Our 2013 Alaska RV Adventure: Salmon fishing on the Kenai River

On Monday we awoke to another beautiful day here is Alaska. Joy and Sharon had laundry on their agendas as we prepare for Bobby to join us in Homer this weekend. Bob and I had wanted to try salmon fishing here on the world famous Kenai River so we arranged for local guide Mike Adams to take us drift-boat fishing for the day.

This was a first for Bob and I to use fly rods in a river. What a wonderful time we had as the day moved along. With hip waders, boots, and life jacket in tow we stopped along a rocky shoreline and got some lessons in proper techniques for salmon. The Sockeye salmon are running right now from mid-July into early August. Where we fished was about 55 miles from the mouth of the Kenai so the fish we caught (and yes, we did catch some) had traveled this distance past probably a thousand fish hooks and dip-nets before we made contact with them. It is truly one of God’s miracles that these fish are born in these streams, travel into the ocean for up to five years before returning to the exact spot to spawn and die. Like the monarch butterflies and the swallows of Capistrano they return after long migrations without a GPS or map.

We ended our day at a local fish processing plant with over 14 pounds of salmon fillets to be vacuum-sealed and chilled. Looking forward to a dinner one evening this week. Today we plan a quiet day (mostly so two old guy’s can rest up a bit) will a little shopping, cleaning, and preparation to move tomorrow to our southernmost point at Homer, AK.