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Where
is Mark Fishing?
Where
on the Kenai River is
Mark Glassmaker Fishing?
The answer is everywhere.
For those of you who have
not visited the Kenai River, there are several different areas of the
river that offer various opportunities at different times of the summer
. This means depending on what's happening with any particular run at
any particular time, we can be on nearly any portion of the main Kenai's
50 miles of water. Typically in early May we'll be (along with everyone
else) in one or two holes just upstream from Eagle Rock on the lower
Kenai. Low water conditions prohibit our power boats from leaving a
select section of the lower river until both rains and glacier melt
raise the river enough to clear some pretty skinny gravel bars and prop-eating
rock piles. By late May we have begun pushing further up the river concentrating
mainly on the holes just below the Soldotna Bridge. Here lies another
unpassable stretch until higher water leads the way. By early June we
will be running up to Swiftwater where we will ride out the peak and
duration of the early run. Fast water (hence the name Swiftwater) and
big pronounced boulder fields tend to keep less experienced boaters
away from these parts. Large rocks, islands and gravel bars all provide
excellent holding water for passing Chinook and that means FISH ON!
In mid-June, we will leave
the peak of the king run temporarily, for the first days of trout season.
We trade the heavy current of Swiftwater for the slow, tranquil flows
below Skilak Lake. This is a tradition for us and these days will rival
the finest trophy rainbow angling anywhere in the world, easy. Usually
the closest floating objects are loons or trumpeter swans and there
are no roads or houses, just trout. In early July our focus is on the
first returns of late-run king salmon. Fishing on the middle and lower
sections of the river improves daily and by mid-July the run is nearing
its peak. From this point of July on we will stop back-trolling the
middle river and begin drifting with the tides down low. This is when
we see several thousand king salmon on nearly every tide and complete
fishing chaos ensues. It really does get crazy and this is what the
Kenai is famous for: BIG, BIG Kings and lots of them.
Since the Kenai is closed
to guided fishing Sundays and Mondays in July, we leave the front lines
for the slightly less chaotic pursuit of sockeye salmon from upriver
gravel bars. We migrate yearly to the same "magic" spots where
the fish seem to pass by in the heaviest and most consistent numbers.
Our line of bank anglers all swing in unison like a finely tuned machine
as flurries of fish rattle through the lines. There's one, there's two,
there's three on at once and the stringer continues to grow!
As King season ends with
July's last day, we have reached a point of transition. If returning
numbers of silvers warrant our pursuit we will remain in the lower river
and offer freshly cured salmon roe to them around the high tide. If
the timing is right we'll be done almost too fast and we're headed home.
If the Cohos have not yet arrived, we'll head back upriver for the sockeye
and the sure thing.
Eventually
the bulk of the silvers will arrive and we will leave the sockeye for
good. Almost immediately we will focus our angling efforts on the perfect
spinner waters below Skilak Lake. Gathering in the slow moving pools,
big groups of ocean bright fish await the passing flash of a tumbling
spinner. The best action is always before noon and then it's time for
an effortless afternoon of trout fishing. We will play out this idyllic
routine well through September as a later, larger run of silver salmon
enters the river. By early October we are resigned to a few trout trips
and some steelhead fishing on the Anchor . It will be May before the
boat floats again and the whole cycle begins a new. Now you'll know
exactly where we'll be and hopefully, you can join us.
