Thanks to everyone who provided tips and insight into the Kenai fishery. I fished the Kenai and Russian Rivers with my wife on Saturday. A relative of ours who lives in Anchorage handled the 18' cataraft beautifully. While we didn't land any huge rainbows, those that we caught were beautiful specimens. My wife caught a dolly while I was fighting a sockeye that took a BH hare's ear. Go figure. I think I must have lined him. However, the red was beautiful and still a strong fighter. My wife caught a pink that was definitely not far from The Edge. The scenery on the Kenai peninsula is spectacular. The biggest rainbow we landed measured a mere 13". We were mostly fishing beads and globugs but I think they were the wrong colors. We were doing something wrong because many of the guides had clients pulling fish out left and right. I also swung some flesh flies and egg-sucking leaches through some good looking areas, with no success. Later that day I hit the Russian. The Russian had a lot of people fishing it, especially from the campground to the mouth. While I didn't catch anything on the Russian it was fun to watch people fighting silvers on light tackle. On Sunday I went black bear hunting above the tree line and shot a nice +/- 300# boar. Rugged country. On Monday we took a float plane trip around the Anchorage area and came back home. Alaska rocks! Jeff Mix PS We fished the beads legally. I tied them to the shank of the hook the night before. I heard that all the locals peg them to the line, producing a more natural looking egg. While this is illegal it probably produces more hook-ups.
