June 20

We were up at 4 for a breakfast of oatmeal and hot chocolate. Our host for today was an old friend of Eric’s, also named Erick (note the alternate spelling). I will refer to him as EW, to avoid confusion. He is an avid sportsman, and was a great guide for the day.

We met EW at the Taco Bell at 5, then drove up to the Russian River SRA. $8 to park, we hiked about half an hour up a beautiful creek valley. The river was full of fish, and EW could spot them easily, the rest of us had a hard time spotting them, even with polarized glasses. He would say “There are 5 finning in that eddy over there. There are about a dozen behind that rock. There are a couple right there in that hole…see them? SEE THEM???” Uh...no.

Eric, considering a new fishing technique.

I don’t think I had caught a fish since I was 10, so I needed help. EW helped us with our equipment, gave us a refresher on spinning rods, and tied our flies on for us (OK, by "us", I mean "me". Eric and Lana did fine on their own). Then we got down to business.

Eric got 2 salmon plus a rainbow trout (which we released), EW got one, and I got one.

Eric said this was the first time he had ever been sport fishing on the Kenai…funny, considering that he has lived in Alaska and fished commercially for over 30 years! Eric and EW butchered the fish on the bank and threw the carcasses back in the river to avoid drawing bears. EW showed us how to rip a salmon’s head almost completely off with your bare hands, killing it and bleeding it at the same time. We were very impressed! There were a few other fishermen around, but most people didn’t bother to hike out this far, so we were the only people in sight for most of the day. EW said that there was a waterfall further up where you could watch the salmon swim uphill, but we did not get there. He also said that bear sightings were common here, as they come to the river to fish.

We fished till about noon, got back at the house at 1:30, and crashed. Lana and I slept till 4, and Eric finally rousted up about 6.

That night we had steak and fresh, wild Kenai River salmon for dinner. You just don’t know how good salmon can be until you have some that is not farm raised, and was swimming free just a few hours ago. Delicious!