SwampMafia Report post Posted July 26, 2016 I just recently got back from Alaska 3 days ago, and figured I give the report. We fished for 7 days out of Soldotna Alaska, staying in a house with a 100 yard private stretch of water on the kenai river!!!!! The run was late which worked to our advantage coming late-mid July. We had an average sockeye run of 40-50 thousand per day, which called for exceptional fishing!!! We limited out on sockeye almost every single day aside from the days we fished for kings and halibut. The halibut fishing was exceptional as well! We fished with captain John of naughty lady charters. Aside from the 10 foot swells, we had a great time, limiting out between our group of 15. Now here is where the trip got magical, we booked 3 days of king salmon fishing on the kenai river. Day 1, we get out there and within 30 minutes we had a bite! My father grabbed the rod and set the hook! The rod bowed over and the fight was on! My dad fought like a trooper for 30 minutes, trampling around the boat trying to keep up with this fish! When this fish finally surfaced, my jaw dropped! This prehistoric, hook jawed, monster glided across the top of the water. The guide could not believe it, and his only words of shock were "you got something special". We netted this thing and immediately after discussion with the guide, decided to release the beast to pass on its genetics. We already had a lot of salmon meat anyways. We taped the fish out at 57 inches nose to tail, and a girth of about 34 inches!!! For those of you that don't know, that is 2 inches shy of the world record!!!!!!😳 And about 10 pounds shy!!! Our weight estimate was about 85 pounds, which has been unheard of for the past decade in the kenai!!! The guide told us that had we kept that fish, we would have made multiple magazines and newspapers, it was a bitter sweet sight to see that monster swim off!!! We only got a few pictures and they don't do much justice!!  I am still without words over this fish!!! Here are a few smaller kings we caught throughout the week ranging from 30-50 pounds.  And finally the bitter sweet, beautiful drive back to ancorage!   Hope you enjoy, I sure did!!!! 12 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trphyhntr Report post Posted July 26, 2016 How many lb's of fillets did you bring back? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted July 26, 2016 Good for you for letting the monster go! Looks incredible! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SwampMafia Report post Posted July 26, 2016 Between my dad and I, we brought back 100 lbs, between our whole group, about 6-700! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SunDevil Report post Posted July 26, 2016 Wow. That is a big fish. I spent many summers fishing the Kenai. The biggest we ever caught was 52. Â How do they fish for kings on the Kenai now? Drifting or back trolling? Â How did you fish for the Reds? Lures or streamers? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shooter McGavin Report post Posted July 26, 2016 Those pics sure brought back some awesome memories. In 90' me and 3 buddies drove up there and stayed in a forest just outside of Kenai for 4 months in a tent. We probably worked 1 month total in the canaries, but fished everyday on the Kenai. What little pay we earned we headed up to Soldotna and pigged out at the Sizzler. The sure blueness of the Kenai is something to see for sure. Hopefully you guys were able to eat the Halibut cheeks, by far the tastiest part of the fish. We had them blackened and then dipped in a cayenne butter dipping sauce. Â One day I'll get back there to enjoy the trip as a vacation rather than a survival trip. Wouldn't change the memories though.... Good times for sure. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trphyhntr Report post Posted July 26, 2016 Those pics sure brought back some awesome memories. In 90' me and 3 buddies drove up there and stayed in a forest just outside of Kenai for 4 months in a tent. We probably worked 1 month total in the canaries, but fished everyday on the Kenai. What little pay we earned we headed up to Soldotna and pigged out at the Sizzler. The sure blueness of the Kenai is something to see for sure. Hopefully you guys were able to eat the Halibut cheeks, by far the tastiest part of the fish. We had them blackened and then dipped in a cayenne butter dipping sauce. Â One day I'll get back there to enjoy the trip as a vacation rather than a survival trip. Wouldn't change the memories though.... Good times for sure. you fished the kenai everyday, then went to the sizzler to eat seafood? that aint right 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SunDevil Report post Posted July 26, 2016 +1 on halibut cheeks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shooter McGavin Report post Posted July 27, 2016 Â Those pics sure brought back some awesome memories. In 90' me and 3 buddies drove up there and stayed in a forest just outside of Kenai for 4 months in a tent. We probably worked 1 month total in the canaries, but fished everyday on the Kenai. What little pay we earned we headed up to Soldotna and pigged out at the Sizzler. The sure blueness of the Kenai is something to see for sure. Hopefully you guys were able to eat the Halibut cheeks, by far the tastiest part of the fish. We had them blackened and then dipped in a cayenne butter dipping sauce. One day I'll get back there to enjoy the trip as a vacation rather than a survival trip. Wouldn't change the memories though.... Good times for sure. Â you fished the kenai everyday, then went to the sizzler to eat seafood? that aint right Yea that seems funny. Â We didn't catch fish everyday and the ones we did catch we had toss back due to not enough fish had gone up stream. The fish we did eat were from the canaries. It's amazing how you can stuff a salmon/halibut down the front of your overalls and walk out to your truck, needless to say we smelled awful. Like I said we trying to survive. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SwampMafia Report post Posted July 27, 2016 Wow. That is a big fish. I spent many summers fishing the Kenai. The biggest we ever caught was 52. How do they fish for kings on the Kenai now? Drifting or back trolling? How did you fish for the Reds? Lures or streamers? We caught all of the Reds on a 3 way rig with a streamer. As far as the Kings, it varies depending on which part of the kenai, but mostly back trolling. The stars were kind of aligned, it was a strong run of kings, they were open for bait fishing, and they were open for catch and keep! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SwampMafia Report post Posted July 27, 2016 +1 on halibut cheeks! We ended up with about 2 pounds of halibut cheeks! Looking forward to them! We fried some halibut for lunch today and it was unbelievable! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PseAZ Report post Posted July 27, 2016 that looks like a blast would love to go one day, how much did the whole trip cost your guys? Congrats on the Monster as well Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted July 27, 2016 Bucket list for sure! Thanks for sharing. Â TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Edge Report post Posted July 27, 2016 Fantastic fishing. The old Chinook looked pretty far along in the spawn, hope he spreads his seed. Kudos on the C&R for that one. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
8OWHUNT247 Report post Posted July 27, 2016 Looks like a heck of a trip!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
