We left Homer and headed back up the Sterling Highway. We had already been on this road coming into town, so we just drove straight through most places. We had read about a road called Skilak Lake Road that was gravel, and it looped off the Sterling Highway. It was south of the highway and lead to Skilak Lake and parts of the Kenai River which were supposed to have good salmon fishing. We thought this might be just the opportunity we had been looking for so we stopped in a nearby town on the way and bought our 7 day fishing licenses ($55 each) and a lucky spinner or two to test out.
Skilak Lake Road is about 19 miles long and has a lot of turn outs for hikes and small lakes. The Milepost noted this as being “prime brown bear habitat”; we were glad we also bought bear spray while getting our licenses. We pulled into a nice free camping spot right on the water. Perfect. Time to get the rods out.
No luck. Everyone had boats (we were right next to a boat launch) and we looked like chumps trying to catch a lunker from the shore. We debated taking out the good ole Bird Hawk, but thought the lake was a little too big and wavy. However, we read a sign informing us that shore fishing was good from Hidden Creek which required a 1.8 mile hike in. The trailhead was a couple miles up the road and we decided to give this a try the next day.
Fast forward to the next day. We drove up to Hidden Creek Trailhead and were discussing our salmon plan. How many should we keep? Do we just catch one and leave? Do we fillet it on the spot? We brought a few bags, string, a knife, and tinfoil. Yeah, maybe we would just catch 2 salmon? That seemed good enough. What about bears?
On the trail we saw massive amounts of bear scat. It was unbelievable how many berries and seeds were in it. The fresh ones right on the trail were hard to miss. One thing kept ringing in my mind: “prime brown bear habitat”, ah right. Every time I saw a dark stump or shadow in the woods my heart stopped.
(Adam found a buddy).
We made it to a stream and casted a few times. Nothing. Better keep going. Somehow we ended up off the trail and were on more of a moose trail: muddy, wet, and right on the water. Eventually we made it to the lake and a rafting company was parked there with two boats worth of people eating lunch. We were fishing for awhile when a guy with a couple poles came over. We talked to him for a bit and he ended up sharing his “secret" salmon spot with us.
“Well I know some people know of it, but don’t go telling anyone.”
Us, wide eyed, nodding, “Oh, we don’t know anyone. Tell us. tell us.”
The spot he mentioned was on the Kenai River that is known for the running salmon at this time of year. Adam and I locked eyes, we had already thought of the spot he mentioned and this solidified it. We casted a few more times and hiked out. On to bigger and better things!
Right when we got back in the van and turned out of the parking spot, a black bear ran across the road. We knew they were close!
The Kenai River required a .2 mile hike to access it. This was just enough time to discuss what we would do with all the salmon we caught there! We were going to get tons and needed a plan.
We got down to the river and it was packed. “Secret fishing spot”… yeah that guy must have been insane. The current was fast and right where the river curved was the hot spot. Fishermen were everywhere and Adam and I stood staring at them like lost puppies. How do we do this? We stood way off to the side, by a little pond that connected to the river. There was no current there and most likely no fish. We were awkward and unprepared. Everyone was wearing waders or AT LEAST the rubber boots we still didn’t have.
Two guys in particular were standing right in the hot spot and reeling in all the salmon. I stood with my line in the water and stared at him. He glanced over, I kept staring, he pulled in a big salmon, I kept staring, he added it to his stringer, I kept staring, he started glancing at me more often and I just dangled my line in the water, pretend fishing while I watched him in awe. I wanted to be like him. Within 10 minutes I lost Adam’s lure in the pond, some rock must have eaten it.
Adam and I looked at each other. He was using a fly rod, avoiding salmon, and I was staring at everyone while holding my lure-less line in the water. It was time to go. We walked out of the busy fishing spot with our tails between our legs. We couldn’t keep up with the big dogs.
We spent the night at another free spot on Skilak Lake Road at Engineer Lake. Our spirits were low and we didn’t understand how we were so bad at salmon fishing when everything made it look so easy. That’s it! We were going to try again the next day.
Standing in a pile of moss and wet mush.
