July 21, 2009

July 21, 2009

Having conquered the lower Kenai we head upriver towards Anchorage. Several Alaskans told me they prefer the Russian River over the Kenai so we stop there on our return route. Unlike the Kenai, the Russian is supposed to be clear. I am hoping to see the salmon swimming upstream in masse. After paying a stiff parking fee I walk with my pole to the ferry. There I have to pay another fee to take a ten-second ferry across the upper Kenai River. When I get to the other side I see a long line of fisherman along the bank as far as I can see. I follow the bank upstream hoping to find a spot. Most of the “Russian” fishermen are really on a shallow slipstream of the Kenai where the Russian flows in. Continuing upstream the Russian River turns out to be just an overgrown stream. It is very shallow and I don’t see any salmon swimming. Yet farther along, a dozen fishermen are huddled around a tiny “hole” pulling out one fish after another. Apparently the salmon at some point skinnied up the shallows only to pool in the deeper sections to hide out from danger.

I have no interest in fishing out of a “bucket” so I return to the Kenai and try out several spots. I don’t have any success until I elbow between two fishermen in a spot that looks successful. The locals call it “combat fishing” and the term is appropriate. Over the next two hours I get a couple good hits but don’t land any of them. The biggest hit sent my reel a whizzing even with a tight drag setting. He ripped loose after racing across the river. It was either a big Red or a small King. As much line as he took out, he for sure would have been tangled with a dozen other lines if he hadn’t broken loose. After several hours of fishing in the rain, standing in ice-cold water, I am freezing. Snag fishing for Reds is exhausting. My right arm hurts from the repetitive motion. I return to the RV fishless. Aimee is happy. We don’t know what we would have done if I had landed any fish. Our freezer is too small to hold a big fish and we can’t afford to ship anymore home.