Alaska Results Kenai

And I thought the grayling fishery was amazing. First night on the river and learning (slow) I caught a sculpin. Our host limited (3) but it was still slow. Next night we went and my wife and host limited while I finally got one. Last night was limits all around and encounters with fish about every couple of minutes. Not many people on the river but almost everybody walked away with three.

Fish were really close to shore. Like 10-15'. Fought really hard. Friendly folks netted two of mine while I had to do the honors on 1.

Theses are big fish as we got more than 22 pounds of fillets off of the seven fish night and the nine (we drop off today) probably will go closer to 30. Shipping box will be full.

Back home now with a box of fillets in the freezer. Had one more night of 3 limits. Last day after the limit jumped to 6, I got 1 and our host 6. As noted earlier I was unsure wading so I was too close to shore to get a really good drift without snagging waders. Lots of folks and lots of sockeye walked out of that one site.

Sounds like an awesome trip. I’ll be shipping home some Coho this September in those freezer boxes. Any tips? I’ve heard not to even bother with ice packs as they thaw at around the same rate as frozen fish so it’s worth just filling it with nothing but fish. If anything, just use those vacuum packs that were on top first once I get home.

We took our fish to a custom packer. Not sure of the airlines accept stuff packed in ice. They put ours in a styrofoam box inside a cardboard box. All the fish were individually vacuum packed as about 1 lb fillets. They put a gel-pack in to keep it cool. We picked it up at 7 AM (they stored it in a freezer till then) and unpacked it about 10 PM here and they were still frozen. Since were were Alaska MVP it was free baggage (49.9 pounds; they know what they are doing).

Last year our host had mailed us a box that arrive just fine and we ate well for a year.

Good luck. Where are you going? Check the regs as ADFG is cutting back on at least AK stocks of coho.

Thanks for the info. We’ll be on Prince of Wales Island for 6 days. Not in it ONLY for the meat, but will definitely be shipping home at least one freezer box. Self guided lodge with a truck to get around and explore. Just how we like it. Gonna focus on the less frequented creeks throughout the island.

Thanks for the heads up on the regs. Last I read it was 4 fish but I’ll see it it changed.

I wasn't that far south but coho were rather constrained in the Soldatna/Kenai area. But they do move the regs around a lot. Have fun; avoid da Bears.

Just checked, it’s up to 6 coho per day in freshwater where I’ll be. More than I’ll need for sure.

They kicked the Kenai sockeye from 3 to 6 while we were there. That would almost fill the box with two limits. Enjoy. Should be tasty.