Morgan Landing

As we drove thru Old Town Kenai, we found a place to park on the bluff over looking the mouth of the Kenai River. We couldn't believe our eyes! Both banks were covered with hundrends of people fishing with huge dip nets. In some places a line of fishermen were walking in chest high water along with the current towards the sea, then turning onto the beach and walking back a ways and starting over - called a merry-go-round. Others were just walking out with their 10 foot long dip nets and holding them out in the current to catch the salmon as they started their journey up the river. Then over 100 boats started making their run out into the inlet to set down their nets. We were told that once they had set up a line of nets, the run at the mouth of the river would be diminished until the boats came back in. All these Alaskans are getting as many salmon as they need to last them the winter.

We pulled into the campground at Morgan Landing along the Kenai River at around 2 PM and had a choice from about 8 empty spots but by 6 that evening the campground was full with more rigs in the overflow lot. We were just plain lucky!

After we picked our camp site, we walked over to the river to check out the fishing and to figure out how it is done. The campground host was very helpful. She explained that the salmon have been out in the salty ocean for 2-3 years, so as they make their run up the fresh water river they have to clean the salt out of their gills. That is what they are doing when you see them rolling and jumping. They do not feed as they go up the river, their only intention is to get to their spawning grounds and lay their eggs. So when the fishermen are casting their line, they are not attracting the fish, they are literally snagging them by chance. However it is against the rules to keep a salmon that is snagged, you must "snag" them in the mouth. So it doesn't really matter what color fly you use. John figured out real quick his 12 pound test line was not going to work so he made a quick run into town for some heavy line. he figures if he actually catches one his line won't break but his lightweight rod might.