John took off on an all-day guided trout fishing trip and I took it easy driving around the area, going to the very small museum and learning some about the local Kenaitze Indian Tribe. It is very warm today -- 77°!! I may have a sun burn! It felt really good to sit in the sun while calling home to visit with family and friends.
John left at 7:30AM and did not get back from his fishing trip until almost 8PM. He, two other men and the guide fished from the bank of the Kenai River about 5 miles down the road from the campground. They fished for about 4 hours from the bank for salmon. The salmon are starting to change as they swim up this part of the river. They start turning red, develop a hump on their back and they get a hooked lip before they reach their spawning ground. These are fish you should not keep if you catch one and they are swimming with salmon who haven't changed yet, who are still silver and blend in with the river bottom. The trick is to catch a silver salmon not a red one. They kept 11 salmon and released and/or lost more than that.
After lunch they floated on down the Kenai and fished for trout. But the trout weren't biting with all the salmon running up the river. John caught 2 salmon on a fly rod and both broke the line. Then they stopped again and got out the lightweight fly rods and more conventionally fished with dry flies for trout. John had several srikes and actually hooked one. But as before the trout fishing was very slow. The Kenai empties into lake Skilak at which point the motor on the drift boat is started to run to the takeout ramp. Trouble is with a 8HP motor and 4 men in a drift boat the going is slow. It took almost an hour to get to the launch ramp, and over 30 minutes of driving to get back to the RV park. John was beat and his casting arm was limp.
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