Kenai River Reds
Photos & Story by Carmen
A more delightful day is hard to imagine. Besides enjoying an outstandingly warm and sunny summer day, I was playing hooky from work and crashing my sister's invitation to lunch in Kenai with her long-time friends Brian and Gail. The huge run of red salmon in the Kenai River was front page news, so I snuck my husband's fishing tackle out of the garage and threw it in the back of the car with high hopes of fresh salmon for dinner.
The three-hour drive to Kenai, particularly the ocean-side stretch along Turnagain Arm, was even more spectacular than usual. Brian and Gail gave us the tour of their Kenai Riverfront property. Brian grilled some delicious salmon for lunch. Afterward, he graciously set me up with some of their fishing tackle and showed me a new style (to me) of fishing called "flipping." The reds come up the river near the bank, he told me, so you just cast out a little way and let your lure skim along the bottom. Follow the lure with the rod tip; when you're pointing downstream, flip it back upstream. I was using spinning gear, but the technique reminded me of flying fishing. Instead of opening the bail, casting, and then closing the bail, you just pull out an arm's length of line and cast it.
I spent a most pleasant hour in the sun. You know what they say: a bad day's fishing beats a good day at work. I didn't impress anyone by catching any fish, but I did impress with my ability to stand in my crocs almost knee-deep in the glacial water for so long. And in the case of the Kenai, it is literally glacial. Glacier-ground silt gives it the distinctive gray-green color. As we went back up to the house for a bite of dessert, a couple of gentlemen arrived to try their luck. Brian told them he needed two fish for the ladies (meaning us) within the next half hour. Sure enough, Brian's cell rang with the news: we had a fish waiting. We returned to the river just in time to watch the second gentleman catch us another fish!
Brian and Gail went into action like the salmon pros they are. Our two reds were cleaned and filleted in no time! I just happened to have a cooler and ice in the car (ahem) to transport them. We got home about 10 pm, invited the kids over, and promptly put two fillets on the grill. Yes, I know we had just had grilled salmon for lunch, but you can't have too much fresh salmon!