Bank angling is the bread and butter of my fly fishing excursions. However, Alaska has limited road access to a limited number of streams. Even streams you can access by road, be prepared to trek if you would like to find some open water. That is why boat fishing is common up here. In other words, boating opens up otherwise inaccessible areas for fishermen and women to explore. Expensive to own but having a friend who owns a boat is priceless. AK Phish has access to some boats and for this trip we decided to use a 16′ aluminum drift boat.
These McKenzie style boats are ideal for drifting. Although, many of Alaska’s rivers are essentially impossible to use a drift boat on but not all. There are two rivers, however, in southcentral Alaska where drift boats are king: the upper Kenai river and the Kasilof river. You can use a drift boat in the middle and lower sections of the Kenai river, as well. Our plan was to float the middle section of the Kenai river. Floating this section requires you to cross a portion of Skilak lake (Alaska’s 7th largest lake that divides the upper and lower sections of the Kenai river). If winds are too high, crossing the lake is very dangerous and can easily capsize a 16′ drift boat. High winds prevented our original plan and forced us to float the upper section.
Silver salmon, rainbow trout, and dollies were on the docket for this trip. Having heard very good reports of silver salmon fishing along the lower Kenai, we had hoped this spilled over to the upper as well. Within minutes of launching, we had our first silver on the line. Lo and behold, this fish had hit a drifting bead we were using for trout. Beads are not common tackle used for Silver salmon up here but after hitting two more silvers quickly has made me consider re-evaluating my silver salmon offerings along the upper Kenai river. It seems that these fish were keying in on the other salmon currently spawning and eating those eggs. Silver salmon fishing ended up being okay and the trout fishing was much better. Though we only hit trout and dollies under 20″, we strongly believe any fish on the line is better than none.
The Kenai river is one of the most popular streams in the state and is known for “combat” fishing. Typically an anglers nightmare, so many people are fishing that they have to stand elbow-to-elbow in many places. A drift boat turned this potentially crowded trip into a day of solitude where we only saw a handful of people passing.
Conditions were very difficult for drifting. The wind prevented us from drifting into some of the areas we would have liked to fish which clearly impacted our success. Yet more time in the boat allows you to have more time with your beer. Since no one wants to be rude, it is proper boaters etiquette to always have your beer within arms length while floating. Sprinkle in a few bears eating carcasses along the bank and you got yourself a great float. Just remember, make friends with people who own boats and best friends with those who like to oar.