Return to Alaskan Horkfest....the Sequel.....

[DocSpotty]

Yes…..there was a promise by me, last week, to try and avoid another report with overuse of the word “hork” and inappropriate congugations associated with horker sized fish. BUT Friday’s fishing excursion could only be properly described with the title of Horkfest 2….

This week it rained for 3 straight days in the upper Kenai drainage resulting in the Kenai River water level running extremely high again. Last week it was very high for this time of year……about 8,000cfs (norm for this time of year is around 6,000cfs) yesterday it was running right at 11,000cfs….whoa dogs. I didn’t think it was even floatable but Dennis told me to bring my swim fins and snorkel and we’d do it anyway. One of the problems is figuring out where the fish are gonna be in this kind of high water…..well, I guess it shouldn’t be too easy.

We hit the launch at 0730 and found, to our feigned dismay, we were the only ones launching to go through the Kenai Canyon…..we had the high, rabid, raging torrent to ourselves….yeah. After launch we came around the first turn to our favorite island and there was no shore line…..the sockeye were up in the bushes along what was shore the week before.....too much fun. We did manage a few smaller dollies and rainbows but for the most part there was too much current to really fish this spot. As we were getting ready to depart I did manage to get one nice, horker girthed rainbow:



We cruised down to the first gate area, where we caught all the horksters last week, and it wasn’t even possible to stop in the same area up against the cliff face….way too much water (but a very pretty picture):



Due to the high water volume most of the reds had been washed down toward the lake and we just weren’t catching a whole lot but little fish occasionally. Plus the monster dollies had disappeared…they always do about this time of year….just wish we could figure out where they go. We decided to take a chance and not waste time on the upper water and floated straight through until we were within about a mile of Skilak Lake.

Dennis decided we’d hit an area I’ve never really hit before….he calls it the military camp. Back in the 1930’s and 40’s the military had a campsite they flew VIPs into for fishing….their claim to fame is hosting the King of Norway (Norway had a king???) back in that time period. Anyway Dennis said there was a little side flow of the main Kenai that usually only held trout when the water was high like this…..so we parked the boat on a covered little bar and went to work. My first cast proved Dennis correct and I was into the first true horker of the day:



The very next cast after releasing that one, this bow horked onto my bead:



This was definitely….alright. A few casts later I buttoned onto another nice fish but it got off after a minute or two….bummer. About this time Dennis decided to change bead colors to one closer to mine and he was into a very nice fatty soon after. While he was playing it I managed to double up with this cute little horkster:



There was a bit of lull in the action which ended with Dennis and a very nice bow….then I took the only dolly we caught out of this area….a modest 20 incher. Moved down the hole a bit to try new water and I latched onto a real monster who jumped twice (we both estimated it at 10-12 lbs) and then the hook pulled….ahhhhh. Part of this problem is my wrist just kills me when I set the hook…not a good part of the fishing experience to wimp out on. Fortunately, with fishing going as it had there was only a little disappointment. Had to poke around for nearly 30 minutes before latching onto another blimpie rainbow:



Dennis had locked onto a real nice bow in the heavy current and was having a heck of a time coaxing it back to calmer water. I was ready with the net when the fish took another long run giving me time to shed my heavy shirt as the temperature had screamed up over the 50 degree mark……sweltering. Dennis’ fish was an absolute toad. We fished hard for about another hour before another suicidal horkster inhaled my bead…..it was a very dark fish….probably a river resident rainbow as the lighter ones come up from the lake (can you say “a lot of spots”?):



About this time we decided hunger meant hitting the shore and setting up for a nice hot lunch of fresh dolly, baked potato and corn on the cob….yummy for tired anglers.





While Dennis was cooking I wandered around….the colors and landscape are so beautiful as the trees are changing color. This is a pic from shore looking up to the area we were catching all the fish from…..most came on the right side of that submerged little bar right in the middle of the pic:



After some fine dining we packed up the boat and decided to give the hole one last crack before we moved downstream. It wasn’t long before I jumped on another really big fish…..he jumped 3 times then, alas, he pulled the hook also….bye bye to another solid 10-12 lbs bow. Oh well, you can’t win them all. We beached on the submerged bar one more time and I was able to bring 2 more nice fish to net:





We continued our float with occasional dollies from 16-20 inches. After taking the side braid to the lake which was fabulous last week, we got virtually nada….but it was hard to complain about after the day we’d had. As we moved over to the mouth of the Kenai Dennis said that the big sow brownie and her cub were sleeping by a big sign a few days earlier. He was rowing us real close to shore near the sign when I started looking at very large, brown lump about 20 feet away…..yep, you guessed it the big brown horking bear was right there with the cub:



She stared at us for a few seconds….very scary (I nearly depleted my adrenal glands)…then parked again, by the cub for another nap….great pic op:





We decided that bit of excitement should conclude our piscartory activities for the day as we crossed the mouth of the Kenai into Skilak Lake:



Looking up Skilak lake to the mountains there was a good bit of termination dust (first snow of the fall) on the tops.



So we settled in for the 75 minute ride across the lake to the launch….absolutely enjoying ourselves with the beautiful fall colors and calm water:



Got back, loaded up and Dennis dropped me off at my car back at Jim’s Landing for the drive home. The sky was just starting to darken as I began my drive….very tired, aching shoulder and throbbing wrist…….then Quartz Creek came into view. Does anybody know what kind of disease or dementia possesses a man to HAVE to take the last few minutes of a great day and still fish? Yep…had to take those last waning minutes, about 20, and throw a line in Quartz…..water was up, couldn’t see the fish due to be off color but I still had the evolutionary imperative to throw in my line. Right at the end of my 20 minutes (and with it getting dark enough to worry about the inevitable nightly visit from the brown bruins) I got my only strike. Turned out to make this detour absolutely worth it as I wrestled up this absolutely gorgeous, spawning colored dolly…..largest of the day. Managed one decent flash picture in the gathering darkness and the fish was back onto its spawning run and I was off to home:



Man……I am one sore, but happy, puppy today. Have a good one.

Brian

[gavin310]

Awesome report! Very impressive, but not as impressive as the amount of times you managed to use "hork".

[Sparky70]

What the hells a "hork"? Is that something like a "dork"?

[Greg Madrigal]

Doc, seriously..... That was aNOTHER rediculous report, and absolutely horkalicious! You need your own blog man. LOVE the pics. I never knew the colors were so nice on the peninsula. Course, i've never been ther in the fall. Great pic of the sleeping giant.

Sick sick sick report, and I thank you for sharing.

Greg
www.sierra-nets.com