THE MAJESTIC KENAI RIVER--AN OVERVIEW

The Kenai-River Watershed is located on the Kenai Peninsula in South-Central Alaska (see map below).

The Kenai-River Watershed occupies about 2,200 square miles of diverse landscapes, including the Harding Icefield, glaciers, large lakes, high mountains, and extensive lowlands. Although it has extensive tributary contribution from upstream, the name "Kenai River" begins at the outlet of Kenai Lake. The unique character of this most special river derives from two main factors: First, a great part of the summertime streamflow comes from the Harding Icefield and its several glaciers. This massive "reservoir of ice" produces vast quantities of meltwater during the summer, giving the Kenai River greater summertime flow than during any other season. This would be great for fisheries, except that the glacial meltwater is very dirty--absolutely loaded with ground-up glacial sediment. All this sediment would be very bad for in-river spawning, were it not for the huge Kenai Lake. This brings us to the second factor. Kenai Lake is so large it settles out all of the coarse glacial sediment. It is unable to settle out the colloidal-size sediment, however, which gives the River is beautiful aquamarine coloration. The Lake cleans up the river nicely, and has capacity to spare. The Lake itself is a great rearing area for Sockeye Salmon (which Alaskans call "Reds").

Credits: From "Kenai River," part of the "River Journal" series (Vol 2, No 1, 1994), published by Frank Amato Publications, PO Box 82112, Portland, OR 97282. We greatly appreciate use permission.

From Kenai Lake the River flows freely for 17 miles, at which point it passes through 15-mile long Skilak Lake, another great nursery area for Sockeye Salmon.

From Skilak lake the river flows another 50 miles until it reaches Cook Inlet at the city of Kenai. The total length of the Kenai River is about 82 miles.

The section of the river located between Kenai Lake and Skilak Lake is referred to as the "upper" Kenai River. The section located between Skilak Lake and the Sterling Highway Bridge in Soldotna is locally referred to as the "middle" Kenai River; and the section from the Soldotna bridge to Cook Inlet, is the "lower" Kenai River. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, in their fishing regulations, however, refers to all of the River below Skilak Lake--the lower 50 miles--as the Lower Kenai River. Because the fishing regulations are so important, we'll use their convention.

The average river gradient for various sections of the Kenai River is provided in the following table:

Almost the entire Kenai River above tidewater is incredible spawning and rearing habitat for salmonids and trout. The glacial meltwaters provide exceptional summer water supply, and the lakes clean up the glacial meltwaters and make them very suitable for spawning and rearing. The River has some of the most accessible and productive fisheries in the state of Alaska.

The Kenai River is truly exceptional. It is now the only river in the world to consistently produce King Salmon in such large sizes. An average Kenai King Salmon will weigh about 40 pounds, and great numbers of 50 to 60 pounders are caught every year. Many 70 pounders are landed every year, and usually a few 80 pounders are landed. Once every few years someone catches one in the 90 pound size range. The current World's Record King Salmon (97.25 pounds!) came from this River.

I'm not boasting that every King Salmon we catch in the Kenai River is over 40 pounds. That is not the meaning of average. Half the fish caught weigh less than 40 pounds. Which means that the other half--the top half of the average--weigh 40 pounds or more! Where else in the world do you get such high odds on giant King Salmon like this?

But that is far from the end of the Kenai River story. This great river has huge runs of supersized Sockeye Salmon ("Reds") as well. It also has good runs of Silver Salmon, which are also inordinately large, as compared to Silvers from other rivers. Every even numbered year the River has so many Humpback Salmon ("Pinks") in it that they become a nuisance--hammering every lure or bait you put in the water-- making it more difficult to catch the Kings, Reds, and Silvers. (Throw me back into that briar patch!)

Besides these fine anadromous fish, the Kenai River has some of the biggest, fattest Rainbow Trout you'll ever hope to catch. (You'll believe me when you see my pictures of Kenai Rainbows.) They get so big feeding on the super abundant salmon eggs, salmon fry and smolt, and on the flesh of dead salmon. Dolly Varden also feed voraciously on these salmon morsels, and are absolutely easy to catch, if you learn to present your "salmon morsel" imitating flies to them properly.

What else can I say to make you understand how special this river is? How about, "All these fisheries are wild stocks!" It is true. These are not hatchery fish with weak genetics and weak fighting characteristics. The Kenai River fish are all wild fish, and they are also mostly bigger than their cousins in lesser rivers. These are tough, hard fighting fish. I desperately hope that the State's biologists never, ever begin a hatchery program on this great river! I'm all for proper management of the wild stocks we have now, but not for suplementing them with any weakling hatchery stock.

For these reasons I think the Kenai River is one of the finest fisheries Alaska has to offer. I have chosen to guide on it exclusively; and I have narrowed my scope to the Lower River only--the lower 50 miles. After exploring the rest of the information I have provided on this website about this great river, I think you will agree that one river can provide it all. Come share my love of this great river.