Day 50 of Our RV Journey to Canada & Alaska - 7/01/14 Bob Goes Salmon Fishing on a Guided Walk-In Fishing Trip

I went to town and bought my King salmon tag for today and then drove through the country side checking out the Ninilchik River that I would be fishing on later today.

I arrived at the parking lot at noon and met my guide, Gary, and his assistant, Jordan, from Silverfin Guide Service for a guided walk-in fishing trip.  After having a little safety meeting discussing the do's and don'ts of bear encounters with the 4 of us on this trip, we trekked over the hill and to the river.

The first hole we were going to fish had a couple guys fishing in it when we arrived so we trekked on up the river to the next hole.  Gary, then, went over the equipment and proper method of setting the hook.   He explained that we were targeting king salmons and that we could take up to 10 fish under 20", but if we kept 1 fish over 20" we had to stop fishing.  Also, a lot of the fish we would check had been out of salt water long enough that they would not be good eating, so he would tell us what was a quality fish.  You can not take a fish from the water unless you are going to count it in your possession limit. This is so that all the fish survive until they spawn.  I ended the day with 4 salmon in my possession under the 20 inch limit, 5 fish under 20 inches that were released due to being out of the ocean too long, and 3 fish over 20 inches were released being out of the ocean too long.  The salmon that have been out of the ocean too long (salt water) develop a red color and have lost the oil from their flesh; making the meat dry and not as tasty.  The salmon eventually die because salmon are salt water fish and can't live long in the river.

 The guide's assistant is getting ready to release one of the salmon I caught...see how red it is.

some keepers

another salmon I caught but released

 the guide starting to clean the fish

I can say this, they do fight, jumping out of the water 2-3 feet at times. The 3 large fish I released probably took 10-15 minutes of fighting to get them in. I wish I could have videoed these catches as it was incredible some of the jumps they made. I probably fought and lost at least as many fish as I landed.

Our time with the guide was over at 6:00 pm.  Overall, it was a great day. I wanted to learn as much as possible and felt I did do that, as well as had a great time fishing.

I returned to the campground and Ginger, Jesse & Janet was eager to hear about my day and see the salmon.

The guide cleaned the fish, but I cleaned them up more and cut them up and rinsed them when I got to the campground.  Ginger, Janet & Jesse packaged it & sealed it using the foodsaver.

There was a big cow moose in the parking lot where I met my fishing guide this morning.  Also, saw an eagle and lots of bear & moose tracks by the river.

Jesse and I have fishing arrangements made with a charter fishing boat tomorrow morning at 5:30...hope the fish are biting.

Have a good one!

Adm 160.00 Chk/

Misc. 10.00 Csh/ 5.00 Csh/

Written by Bob