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Published: September 20th 2010
Well, we loved Alaska so much last year that we decided to return and do some salmon fishing. After two weeks of fishing, we returned home with 200 Lbs. of fresh caught salmon and had a wonderful time doing it. We rented and shared a two bedroom cabin with our friends John and Joni Harcourt of Colorado. John is an expert fisherman and his son Dustin was our fishing guide many years ago when we first learned to fly fish. His wife, Joni, is a great fisherman as well and we had a ball with them.
We fished the Russian River and the Kenai River, two of the most famous fly fishing rivers in the world. We caught trout, dolly varden and of course Silver Salmon.
Silver Salmon is delicious but you must catch them while they are still the shiny silver color and before they begin to turn pink. As they swim upstream in the river they begin to turn pink, turning more pink with each passing day until they become red. Once any salmon turns bright red and the mouth becomes curved and dark green like a birds beak, then they are called "tomatoes" and are
Bill at his favorite spot
We found lots of salmon moving upriver through this area so it quickly became our favorite fishing hole. The river is shallow and we were able to wade it for long distances. There are some areas that are deep and swift but you can still wade the entire river and fish as you go.not fit to eat.
We had an experience with a grizzly bear while fishing. He came down into the river from the bank and was moving upriver away from us. We were all watching him carefully when suddenly he turned and started running directly toward us at full speed. Grizzly bears can reach speeds up to 35 MPH when running at full speed.
We waded out of the water and up the stairs just before the bear jumped right in the middle of the area where we had been fishing! He was not interested in us, however, he wanted fish for dinner and was quite agile and adept at catching his dinner without any help from us! He was very large, supposedly around 500 Lbs. He meandered on downstream from us as we watched him carefully selecting his dinner enroute. He had a large patch of raw skin on his back after being in a fight with a much larger bear. We named him "Patch". We also saw a mama grizzly and three cubs while fishing there.
The rule of thumb is never approach a bear. Give them plenty of room and do not get into "their space".
Patt's First Silver Salmon
The silver Salmon give you a pretty good fight to the finish ! Make lots of noise and some people even wear "bells" on their clothing to let the bears know that people are present in the area. We jokingly call these bells "dinner bells" for the bears. We carried bear spray. I say, if a bear is close enough to spray, he is way too close for comfort. Most people carry a gun if they fish often in remote areas. The bears come down to the rivers at early morning and late evening to catch the fresh fish for dinner. There has never been a recorded bear attack on people in a group. We would always enter and leave the area in a group and make lots of noise to avoid the bears. Their tracks are everywhere and you know they are there but usually they will not bother you unless you surprise them or get around a mama and her cubs.
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