Sam And Saundra's Year Long Adventure - Part 153

Sam And Saundra’s Year Long Adventure – Part 153

Alaska

7/16/09-8/8/09 - Soldotna/Kenai River

Fishing - continued:

Aaahhhh! Fishing!

1)  Centennial Park: The next site that Sam and I checked out was Centennial Park. It is also the site of one of the most liked RV parks in Soldotna.  Very nice park.  They have extensive walkways, with steps leading down to fishing sites.  This is the river spot that comes into the minds of many fishermen who have fished Alaska.  The abundance of fish caught here is well documented in pictures and freezers alike.  Sam and I walked the area, but determined that we were not up for the close camaraderie required to fish there.  

The Visitor Center is also located near the park. We highly recommend visitation for fishing and non-fishing information regarding this wonderful area. The Kenai River is a beautiful glacier river, about the width of the Willamette, or Snake.  The Kenai turns and gyrates across the countryside flaunting its milky green color. Due to width changes and turns, one side of the river may have more Sockeye Salmon over the other, since they tend to swim close to sides of the river and prefer the road more traveled. 

2)  Edgewater RV Park: When Sam and I initially arrived in Soldotna, the first place we fished was at the river’s edge right below our park.  It has several nice spots. It is claimed that a rival RV park across the river had paid to have a gigantic rock placed in the turn of the river, just up stream. This supposedly causes the salmon to flow to the other side of the river.  Even so, until the water got so high that the bottom 3-4 steps were under water and it was too unsafe to fish, we caught a goodly number of those pretty Reds.  During one of our last sessions there, we were talking about the size of some of the Kings caught, as they have a replica of the largest King caught in the Visitor’s Center.  A young man fishing next to us, turned and pulled a local paper out of his back pack showing his picture on the front page… with a huge fish.  He had caught a 90 pounder a few days earlier and since it was the second largest ever caught, it was all over the news – even back to the mainland.  He was so cute, and grinning ear to ear.  His dad was close by and neither could believe all the media attention.  Cabella’s is having a replica made for the young man, since he let them have the ‘carcass’ for their own use.  How neat! 

3)  Soldotna Creek Park:  This park is located right off the main street in Soldotna.  It was the favorite spot this year for The Boy’s and the rest of us as well.  The Boy’s could actually walk there from the Soldotna Inn. This fishing spot is located at the river’s edge of the city park, which is also the site of weekly farmer’s markets and craft sales.  It also has a small campground attached.  The fishing area features walkways up and down the river’s edge, with stairways leading to the water.  Even with the high water, some fishing spots remained, if having water swirling above your waist did not bother you.  I usually fished right off of one of the stairways.  Many Reds were caught here and although the river space was full, I never saw any negative behavior between the fishermen, no matter how much fish oil was dripping from their eyes. 

4)  Kenai River Center:  This spot is the next one up-river from the city park.  To get there, you need to go through Soldotna, cross the Soldotna Bridge and turn left at Funny River Road.  Follow that road until you see the airport and turn left at the Kenai River Center. It is across the river from the Swiftwater Park. The parking is free here and it looked like a few RV’s actually ‘boon-doggeled’ or ‘docked’ or whatever they do when they just set up somewhere where they don’t have to pay.  This area also has the walkways and stairwells. Due to the high water level, some of the walkways are being used as fishing platforms.  We fished here several times, just to have a change in scenery.  All of the fishing sites are beautiful and I have to remind myself on occasion to be more focused on the actual fishing activity.  We are able to fish into the very late night, early morning, since we are where we are.  We usually try and stop around 10 pm. 

5)  Rotary Park:  Next up-river spot is a pay-to-park location.  It includes some walkways, paths and has at least one island that is used to fish from.  Joe was able to obtain a prime spot along the river’s edge on the island, but was unable to obtain the needed aide to net his fish when he caught them.  The fishermen at this location had obviously gone past the fish oil stage and were into the aged entrails stage, where the fisherman has lost contact with normal life as we know it or at least common courtesy.  We only fished here once or twice, although in past years this was a favorite spot for whichever of ‘The Boys’ were there (including Sam and Joe).  Most of the excellent fishing spots were lost to the rising water level.