Alaska Fishing

Tens of thousands of red salmon, their noses pointed up the crystal-clear water of the Russian River, make angling there a great equalizer.

Young or old, experienced or novice, Alaskan or Outsider, fly fisherman or spin caster -- everyone seems to hook up when the reds run thick.

"Everywhere I looked (Thursday) people had fish on," said Dianne Owen, general manager of Alaska Recreational Management, which runs the Russian River Ferry that crosses the Kenai River. "My manager went up into the Russian yesterday. He made seven casts and caught five fish right away.

"The fish seem to be pooling. Last night, a surge went through, and they were pooling in the sanctuary (at the confluence of the Russian and Kenai river)."

This year's welcome red run -- coming on the heels of disappointing king salmon returns across Southcentral -- started early, peaked fast, fell off and seems to be revving up again. Rapid-fire developments have included:

• June 11 opening;

• More than 5,000 reds pouring past the weir just below Lower Russian Lake June 13, the most of any single day so far;

• Sanctuary area opening to anglers on June 15;

• Bag and possession limits doubling to six fish, 12 in possession on June 17;

• Run slowing to a trickle, with just 69 reds past the weir on Tuesday;

• Widespread reports surfacing of another big slug of fish moving into the river.

How good was fishing late this week?

"(Fish and Game area management biologist) Robert Begich did a stream walk on Thursday and saw a very good number of fish," said his Soldotna colleague Jason Pawluk. "The only way you couldn't catch a fish is if you didn't have a hook."

This week's surge may be following a pattern seen in other years of big Russian returns.

In 2006, when the run totaled more than 80,000 fish, the second largest ever, more than 18,000 fish passed the weir June 25-27. That was followed by another burst of 14,000 fish July 6-8.

Pawluk floated the Kenai River from Schooner Bend to Skilak Lake, below the Russian confluence, this week.

"There were lots of fish stacked up -- it seems like in every eddy they were stacked up in schools," he said. "Then for awhile it died off. Once we went through the (Kenai) canyon, there were more schools in transit upstream."

Which means the run could stay strong well into July. Biologists end the early-run count July 15.

"Crowds this year have been phenomenal," Owen said of the anglers. "Just a tremendous amount of people."

So far, June 17-19 have been the busiest days for the Russian River Ferry, with an average of about 1,200 anglers crossing per day. That doesn't include anglers who park along the roadway and walk to the ferry, not paying for parking.

And the crowd could have been bigger if Fish and Game hadn't doubled the limit to six fish, a move Owen described as "ludicrous."

"You don't get as much turnover. Lines are long and wait lines are longer. Still, I expect a big crowd this weekend."

Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.

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