With eyes and eyelets focused on the trout fishing our interpid guides and guests headed for the "refuge" and middle river. We used #8 weight rods and floating lines, and #12 lb. fluorocarbon tippets ... ready for the big "toads". The upper fished great just after an area called Rock Face on the Kenai, located about halfway down the refuge. Mark reported the best bite occurred using a 6 mm tangerine bead. A total of about 30 trout were caught and an unusually high percentage of Dollies.

Thursday Mark went to fish the middle Kenai. He was a bit perplexed but still able to find the right size and color, 6 mm shrimp-color bead landed several big 'bows in the 8 to 10 lb. category. Dollies and rainbows were also found in the same feeding lanes. Although the fishing was a bit slow the weather and colors were outstanding. This coming Sunday will be a "canyon day" - we expect the walls to be echoing "fish on" and the lower end, where the Kenai dumps into the lake, plugged with big trout.

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Mike & Mark

Sunshine, steelhead and trout - "it doesn't get any better" one guest remarked. The daytime temperature is 65 while temperatures drop to the low 40's in the evening. This week our tides proved to be just perfect for halibut, fly-outs and river fishing. All of our scheduled fishing events and weather cooperated: the halibut boats out of Homer got outside the jaws, silvers were snappy on the fly-outs, and the trout were eager to be caught and photoed and releashed (kind of like Paris and the paparazzi). With our annual repeat group of 15+ fishermen, old stories were brought up and new ones created around the campifre. It was a fun week! This time of year the northern lights are often seen and the chill in the air lets everyone know that fall is here. The Anchor River and Deep Creek are shaping up for steelhead and silvers, too!

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Mike & Mark

The water in the middle river is dropping, pushing the trout into the feeding lanes. The gravel bars are also showing, making for 100 fish days per boat. Great laughs and stories of big fish and even bigger ones that got away seems to be the nightly table talk in the evenings, enjoying a glass of wine and beautiful full fall colors. As some might say ... priceless ... howeer we do offer great Fall Fly Fishing packages at a very reasonable price!

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Mike & Mark

The sockeye are still in the Kenai River system spawning eggs. Our trout are triggered on 6 mm dull finish pink bead with a red spot (made with a sharpie pen) and going berserk (postal if they could). The red spot we mark on the egg imitates the developing egg and the fish go crazy. Huge brightly colored spotted Dolly Varden and Rainbows are being caught and released, with lots of fish in the 26" plus categry. Our largest to date is 36 inches (weight approximately 25 pounds). On TV it might qualify as "The Biggest Loser" - here it's a "winner"!

Mike & Mark

The fall season has created a water-coloring like effect of the vistas. The second run of silver salmon has slowed down, but the big rainbow trout and dollies are definitely on the major bite. Fly rods are cretainly the tool of choice. Five to eight pound trout are common. We are targeting Crescent Lake on the fly-out with loads of silvers the norm ... the brown bears have been providing some great Kodak moments!

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Mike & Mark

Our guests from Salt Lake City , with the auspicious last name of Fisher, did well in all departments. The stay was a bit short but the catches were just fine for a fish cook-off in the great state of Utah . We had fun, the silvers were tough on one day, but the halibut cooperated and the fly-out was spectacular and loads of fish were sighted and hooked. When they pulled out in the huge SUV it was loaded with fish boxes and ear to ear grins.

Mike

“Perfect ... delicious ... are you sure that is moose?” were a few of the remarks heard around the fire pit. After a long day of fishing, Frenchy, our resident gold miner, stopped by with some moose meat for the guests. The Chef prepared a shitake-brandy-peppercorn reduction sauce and paired it with a fine Oregon Merlot. It brought the house down! The second run of Silvers are in full swing and no shortage of fish tales shared by all.

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Mike

“Guide Day Off” is like a buss-man's holiday and decided by a slightly biased committee. All hands on board for a day of fun fishing. The Wolf, Right-On Rob, Kooler and The Reverend were all in attendance and it was quite shocking! It was a beautiful fall evening catching heavy rainbows and we saw a couple of Brown bears. Lots of fish, laughs and plenty of “corking” while trying to wet a line… still waiting for a restraining order… is it legal to have that much fun?

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The Guides

Hi-Ho Silver and away! The silvers are in all of the systems in good numbers and bordering on obese. With a ten to fourteen pound average the Coho makes for great barbeque fare. We are catching them easily on bait and able to fly fish them in the smaller rivers. Weather is great and a Jackalope appeared on the wall for the Royal Beverage Company… what a coincidence! Much laughter and some very good wines were enjoyed be all!

