# Alaska Trip, Kenai Peninsula and Willow



## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

Sadly, our trip flew by. Three buddies and I spent August 7-16 traveling and fishing in a motor home based out of Anchorage. Naturally, we headed straight south after gathering gear. 

We found good dolly/pink fishing to start. The first silver of the trip happened in the Anchor River as I was flinging beads for dolly varden. Never had a salmon actually smash a bead or fly, and was the highlight of the fishing for me, battling a acrobatic Ocean fresh coho on a 2 at was a trip. We gathered fillets down at the Homer Spit for a day on saltwater coho. Bobber and skein was the ticket. Spent the night in Holmer and ate too many oysters and too many saki shots. 
We then turned it around and shot back the other way. We found ourselves back in Coopers nding and head fished trout and dollies in a few different streams. The amount of fish out there is astounding. Even when targeting trout with light tackle you can't avoid every sockeye!
Next stop was Soldotna to meet a old buddy from home. He guides There and we found a limit of reds which we shipped home as well as catch and release on some trout, and dollies. The next morning back to DIY 2 other buddies and myself tried to catch some of the famed Kenai rainbows. We all found a few, but Jake took the cake with 2 great fish. I have to admit I got tore up by a couple of the fish, as I underestimated the power of the fish that spend their lives in that system.
We did the Russian River floss game for a day. The red fishing is not my favorite fishing. We did hike to the Russian River Falls, but no bears spotted along the way. 
We went north around Willow for a couple days to cast into some lakes and fish some smaller trout streams. 
Last night we hit a few bars in Anchorage. The last morning with a few skeins to get rid of before taking the RV back I went down to Bird Creek and get rid of the remaining bait in short order as the bobber dropped every drift. All in all we caught 4/5 Pacific species, rainbows, dolly vardon and a good time. We were fortunate to eat fresh fish almost every evening complimented by wild mushrooms most evenings.
The most exciting part of the trip may have been on the Anchor when a startled cow moose and calf ran straight at 2 of us before turning into the brush 35 yrs away. Moose were common, and surprisingly never bumped into bears despite the sign everywhere.
I managed to drown a phone in the Susitna River, so my photos are mostly history but still have a few.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

A few more.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

..


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

Punytrout fooled these.


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## brookies101 (Jun 23, 2008)

NICE!!!!!!


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## mf2 (Apr 11, 2012)

Awesome, man those silvers are good eating! So much better than what we get here.


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## PunyTrout (Mar 23, 2007)

Trout King said:


> Punytrout fooled these.


Just to clarify, I merely sent some of my home made spinners to Trout King for him to use on his trip.

I am _not _either of the handsome fellows pictured...


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

PunyTrout said:


> Just to clarify, I merely sent some of my home made spinners to Trout King for him to use on his trip.
> 
> I am _not _either of the handsome fellows pictured...


I should have clarified that your lures fooled some of the fish. I will be testing the others more when I king fish here this fall.


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## capper (Sep 3, 2015)

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip! It brought back some of my own great memories. I fished the Kenai for Kings when I was there - but didn't get to spend near enough time to fish for the others as you did and I will always regret it.


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

mf2 said:


> Awesome, man those silvers are good eating! So much better than what we get here.


My favorite fish to catch up there.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

brushbuster said:


> My favorite fish to catch up there.


They were the main reason I went there and they are certainly delicious, but the fresh sockeye is by far the best fish I have ever eaten. While the salmon fishing was beyond fantastic when we located the silvers, the smaller tribs for trout and dollies was probably my favorite fishing, and the few we ate for lunch were pretty tasty too (I think Michigan brookies are still better).


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

Sorry for the typos in the original post. The new phone is something else!


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## brushbuster (Nov 9, 2009)

Trout King said:


> They were the main reason I went there and they are certainly delicious, but the fresh sockeye is by far the best fish I have ever eaten. While the salmon fishing was beyond fantastic when we located the silvers, the smaller tribs for trout and dollies was probably my favorite fishing, and the few we ate for lunch were pretty tasty too (I think Michigan brookies are still better).


yeah the reds are the the best eating salmon, not much for battle, silvers on a fly is top notch and all those trouts that like to follow em make it even better. Glad you had a great trip! I cant wait for next year to get here.


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## MapleRiverSalmon (Aug 19, 2007)

Bucket list! Awesome pics man! Ever looking for a camp cook I'm pretty mean with a spatula!


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

MapleRiverSalmon said:


> Bucket list! Awesome pics man! Ever looking for a camp cook I'm pretty mean with a spatula!


I have a feeling that I am now hopelessly addicted to Alaska. I know that I won't be back for a few years as my wife and I decided we needed an addition in January. With 2 boys and soon a girl I am happy I did it and am gracious that my wife took on the kiddos for a few days. I told her when the boys are older that we could do this exact trip and it will be perfect for the family.

Now, do I dare go home and ask to go with brushbuster next year? lol


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## UBDSLO1 (Feb 23, 2004)

Trout King said:


> I have a feeling that I am now hopelessly addicted to Alaska. I know that I won't be back for a few years as my wife and I decided we needed an addition in January. With 2 boys and soon a girl I am happy I did it and am gracious that my wife took on the kiddos for a few days. I told her when the boys are older that we could do this exact trip and it will be perfect for the family.
> 
> Now, do I dare go home and ask to go with brushbuster next year? lol


You are addicted, there is no cure for it. Except that you must keep going back and back and back.


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## Trout King (May 1, 2002)

UBDSLO1 said:


> You are addicted, there is no cure for it. Except that you must keep going back and back and back.


It doesn't help when people are constantly sharing things on social media.


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## mf2 (Apr 11, 2012)

Trout King said:


> It doesn't help when people are constantly sharing things on social media.


You should look into fishing the Florida keys, that might satisfy the addiction. You could literally spend all day fishing, wake up drink coffee, take the bait boat out and cast net for bait, go fish, clean fish, eat fish maybe some fresh sashimi, goto bed, repeat. On a day of rest you go lobster diving and spear fishing, then drink a 6 pack of ice cold beer to quench your thirst while eating lobster tails. Then the wind switches to the east and you gotta go out cause the sailfish are gonna be snapping might even find some wahoos out there.


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## REG (Oct 25, 2002)

Great pics! Thanks for taking us along!


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