By Gary Turner
Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula offers some of the best fishing in the world. Whether it’s the storied salmon runs or the outstanding halibut fisheries, there’s enough up there to keep any angler busy for at least a month. That’s what I like to do most years, spend a month getting into whatever fishing I can find. Here’s a summary of this summer’s three-week trip.
Upon arrival in Kenai, a few phone calls to local buddies told me the reds (sockeye salmon) were running late but the king salmon were in. Yes! After picking up gear, licenses and the truck I would be driving, I headed on my own to see if there were any fish to catch. The salmon come in through Cook Inlet and then swim to their respective rivers to spawn. All the salmon species use the tides to push into the rivers, so there might be a big group of fish passing any given point at any time. I found very few reds, but I managed to catch a couple.
The next day some buddies and I went king salmon fishing on the world famous Kenai River. For the first time in five years there was a season for kings, and the action was great. We used both salmon eggs tied on a hook and slices of sardines tied on a Kwikfish, which is kind of a spoon/plug hybrid used for salmon fishing. We caught five kings. The two biggest were about 60 and 45 pounds, very nice fish.
The following morning, another buddy and I set off to check a spot where I had heard fish were running. As luck would have it, I took the wrong road and found a different spot where we started hooking reds left and right. The limit is three per day, so together we released more than 70 fish! For most of the rest of the trip, we were there every day, releasing everything until we were tired of unhooking them. Then we would catch our limit and rest our sore arms.
On two mornings we left out of Deep Creek to fish Cook Inlet for halibut. We caught some decent fish there, including one of about 40 pounds, but what impressed me were the tides. They ripped, and when I say ripped, I mean a 5-pound sinker didn’t even stay on the bottom.
I also fished out of Seward for halibut. We left out of Resurrection Bay and ran 70 miles toward Montague Island before baiting hooks. I caught and released more than a dozen under 40 pounds before my buddy entered into a 30-minute brawl to boat an 85-pounder. Then, using a whole salmon head for bait, I caught one that weighed just shy of 100 pounds. Some other species we caught were rockfish and lingcod, and I won’t even talk about the salmon shark we hooked and spent over an hour fighting before the line broke.
I could tell you of many other days of fishing, but these were the highlights. If you want to add something to your bucket list, the Kenai Peninsula is hard to beat. Most of the trip I fished with friends, but there are captains and guides who can put you on fish.
Our halibut trip out of Seward was with Seward Fish Company. Call them at 907-947-3349.
