Kenai trip/Boat Rentals

[hunter]

I noticed some guys talking about a trip to the Kenai for silvers. I am going up in mid-July for kings and sockeye. Does anyone have any info regarding renting a boat on the Kenai? Thanks for the help.

Hunter, go to the Ifish mainpage/homepage and scroll down the left side and click on Chris Session's guide service. He lives locally but lives and guides on the Kenai every summer. I know he can guide you in his boat, and he is a good one; but he may also have boats for rent. If not, he may be able to direct you to people that do have rentals. - RT

[MoJet Driver]

Hunter,

Boat rentals on the Kenai peninsula are slim to none. Do-it-yourselfers are treated like third class citizens. The idea is that you fork out the money for a guided trip of course.

Once we found a private individual that rented us a cataraft for a day and I'm not sure how my buddy dredged the guy's name and phone number up.

Your best bet is to rent something out of Anchorage and pack it south. I have rented Zodiacs for fly-out trips but I can't remember the outfit right now. If you want to shoot me an email, I'll see what I can come up with. Plus I can give you some other insight to the quirkiness of the locals.

You don't really need a boat for sockeye fishing anyway. The hot spot at the mouth of the Russian is accessable on foot (with some wading) or you can take the ferry across the river for a nominal fee. Get ready for combat fishing though! It seems like a zoo but that's where the fish are being caught (or lined depending on your prespective).

If you really want to bag a king you may want to consider going north to Talkeetna. Mahays used to run a river taxi service there and they would ferry you up to Clear Creek, drop you off and pick you up later for about 40 bucks. That was the price in '92 so inflation may have taken some affect since then.

Anyway, shoot me an email if you need more info.

[fishbait]

Hunter,
I have rented a boart from Smitty on numerous occasions. It's great. Right on the river about 3/4 mile below the collage hole. 18 ft sled w/35 hp prop. RW might have some rentals too, if not RW can you supply a phone for smittys, RW, are you too speaking yet/still?..If not, hunter e-mail me and I will go into my book and get you his winter number and summer number. Best deal I know of, park, walk 30 yards to the boat, un tie and 10 minutes later your are fishing. 24hr access. I think it;s 170 day plus gas. By the way, if you wnat to get in good with Smitty, show up with a qt of half & half and a pack of Orieos, he can't stay away from them. Also has a good freezer and will vac pack your catch. Have fun...

[RW]

fishbait, I am not the RW you are thinking of in AK, two differant people. I do have a place up there though. I don't have Smitty's number on hand here, but hunter, if you need it let me know via e-mail. I will locate it for you. RW

[hunter]

Thanks for the info guys. A friend of mine got Smitty's number this weekend and I am going to give him a call. I am also looking into finding a boat in Anchorage. Last year I took a guided trip for sockeye wich was well worth the money (learned the Sockeye flip, I mean lining method) the guide had a killer spot upriver from Soldotna (no crowd)I thought it would be sweet to rent a boat and rip our sockeye limits and spend the rest of the day fishing Kings. Either way It will be a blast, can't wait and its only January. Luckily the springers will be here soon.

[fishbait]

RW,
sorry, my error. You know what the say about ass u me ing.

Hunter, I will also reccommend Kens Alaskan Tackle as a source of info for you. Have delt with Ken in the past, alwasy treated square. My first experience, he did not cash my deposit check, held it for 5 months as he figured it was not his money until I showed up. Works for me... Also remember, No banannas in boats & guides keep all eggs.

[Phish_on]

Clear Creek -

Mahay's is probably the most expensive. There are several available in Talkeetna, one is Tri-Rivers -- we went with some guy named Lee, it was about $25.

Not exactly your "chromer" - almost all the fish were about this red. Actually still in pretty good shape (delicious). It's a matter of timing, this was July 2nd. The Kenai was between runs of kings, and just at the tail end of the sockeye. Kenai fish would be much brighter, we did see one down there.

You can see this is combat fishing also, but everyone is pretty good-natured when the fish are there. You just take your turn.

[RW]

hunter, There is also a very nice river to the south of the Kenai called the Kasilof. It is a drift boat only river, with some decent bank angling access. Here is a picture from my first time down that river, FISH ON! You can see my friend beat me to the rod since she was sitting the front and I was doing all the work. RW



[This message has been edited by RW (edited 01-29-2001).]

