sockeye for me as we stood in the water next to each other, but even with his help there was no fish for me. At least the freezer was still half full of king salmon and halibut from Sitka!

We couldn’t leave the area without enjoying the breathtaking turquoise water of the Kenai first hand, so on our last day we hooked up with Kenai River Dog for a rafting trip down a section of the river west of Cooper Landing. Kenai River Dog is a one woman show run by a gal from Seward, Kayce was a great guide and piloted us deftly through the meandering rapids of the upper Kenai River. As is typical of the mountains around Cooper Landing in summer, we had a sprinkle of rain here and there along the route, but that didn’t detract from the picturesque views or squeals from the kids as we plowed through each rapid. The color of the water was amazing, the turquoise in the photos below was all under cover of clouds, I can only imagine how brilliant it is in the direct sunshine.

We continued our tour of the Breweries of Alaska when we spent the night in Soldotna, pedaling to Kenai River Brewing Company for dinner and a few libations during a rare break in the clouds. Nice beers, although I had a winemaker with me and she noted one brew tasted “dirty” and another had “high VA” so I was only able to deal Kenai River Brewing a bronze mug on my map. Their food was delicious, though, especially the poutine. French fries and gravy, can’t go wrong!