Is always Memorial day. I think it's a cool thing to honor and remember as well as what we do here at Mile 14.... MP's birthday , a long hike, the Indy 500, Mariners beat the Twins , detail a truck and have a beer, Angus rib Steak, hit a few golf balls into the river....what day.
Last year on Memorial day weekend Jack and Todd Tillman came up from New Mexico and both of them caught nice King Salmon that fell into our 36 " slot limit that they both kept and took home to eat. Well they came again this year and their streak of both catching a King is still alive....but...we are kinda known for our big fish here. Here's Todd fighting the first fish of the day. It was getting onto mid morning and the rod went off and this salmon rolled right off the bat signaling that he was going to be a Large.
Not only was it fiesty and large Todd also had him on one of my light set ups that I prefer in the spring of the year. I think that with the no bait rule to start the 20 pound test and lighter rod add more action to the plug. It took about 15 minutes and into the net.... a gorgeous 44 inch female that was no where near the keeper size of 36 ".
Todd is coooool. No worries, we'll just fish for another. In fact that salmon he released is the perfect example of what our fairly new management scheme is supposed to be doing, giving opportunity to fish and harvest the smaller Kings ( which are still pretty darn nice ) while letting the larger and best spawners go on up river to where they are protected for spawning. I don't know what took so long but after 40 years of following and watching fisheries management stumble along we finally have a plan that makes sense...even common sense which is usually lacking around here.
So on we fish. I have Todd and Jack along with Al Kline who is a colorful local guy and one of my best steadiest customers, it's pretty cool when a guy who knows the river and has a nice boat hires me. It was just a great morning. We only saw 4 boats on the river as we moved from run to run. As you can see the water is pretty low and although it's really full of organic material from rising rapidly the water is nice and clear so I find it's the fishiest when you stay away from the other boats....spooky ya know. Here's a pic of my crew.
Shortly after taking this pic and trolling smack dab under my house at Mile 14 the rod went off and Jack has a really hot fish on the line. It did that deal that every Kenai fisherman is excited to see where the salmon gets up on the surface with about 1/2 his body above the water and planes for fifty yards or so. That maneuver always causes some slack in the line and sometimes the fish wins...but not this time. This fish is looking smaller but in the net she measured 39 inches. In my experience, in that length range the fish are usually right at a pound per inch making us having just released a 39 and a 44 pounder making for a total of 83 pounds for a mornings troll. Thanks for coming guys, it was a great trip. Here's Todd helping to release his dad's fish.
So, I'm thinking that this ol river is off to a pretty good and normal start for salmon fest 2018. One of my competitors boat had this fish going as we looked for fresh water and it was over the slot as well....So there's some dandy's cruising the river right now.
One of our boat launch customers was filleting a gorgeous slot fish of about 30 pounds yesterday when I went down on the 4-wheeler to check on my boat. Some people just can't take a hint. I congratulated them and said what a great memorial day treat. We spoke of how it's always the best when it's soooo fresh. As we looked at it I showed them where my favorite part is for steaks.....and....well we had steaks alright for supper, beef steaks.
So me and MPeasy are race ready....lets go 2018.....And oh, happy Birthday baby baby, you know I'm crazy about you.
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