Here are some photos to reflect on as we drift off to winter. This butterfly photo, taken by our daughter, is perhaps the sweetest goodbye to summer. These fillets are destined for a newly dreamed up recipe of jalapeno smoked salmon with some south of the border zing! We savor these moments of beauty here on the Kenai River with every change of the season. Starting with a fresh bright silver off the back of the boat while still tied up to shore just prepping for the trip, followed 20 minutes later downstream when we hit one of my all-time favorite spots just as the tide was turning, and in no time we had a double hook up, followed by more.
The boys enjoy the time on the water, knowing all too well that winter is sneaking up on us in these parts. Another nice day in our backyard.
Coconut Salmon is cooking as I type…gotta go! Here are the fish in their fresh state, caught by boat with their guide this morning along with several others that were released, including a 40 lb king salmon. This family is sitting by the campfire watching a fillet grill in anticipation right now. This strong buck swam under the boat on this bright sunny day but Cooper kept his kool and brought it to the surface for a quick net job. He shared some fresh off the grill with 10 Swiss guests visiting camp for the very first time, what a great young fisherman he is becoming.
Way to go Kyle! Amazingly, they swam past the tens of thousands of dipnetters at the mouth and still showed up along our shore strong enough by evening that our shore could support nearly 30 fishermen, most taking limits in short order. Each of our kids caught fish, as did our good friends, which left me at the fish table into dark filleting 20 beautiful, fresh and soon to be tasty Sockeye Salmon! We always encourage our guests to put in a couple hundred test casts each day, and in just such a test myself I hooked this fine specimen that makes our river so famous, and it took just 10 casts.
The fish are getting close…I can feel it in my bones! After a good run out into the fast water, he worked the fish back to shore and into the net, nice work on your first Red Salmon Kent!
