Day: 21
Date: 08/10/11
Weather: 65 degrees & Sunny
After not being able to get to the water for the first couple of days, we finally headed out around 8:30am this morning. Robin, Cameron, Cole and I arrived at the parking area and proceeded to get our waders and boots on and gather up our gear. After we all got dressed, we headed on a 1 mile walk down to the river. The boys had their "bear cans" which I had made the night before to help keep the bears away, which they shook to make noise as we all walked down the trail. We arrived at the river and to our surprise, were the only ones there. I rigged up our rods and got everyone ready to begin. We hit the water and started fishing the current. This was something new I had never done and so it took a while to figure it out. We fished for an hour or so with no luck until I heard Cole scream, "I've got a fish!". Sure enough, I looked back up the river and Cole had landed an 8" trout all by himself. Unfortunately, he dropped it back in the water "so it could live" and it flopped off and back into the river before we could snap a picture. We fished a while longer when our friends the Gilberts showed up to fish with us. We fished together for a few minutes and then decided to walk back out to the truck to have lunch. While we were there eating, a Park Ranger pulled up, said hello and headed toward the river. In a couple of minutes we headed back to the river where we found Mr. Gilbert chatting with the ranger and Ms. Gilbert showing off the big Red Salmon she had just landed. We began fishing once again and with a few minutes I hooked up on my first fish of the day. As most fish tales go, this was a monster of a fish which I fought with for several minutes until finally my line snapped. Needless to say I was a little disheartened, but thats why they call it fishing and not catching. I re-rigged the rod and reel and went back to fishing for a few. After that I gave the rod to Robin and she began fishing. After several casts she commented that "I can't tell the difference between a rock and a fish" and then literally within 2 seconds she started screaming, "I've got a fish, I've got a fish"! Sure enough, she she did have a big fish on and ended up landing a nice Silver Salmon, her first Alaskan fish. Needless to say she was a little excited and of course many photos were taken. We continued fishing for a while but unfortunately those were the only two fish landed for the day. We hiked back to the truck and stopped out of our fishing gear before heading home. Once we were there we cleaned up everything and put it away. Once this was done, the ladies started preparing supper and Mr. Gilbert and myself filleted the fish from the day. He filleted the first one and I attempted to filet the second one. This was my first attempt at filleting an Alaskan Salmon and it turned out better than I expected. After they were filleted, we cleaned up and then fired up the grill to cook the catches of the day. Of course, supper was awesome… mashed potatoes, corn, fresh grilled salmon and rolls!
We are so blessed… It was a great day to be in AK today! My first trip to the Kenai River was a memorable one as I lost a very large fish and my wife was able to catch a very large fish. It was good to see her and the boys get into it and I hope that excitement and enthusiasm continues. We took lots of pics and vides which you can see by clicking on the links below.
Pics:
Videos:
God Bless & Safe Travels!
The Moores
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