Fishing the Russian River

Steve took the day off as he was not feeling well, nothing terrible and nothing contagious. So I set out on a solo fishing trip. I’m a little hesitant to fish alone, but I’m here, so here I go. My destination: the confluence of the Kenai and Russian rivers. This is one of the top salmon fishing locations in the world.

I find a river access spot, pull the truck in, and start hiking to the river. I got some encouraging evidence that this might be a good fishing trip. On my way through the woods, I ran into a guy with a stringer full of

When I got to the river the guy with the fish told me, “Hey buddy, you gotta fish the other side of the river. It has a wadable gravel bar. Take the ferry across.” I looked up and saw something that looked like a giant bath tub. It was connected to cables. A teenager was operating the contraption. He said that he runs it across the river every hour.

I look out at the river and see that about 15 people are enjoying a quality river fishing experience on the other side. “What if the bears decide to dine on us

Fishing the Russian River Confluence

giant salmon. The smallest was 8 lbs. “Where are you going with those fish?” I ask. “The darn bears have squatted at the place I usually clean my fish. I’m heading across the river to clean them”, he said. Hmmmmm, I thought to myself. I then re-read the instructions on how to use my bear spray.

while we are fishing? They might know the ferry schedule”, a voice inside of me says. We do sort of resemble a Golden Corral buffet, all lined up along the river bank. I throw caution to the wind and jump in the creaky vessel. The cables moan and snap as we cross the fast-moving water. But in 10 minutes, I am on the other side.

Humbled

I immediately start fishing. I know I said I would not do this, but without Steve here to shame me, I embraced the crazy fishing technique used to catch these salmon. It sure looks like snagging. But in Rome…

After 2 hours I had no fish. Nobody had caught a fish. Then, this 15-year-old kid entered the river to my right. He dipped his rod in the water and in 15 seconds had a giant salmon on his line. How did he do that? I cleared out a channel along the river bank, getting other fishermen out of the way, as the young man fought the fish. I didn’t want him to get fouled up with the other fishermen.

This young man then gave me a full lesson on how to fish for these salmon. I then fished another hour. I still caught no fish. The young man came up to me and said, “Here, take my spot, see if you can catch a fish”. I moved into his spot. He took my spot and in 15 seconds he had another 8-pound salmon on his line. I then sat on the bank and watched this guy fish. He caught 6 fish in about 90 minutes. I did not see anyone else catch one.

Tomorrow Will Be Another Day

I got skunked again today, but I learned a lot and had a great adventure. Eagles and other strange squawking birds kept me company on river bank. The young man offered me one of his fish, but I graciously declined. I didn’t catch a fish, but I made a new friend. What could be better than that?

Tomorrow, we head to Homer, AK!

North Louisiana Fly Fishers

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It is the charge of the North Louisiana Fly Fishers to afford to the general public and our members in particular, a better understanding of Fly Fishing and Fly Tying. We wish to perpetuate the sport as a most pleasurable and exciting fishing method and provide education, instructions and the opportunities for relaxation to the membership.

The North Louisiana Fly Fishers (NLFF) serves the Ark-La-Tex area surrounding Shreveport. As the closest cold water fishery, we consider the Little Missouri (Little Mo') river near Murfreesboro, AR our home waters. We also fish the local rivers and lakes. We even have a growing group of kayak fishermen that, as well as the local rivers and lakes, will fish the gulf coast marshes for some saltwater action!