Kenai DIY TR

Spent a week chasing fish North and South, East and West with nothing but a gazetteer and a 10 year old guide book to steer by. A few swings and misses but plenty of fish (thank God for pinks!) and a fun time was had by all. A balky camera battery and lots of rain made for fewer photo ops than desired. Drive down from ANC to Moose Pass was wet and cloudy

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Streams we tried were high and silty and we'd given up all hope, till we found it

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tide was right for fish pushing up from the arm

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and we found a nice stretch for ourselves (expected combat and was pleasantly surprised - that'd come later); lots of pinks, some bright and some decidedly humped, plenty of fun on a 6wt (which got busted)

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my partners had never caught grayling so we hiked up to a lake that supposedly held them

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got a few rainbows and were entertained by a flock of loons that joined us but no grayling so we continued on another mile

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paydirt; nothing huge but grayling nonetheless and their itch was scratched

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a day spent chasing reds turned out to be more of a snipe hunt; only a few in the Russian (didn't know they didn't get the second run there), a few more down at the confluence but we only connected once and it broke off right away
hanging a left and turning south didn't yield much more than some photo ops

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a bunch of spawning kings here but reds were conspicuous by their absence

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end of the highway

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spent an hour at the Fishin' Hole on the Spit; had the end of the line to ourselves until the tide shifted then were joined by the bait-slingers who proceeded to catch silvers all around us while we tasted skunk. At this juncture, a new unit of measurement was determined - a Homer, or the distance between you and the guy (or gal) standing next to you (approximately the width of the 15lb tippet we were using); at least they were all friendly

next day we finally got in to the reds; all it took was a 5-shot slinky rig lobbed 10' from shore (this one's a little guy compared to some of the fish being caught); we kept a couple and ate them later that afternoon

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time to hit the surf, fishing interrupted momentarily by a 6.3 earthquake (another first for my partners); the pinks were very obliging and we spent the better part of 3 days chasing them up and down the beach, adding a couple silvers on the last night; also the first place I've ever seen catch-and-release snagging in action; a confusing concept

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great evening and the trip ended they way we hope they all do

fish were up, the light was brighter

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and things came more clearly into focus

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before the day was over

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Regards,
Scott