Fishing the Kenai river

Stepping out of the van in the morning to stretch, I smile and look out as I'm greeted by the ocean. Its not the beach of Florida I'm so used to, but it still cheers my morning. At least there are waves crashing in my happy memories brought forth as I drink my campsite morning coffee. Once again I'm reminded how fortunate I've been to have been there as well as to be here now. Its a bit later in the morning than I have been rising, but that actually helps me get to the afternoon- when my little guided fishing trip back in Cooper's Landing is.

I write down some of the morning's thoughts ans slowly poke around the hope area a little more before doing a gear check and prep for the boat. With the gear sorted, I head south with just enough time to get there. Then the traffic of slow moving RV's drags down my plan. Never wanting to be late, or worse, the reason the group is late, It's a bit stressful. I come screaming into the parking lot right at the set meeting time. I hop out, spot the guide and introduce myself. He hands me waders and gets my shoe size to snag me some boots. I shed my waterproof layers and put on the loaners, lace up the shoes and sign the requisite waivers and we are off. We being a nice middle aged couple who've never really fished before. He's a lawyer, I forget what she did. The plan is to take a drift boat downriver a few miles, anchoring and fishing for salmon via spin rod and then hitting a trout spot to try out luck fly fishing. First, the salmon

The day is perfectly cool and overcast, the water is its iconic glacial blue-green color and moving swiftly. The conversation is pleasant and company is comfortable. Perfect. We don't have any luck at the first spot, but do see some fish jumping and learn the equipment a bit. The guide has got me in the bow casting and reeling a rattling "plug" and the other two casting out and just using the current to keep the lure active, waiting for a strike. Passive fishing for them and slightly more active for me. I do get the feeling the guide and I have more in common, and that he's sensing this too. We've talked about a good bit of my time paddling my packraft but also the larger catarafts of Colorado and Utah which are somewhat similar to operating his drift boat. I surely appreciate being viewed a little less like an incompetent tourist, but unfortunately I'm far from experienced when it comes to fishing and it makes me feel... weak?... compared to the guide's knowledge and skill. My self image would sure rather to have more in common with the guide than the lawyer, who has already detailed his solution to problems is to pay someone else who knows how to handle it. But, haven't done the same thing to be on this boat?

At the second spot, all three of us fishing hook into large salmon. The lawyer's wife and I are able to land ours. Both are rather far along in the spawning process, resulting in the telltale physical changes that indicate there is no reason to keep these fish for eating. But, the are certainly fun to catch and put up a good fight.

With a little adrenaline from that experience, we move to his third spot as the fish seem less interested after we each got a little action. The third spot yields me a bite, the lawyer's wife another fight that ends in another victorious landing, but nothing for the lawyer. Pushing along further down river, we are all laughing and sharing stories while soaking up the beautiful backdrop. There's a small section of constricted canyoning of the river, resulting in a few small rapids but they are pretty casually floated. This brings us down to his favorite trout spot to break out the fly rod.

I feel like fly fishing requires quite a bit more finesse, which he demonstrates for us but doesn't offer much instruction or tips. Luckily its not the first time I've held a fly rod, and it only takes a few sad casts to shake the dust off and get the dry fly landed just abreast of the current where he wants it. On my third drift, a beautiful rainbow takes it and provided a fun fight against this light rod. Its a good size fish to me, that I'd certainly be tempted to eat... but it is very clear these fish are our guide's friends, to be cherished and supported. He lives for fishing and there wouldn't be any if we take all the fish. Its a catch and release kind of day, which probably is the right answer. I laugh a bit, but also appreciate that he insists on holding each of the fish for photos, so as to ensure their safety.

Taking turns hitting the same current, the lawyer gets a strike, but struggles to set the hook. With a bit of help from the guide, he does and lands a similarly sized rainbow. His wife has no luck at all despite getting a pretty decent rhythm down for the casting.

With the fly fishing done, and the clock ticking, we head down to one more spot for one last chance for a salmon. While dropping our lines, a bald eagle lands on shore next to us to enjoy a salmon carcass cast off from someone's previous catch and fillet. We watch him hold the fish down in his talons and rip bites off with his sharp beak as he curiously watched us from the shore. Such an interesting experience to watch. Each of us admiring him and he keeping a leery eye on our boat. The lawyer's wife then suddenly gets a strike and she jumps on her rod. This triggers the eagle to launch into the air, which the lawyer got some great pictures of. At the end of the trip, he's most happy to have caught the eagle's picture than the fish. The clock is against us however, and the fight to land this fish is going to take too much time. Thinking on his feet, the guide passes me the net, pulls up the anchor and decides we should just do a "fish chase". This entails him approaching with the boat as she reels it just close enough for me to reach out and land. A few exciting minutes later, we've got it, another red. The guide jumps up to remove the hook and do the photo op, but the boat is getting pushed to shore. I ask and then jump on the sticks to keep the boat safe while he's busy. Maybe I'm more guide than lawyer after all...

With the guide back at the helm, it isn't too much further to the take out. We get the boat back on the trailer and ride back to the outfitter we met at initially. Peeling out of the loaner gear, the couple heads their way and I pick the guide's brain a bit in the gear shop and snag a spincast rig to hopefully do some solo fishing and to bring on the Kongakut with the guys. Not a bad day in the slightest. I shove off towards Homer, tomorrow's adventure.