AKnook
Well-Known Member
Finally after a month without wetting a line I was able to go fish the Kenai River with a buddy. We took the raft down for it's last trip of the season. Hopefully not but its looking like it might be. Couldn't have asked for better weather. Clear blue skies and sun all day. Was it cold? Heck yea but no wind which usually is the case. Frozen fingers and guides but comfortable whith the layers and gear on. Hand warmers in my jacket pocket helped during breaks as well. Although I was called a weenie for having it, I didn't care. I have gotten frostbite on both index fingers ice fishing in 40 below with high winds and they haven't been the same since.LOL
During the summer and fall the Kenai has a lot of drift boats and rafts and when we take out at the end of the fishing day one of us hitches a ride with someone heading back with their raft/drift boat. Everyone is there doing the same thing and usually one vehicle is taken. So it isn't uncommon to hitch rides with fellow fisherman. Pretty cool people are met and you get a sense of comroderie.
Winter is a different story. There are still people drifting the river but a lot less. You can still hitch a ride but you may have to wait a few hours instead of minutes. So we opted to take two vehicles down. The 2 hour drive was beautiful. Driving through the mountain passes was a little sketchy as the roads there were slick and slush covered. I took my car down and hit a few slick patches but drove safe and made it fine. We get down to the launch and were surprised with the amount of people on the river. Oh well, it was Saturday and it was a beautiful day so it was expeceted.
We floated one back channel that had some pretty skinny water so we were skimming the rocks. The channel was narrow and hugged the right bank with all the branches because on the left gravel bar there were two brown bears. They were literally less than 20 feet from us and if they wanted to they could have ran right to us with such skinny water we were going over. The bears just watched us on our way with one them licking his lips. "Don't look into his eyes" I say. lol we didn't expect to see any bears on the river at this time but you just never know. What an awesome thing to see.
We fished our usual holes with no hits. We banked on a gravel bar and took in the surroundings while partaking in an October brew. After not doing this for over a month it was much needed therapy for the soul.
We were fishing dirty sock color flesh flies as any flesh in the water this late in the season will look like that color. I was using a 3" articulated flesh fly. These larger fly get hit hard by larger fish trying to get in the much needed protien for the winter. As we drifted from hole to hole I cast out to cut banks and to holes that have produced in the past and fish with a strike indicator. We were drifting to a back channel when my indicator tanks. I set the hook and yell "Fish on!" My buddy prepares to bank as I fight the fish. The fish jumps and spits the fly. It was a large rainbow. Both of us yell out a loud "AHHHH!" while the drift boat passing us does the same. No time to reflect we decide to bank the raft there and explore this stretch some more. We end up catching 5 fish there. Nothing massive but some nice rainbows. A year ago to the day only one fish was caught so this day was spectacular to say the least.
Moving down river I end up catching the last fish of the day, a small skinny dolly varden. No other take downs for the rest of the day. It was a great day on the water and some nice fish were caught. Couldn't ask for anything better. Here are a few pics of the day.
The drive down
You can see the bears in the middle of this gravel bar. The bend in the river near them is where we passed. A little too close if you ask me, We scrambled for the camera and this is the best we could do.
My redemption bow just after losing that beast.
Beautiful colors
Small dolly
During the summer and fall the Kenai has a lot of drift boats and rafts and when we take out at the end of the fishing day one of us hitches a ride with someone heading back with their raft/drift boat. Everyone is there doing the same thing and usually one vehicle is taken. So it isn't uncommon to hitch rides with fellow fisherman. Pretty cool people are met and you get a sense of comroderie.
Winter is a different story. There are still people drifting the river but a lot less. You can still hitch a ride but you may have to wait a few hours instead of minutes. So we opted to take two vehicles down. The 2 hour drive was beautiful. Driving through the mountain passes was a little sketchy as the roads there were slick and slush covered. I took my car down and hit a few slick patches but drove safe and made it fine. We get down to the launch and were surprised with the amount of people on the river. Oh well, it was Saturday and it was a beautiful day so it was expeceted.
We floated one back channel that had some pretty skinny water so we were skimming the rocks. The channel was narrow and hugged the right bank with all the branches because on the left gravel bar there were two brown bears. They were literally less than 20 feet from us and if they wanted to they could have ran right to us with such skinny water we were going over. The bears just watched us on our way with one them licking his lips. "Don't look into his eyes" I say. lol we didn't expect to see any bears on the river at this time but you just never know. What an awesome thing to see.
We fished our usual holes with no hits. We banked on a gravel bar and took in the surroundings while partaking in an October brew. After not doing this for over a month it was much needed therapy for the soul.
We were fishing dirty sock color flesh flies as any flesh in the water this late in the season will look like that color. I was using a 3" articulated flesh fly. These larger fly get hit hard by larger fish trying to get in the much needed protien for the winter. As we drifted from hole to hole I cast out to cut banks and to holes that have produced in the past and fish with a strike indicator. We were drifting to a back channel when my indicator tanks. I set the hook and yell "Fish on!" My buddy prepares to bank as I fight the fish. The fish jumps and spits the fly. It was a large rainbow. Both of us yell out a loud "AHHHH!" while the drift boat passing us does the same. No time to reflect we decide to bank the raft there and explore this stretch some more. We end up catching 5 fish there. Nothing massive but some nice rainbows. A year ago to the day only one fish was caught so this day was spectacular to say the least.
Moving down river I end up catching the last fish of the day, a small skinny dolly varden. No other take downs for the rest of the day. It was a great day on the water and some nice fish were caught. Couldn't ask for anything better. Here are a few pics of the day.
The drive down
You can see the bears in the middle of this gravel bar. The bend in the river near them is where we passed. A little too close if you ask me, We scrambled for the camera and this is the best we could do.
My redemption bow just after losing that beast.
Beautiful colors
Small dolly
ty for the report 
