July 23, 2012: It’s All About Sockeye on the Kenai

July 23, 2012: It’s All About Sockeye on the Kenai

It’s really crazy, you look up and down the line of fisherman and you see multiple hook ups on sockeye. Suddenly you realize that your line is stopped and you no longer feel the bumping as your sinker and fly bounce along the bottom. You know, you just know that a fish is on and as you raise your fly rod the fish takes off, often with a leap.

You fight it to keep it from reaching the strong current of the river but it usually wins and then it sweeps downstream. Yelling fish on, you hope others are paying attention and you step back and then wade downstream after the fish.

A complete stranger grabs a net and waits as you struggle to regain control. The fish usually swims back to the bank as it doesn’t like struggling against the current any more then you do. If all goes well, for you anyway, the fish is netted and you add it to your stringer.

I had worried about catching the fish in their mouth but all my hookups were legal as they periodically open and close their mouths, inhaling the fly. Some of the fisherman jerk their rods and try to snag the salmon but they rarely catch their fish as the casual retrieve seems to get a better hook setup.

Steve and I had left our camp at five am and by eight I had my limit of six fish. Game and fish reached their goal of eight hundred thousand Sockeye that have swam up the Kenai and they are reaching their spawning grounds in sustainable numbers.

Soon after Steve had his fish, but he had to wait quite a while for the cleaning station as the line of fisherman stood waiting with their limits and fillet knives. Over one hundred thousand fish swam past the counters the last two days, and all I can say to future salmon fisherman is to be here when the fish enter the river. That’s the real key, be here at the right time and I finally was.

I don’t pretend to be a good salmon fisherman, only one who listens to his friend Steve and one who was here at the right time. Tomorrow its Renita’s turn as the weather should be drier and we will head out for her place in the line of red salmon fisherman. Clear skies.