July 13-16 Waiting for the reds

July 13 - We left Seward this morning and went back to Soldotna.  We stopped to see a campground about 11 miles before Soldotna called Bing's Landing.  Jane and Roger decided they wanted to stay there.  We decided to go on to Centennial Campground in Soldotna.  Good thing we came when we did because the red salmon are expected any time and there were no campspots we could get into.  We were going to camp in their overflow campground when a guy came along and said he found a spot he liked better than where he was and was moving.  The spot he had was perfect for us so we got settled in.  It's about 1-2 blocks to the campground's Kenai River access. 

July 14 - We just snooped around the area to see what was going on.  Got my nails done. Not much else.

July 15 - We all decided to go to Clam Gulch clamming.  We had no luck at all.  The few, and I mean few, clams we got were very small.  From what we hear we should have driven the extra 20 miles to Ninilchik where we had clammed before.  Guess they had great luck there.  We stopped for lunch on our way back and it was very good but after we ordered it took forever to get our food.  There went another day.

July 16 - Now comes the craziest thing we've ever seen.  Alaska natives can dipnet salmon as part of the state's subsistance program.  Head of household can take 25 salmon and then they can have 10 per person in the household - babies and all.   It's amazing.

This is the Kenai River where it comes in from the ocean.  You should enlarge this photo and take a good look.  The banks are lined on both sides with hundreds of people dipnetting with very large nets. They are camped all up and down the beach.  Anyone who is not a state resident cannot have anything to do with this process.  You can't even ride in the boat with someone who is dipnetting.

The red salmon can be spotted in a huge group in the ocean.  Heard a report today that the run is 3 miles wide and 9 miles long.  When they come up river, where they will spawn and then die, you can catch gillions (limit is 3 per day).  The talk is all, when will the salmon be here. Supposedly they will be at our location tonight or tomorrow morning.  And the way you fish for them is funny too.  You just flip out about 12 feet of line and just keep flipping it over and over until you catch one.  They don't bite but their mouths are open as they go upriver and when you feel a bump on your line you set the hook.  Never fished like this before except the couple days we were fishing for King Salmon.  This is really going to be an experience.