We woke up and got ready for our big fishing day. We headed back to the Kenai River and already decided we weren’t going to be the awkward onlookers this time. We were getting right in the action. We got down to the river and again, it was packed. This time it looked more like amateurs so we felt a little better. I scooted right in to the hot spot. As I got there a guy was cutting up a big salmon right on the little beach. Good—the salmon are still here and I’m going to get one. I started casting and I heard a guy near me sort of helping people. Oh, perhaps a guide? I zoned in on his voice. I followed every direction. Still, no salmon.
After a bit the “guide” started fishing next to me. I noticed he was using an illegal hook; a treble hook. The new lure I had bought a few days before was a treble hook, and I knew this area didn’t allow it. I looked at him, smiled. Maybe he didn’t know? A few minutes later I overhead him talking to his friend about how that was the best tackle, albeit it being illegal. That little cheater face. Then he casted into a school of salmon that were jumping out of the water, “Oh I’ll have one in a couple seconds here,” he said. He jerked his hand real hard and sure enough, he had a big one! He reeled the fish in and it was snagged at the top (illegal). He pulled the hook out of the top of the salmon and slid it to the mouth of the fish, “Ha, see right in the mouth,” he said to his friend, as they laughed. This fish was huge and this guy, Ricky, was doing whatever it took to catch them. I cast again, hoping for the same “luck" he had.
My line got stuck… I lost the lure, and the top piece of my (Adam’s) extendable rod flew off into the water, never to be seen again. I walked over to Adam, defeated, and told him all about Ricky and his cheating ways. "Should we use my illegal spinner and cheat too?” I asked. “No”, Adam said, so we left soon after.
We left the Skilak Lake Road area and headed toward Cooper Landing (the next small town). We ended up on Snug Harbor Road which is gravel and leads to the top of a mountain. It also has many lakes and trails springing off of it. We drove up to Rainbow Lake (stocked with trout) and tried our luck there. We caught a few little fish sticks! Our spirits were revived!
Bear spray and all.
We kept going on Snug Harbor Road to explore a little more and Adam stopped on the road by a lake to see if his eagle eyes could spot any fish. But instead…. he spotted a mama moose and her baby swimming! They swam for a bit and eventually got out and walked away. It was amazing to watch. The mom had her eye on us but kept swimming when she realized we were staying away.
We headed back down the way we came and stopped at a gravel road that was steep and headed down to a rocky beach. This was Kenai Lake and it was gorgeous. We found a beautiful spot right on the water and set up camp. The view was great and it was nice to relax. We ended up staying there for two nights.
Adam painted Bob below. He entertained us.
On the second night the beach started filling up with other people, and 3 younger folks camped next to us. They were all rangers in Seward and came over to our bonfire to chat with us for awhile. Earlier that day they ran into a grizzly out on one of the trails. They said they were about 10 feet away from it and it was their closest encounter yet. It sounded terrifying. We enjoyed chatting with them and stayed up late.
The moon was about full and set high above the clear water, right over snowcapped mountains. It was a peaceful evening.
The next day we decided to leave Kenai Lake, as we were out of food, water, and clean clothes. We kept heading east toward Portage. We heard this was a pretty place with a lot of glaciers. We thought it was a town where we could do a little grocery shopping, but all Portage has is a visitor center (and a ton of glaciers, lakes, ponds, and hiking trails). It’s a beautiful place just not what we expected. We drove around until we found a nice camp spot on Tangle Pond and took out the Bird Hawk for a little water action. It was nice and sunny out and the Hawk handled nicely per usual.
After dinner (ramen stew) Adam was ready to go fishing again. We knew there was a river nearby so we thought foraging through the dense woods without a trail would be the best way to get there. That was foolish. We turned around after not being able to actually access the river though the high banks and thick brush and found the road instead.
When we got to the river, the current was fast. We found a part were 2 rivers joined and threw our lines in. Cast, nothing. Cast… SOMETHING!!! I started reeling in and screaming for Adam, “HEY HEY HEY HEY! I GOT SOMETHING. HEY HEY HEY!” He came running to help. What I thought was a gigantic salmon was really a 12 inch (estimate) Dolly Varden (we think). Our hands were all slimy and one weird picture was all we could get before releasing the Dolly. How exciting!
Shortly after I broke my line and lost another lure, so our fishing time was cut short. I think I owe Adam some new gear...