[HUNTER1]

Its funny how the information flows up there.
The locals pretty much want you to fish the Kenai. I was looking at some escapement data on the Ak fish and wildlife page and noticed the Kasilof gets a fair amount of Reds also. Everyone I talked to last year told me the Kasilof has virtually no bank access and if you want to fish it you pretty much need to hire a guide and drift it. I have grown up fishing the N. and E forks of the Lewis and the Kasilof looks like alot more fun than the Kenaia. I'll be there for a full week this year and I'll definitely check out the Kasilof a little more closely.

[RW]

Parker, The Kasilof has a few, very good bank access spots. I have seen the bankies out fish the boats on many days. Going with a guide is very good advise, it is not always possible for people to pay that much money though. If you know someone local they can dial you right in on where to go, and how to fish it.

RW

[SlimPickens]

take a look at this website http://www.kenairiverbend.com/
Pretty good fish camp on the Kenai that rents sleds for a reasonable price for AK. Plenty of good water for kings and redds within a 1/2 mile. Also has a boat launch.

[parker]

Hunter1 - The Kasilof pretty much has no bank access and I would highly recommend that you hire a guide.

There are those that do *well* on the Kasilof, and there are those that just fish on the Kasilof.

A good guide will make all the difference on that river. Trust me. Really really really trust me on this one.

My recommendation would be to check out www.piscatorialpursuits.com.



This was a *slow* day on the Kasilof. No one else on that river was catching fish except us. Hmmmm. Can you say "good guide"????? The smallest fish pictured is 30lbs.

Parker

[This message has been edited by parker (edited 01-29-2001).]

[steeliebob]

Nice fish Parker!!! Who's that really ugly fella behind you guys???

RW ...there isn't a bankie in the world that's going to outfish a boat in latter July. In June, yes, guys sitting at the hatchery creek mouth area that line fish post some BIG numbers ... but they are all long gone by the 1st of July. Why? You can't fish it for kings from shore in July: the fish don't hold in those June areas. Drift-only?? Maybe some day, but not yet!

While it gets lots of reds (see chart below), they do not follow the bank as much as they do in the Kenai so lining them is a little more difficult, plus Kasilof reds run much smaller than Kenai reds, so you've got that to consider too ...




And Parker ... we'll try to find you and your dad one of these next summer ... this guy's like 6' 6" or something (to give you some idea of the size of the fish)


[This message has been edited by steeliebob (edited 01-31-2001).]

For some of you Oregonians unaware, the tall guy at the back of Parker's pic (white UW shirt), and now registered here as steeliebob, is Bob Ball of www.piscatorialpursuits.com NW fishing website. And he is one of the top salmon/steelhead guides in Forks WA. and Kasilof R. AK. Hey, I'm looking forward to seeing the new stuff on your site Bob. Although I figure you can't come thru with my AK indoor video request though . ...

About those great eating mint bright socks that come into the Kenai and Kasilof; where were you on July 14, 15, & 16 last summer (Kasilof graph)? If you were there I bet you experienced something similar (probably common for guides to see) to what I did the first time a huge school of reds swam by us on the Kenai. We were backtrolling for Kings and we noticed the water 'boiling' a few hundred feet below us. As soon as we realized it was a huge school of sockeyes coming we got over to the side and anchored up. It was just Chris and I, while the others were in camp. We hastily tied on very small green/chartrue Spin N Glos with size 1 hooks and began driftfishing as the water churned thick with these fish right in front of us. This was a very BIG run of fish - seemed to be few thousand. It took a good while for the bulk of them to move on up past us, even though they were moving at a fast pace. They sure weren't holing up hangin' around checking out the scenery anywhere, in our area anyway. After all this I landed only one sockeye hooked right inside the mouth on about a 25" leader. It must have been mouth snagged even though I didn't have a long leader on, or there would have been more than 1 biter among so many fish. I thought about trying plugs and Pixies, but didn't want to snag their backs. The mint bright socks with sealice and beef red meat are great eating! Maybe only fresh Wind R. springers or Copper R. AK Kings taste a little better for me. ... Hope the OP season is treating you well, and have fun next summer. - Steve



[This message has been edited by RT (edited 01-31-2001).]

[RW]

steeliebob, golly gee I stand corrected. The Kasilof is not drift boat only. I would guess about 90% of the boats are drift boat, maybe more. The point I want to make is that there are many other options than just the Kenai in a sled.......RW