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By David Richards
Kenai River Guide
I first fished on the Kenai River in 1979 and began working as a fishing guide on the beautiful Kenai in 1981. To me guiding is not just taking people out on the river to kill fish; it is an opportunity to share the river and Alaska with people from around the world. I am on the river many days each year but I do not take my familiarity with the river and the fishery for granted, it is an amazing river and my goal for each fishing trip is to give my clients an enjoyable, good day of pursuing salmon and trout. I try to keep in mind that for many people their fishing trip may be the only opportunity they will have to visit Alaska and hopefully catch a trophy fish. What I want to share in this brief story are many of the things or experiences I have seen or experienced in my years as a Kenai guide. I could tell two thousand fish stories but I will concentrate on some of the extra’s that come with being on the river so much. In my years I have seen so many amazing things, such as: eagles taking fish out of the water, seals catching salmon and trout, seals grabbing salmon while one of my clients was fighting the fish, ( The fisherman were impressed to have a seal chasing their fish.) I have been very close to brown bears, black bears, moose, caribou, wolves, coyotes, beavers, otters, mink, squirrels ( I once saw a squirrel on a rock in the middle of the river, I don’t know how he got there.) weasels, eagles, ospreys, ducks, loons, swans, beluga whales, sea lions, muskrats, mice, shrews and other critters. I have seen eagles chasing ducks and sea gulls, falcons chasing arctic terns and ducks, swallows pursuing bigger birds; ravens and crows fighting with eagles, hawks and owls and many birds performing as if they were in an aerial ballet. I never get tired of observing all this nature and I am always looking for wildlife along the river.
I have traveled the entire length of the Kenai from the beginning of Kenai Lake to Cook Inlet while moving in canoes, drift boats and motor boats as I took thousands of people from all over the world fishing. I have seen things that made me laugh and other incidences that were as serious as a heart-attack. I’ve seen boats stuck on rocks, boats high and dry on islands (The tide went out), boats collide with other boats, boats run over other boats, people fall out of boats, boats flip over and I have personally rescued three people from the water when they went in the water from other boats. I often tell my clients,” The good thing about this job is that when I start out in the morning I never know what’s going to happen, THE bad thing about this job is that when I start out in the morning I never know what’s going to happen!” Being a guide is a very unpredictable vocation. Some days we have great fishing with great weather, other days its good fishing with bad weather, the worst situation is bad fishing with bad weather and occasionally we had to quit and head in for shelter because people were going hypothermic.
We never know what will happen, what we will catch, what we will see, who we will meet… If you want to have a great Alaskan adventure come on up, catch some fish, climb a mountain, visit the villages, float the rivers, see the abundant wildlife, go for a flight over the mountains and make new friends. We are waiting for you. Give us a call. We’ll leave the light on for you….
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