Click on a thumbnail for a larger pic
 First I ought to introduce our "supporting" character: my old 14' Starcraft boat with the 35hp Johnson. Not the fastest or prettiest boat on the lower Kenai River, but plenty good to catch fish from. |
 On day one we all jumped in the boat and headed to a spot I knew we could catch some Red Salmon (also called Sockeye). This spot was always good when the fish were in and we figured they would be a good warm up for Matt who's previous biggest fish was a 3lbs Walleye. | |
 Fishing was fairly poor, and it rained off and on. Phil was the first to hook up and catch a Red. Here you can see it doing a good job of bending the rod. |
 It was a nice Red, and broke our streak. I was the next to hook up, but Matt was having a bit of a "dry spell". | |
 Matt finally did hook up with a nice buck Red. Easily the best fish of the day, but it was time to go as we were all soaking. Just an aside, when Phil and I get together to fish, it rains. Period. |
 The next morning we were a little late getting up but we still got to the river in time to do some King Salmon Fishing. It was almost scary. Less than Ten minutes from starting the motor to hooking up with a King! Surprisingly it was warm and sunny enough for both Phil and I to shed our shirts. | |
 Here Phil is getting ready to net the King. Matt had been QUITE excited the first time it surfaced! He had trouble keeping it on the surface though, as I had tied the leader a little long while experimenting. This resulted in a broken rod, but we got the fish! |
 It must have been some kind of record! Only 30 minutes from starting the motor to tying back up at the dock! And we had a nice King too! Look at that grin on Matt's face. We netted the fish across the river, and just motored right up to the dock and tossed it up there. We have no idea who the lady is, just a tourist who wanted her pic taken with that big fish! | |
 At the scales we found that the King (Chinook Salmon) tipped the scales at over 58lbs! Matt was in heaven! Here he is holding up the broken rod. Though I don't have a picture of it, a few seconds later a rental car full of young ladies stops and asks to have their picture taken with Matt and the fish! He happily obliged! All in all it was a great fish, and Matt had a great time....he still hadn't quit grinning when they headed back two days later! |