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MT x 2

Smore Action! Rocky the orphaned moose showed up at the lodge and hung with the guests for three weeks. It was one of our longer stays by any of our prior guests. He plans to book next year with his friends Boris and Natasha.

“Unbelievable” was the work for the day. After limits of Silvers, some of the guests opted for an Upper Kenai drift boat trip with Rich “The Wolf” North adding “it was on fire!” The big king bead with a molted nail polish (courtesy of Revlon “007-White") did the trick.

Halibut fishing stories are the best when shared around the campfire, and well worth the arms with a limit of two per day. The weight of the delicate white meat adds up quickly and can adapt to many recipes.

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Chef Mark

“Not sure if it was a Great White or a huge King” was the comment by Mike when a large monster bit thru the 60lb leader of Bill McCormick, just a few feet from the transom of the boat. Definitely a “Depends” moment. Now that was a large predator…perhaps a sequel will ensue.

Team Swiss Miss and baby man got into a bunch of reds. These fish will show up smoked at Christmas time for gifts under the tree….Yaw Yaw!

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Herr Walter

Guide "Big Fish" Rich reports an epic battle between king and the Feichtner party last week, with the Feichtners coming out the winner when they landed this 50 pounder! It was a great day on the Kenai.

Late run reds have really hit the river and are arriving in high numbers. They were slow this year but are making up for lost time! Halibut remain good, fly-outs are spectacular and the weather has been warm but not hot.

Here's the photo of the week, sent in by Phil and Beth Hunter, of a pair of beautiful Kasilof Kings they caught during their visit to Tower Rock.

Melanie

 

…..Also some good photos of a pair of Kings that the Andersen team drew. In Texas hold'em it's a winner… all in!

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Mike

“Da Bears” are hitting the rivers in search of Reds (Sockeye) big time. On the fly-outs the guests are seeing loads of brown and black bears. We are glad they are not flying them back to the Lodge with them. The guide boats are able to get up close and personal with these huge carnivores. While the bears are actively feeding our guests are doing the paparazzi bit while catching limits of salmon in no time.

Our second run Kings are showing up in the Kenai and the Halibut skippers in the salt are reporting seeing huge schools of Reds moving towards us. This is a good thing! (Note to self… order more fly-rods and load up on gear… get ready cause here they come!).

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Mike

Sockeye are still coming in the Kenai in fair numbers but we usually are doing some re-con missions to locate the pod. The days are long (like still light at midnight). It will make it tough to see the fireworks in Seaward but the run at Marathon Mountain is always a blast. Our second run Kings should be showing-up towards the end of the week. Let's hope their biological clocks are set on the Kenai Time Zone (KTZ).

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Mike

We hosted some folks from “Kenai's Sister City” in Japan. The first run of “Reds” (Sockeye) are in the river and thick as thieves. Great sashimi and the chop sticks were flying….even Bruce Lee would have been shocked. AH-SO GOOD! Kings are going stronger on the Kenai and the fly-outs are peaking on the other side of the Inlet. Our helicopter trip on the Chuitt is going big…life is good on Peninsula!

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Mike

Big Rainbows are hungry and the fishing is dine-o-bite on the bead and sculpen patterns. Most of our fish were caught from the bank and some on the drift. Weight Watchers unite, many of the brutes are in the eight to ten pound class… exercised and gently released. Guide Mark summed up the trip as simply a “Great day!” then quietly slipped off to tie up some more rigs from all of the break-offs! You gotta' love it!

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Mike

A few Kings are finally rolling in on the Kenai and we are getting bit, especially on the incoming tides. The water levels are still on the low side as indicated by my nicked prop (an expensive depth sounder). The Kasilof is red-hot and guide Captain Right-On Rob is at the top of his game. Halibut remains consistent but still to early to fly… the Kings are.. so far… a no-show on the other side of the Inlet…we are doing a “test fly-out today.” Film at eleven!

Mike

The Flat Ones are still feeding in Cook Inlet and the salt boats are doing well. We had low tides this last week so it was some heavy lifting with four pound lead weights and a few decent 80 pounders on the business side of the rod… that's a lot of fish and chips! The morning bite on the Kasilof remains strong and the Dollies provide tons of action on the fly rods.

Mike

Kenai is still on the slow side for Kings but the Kasilof River is producing good numbers of salmon. It is still to early in the season for fly-outs but the weather is awesome. Halibut are going strong and the Dolly Varden in the Middle River is off the hook! (…as well as it should be in this catch and release fishing). Our guests had a 50 fish-to-the-boat yesterday…. Sweet!

Mike

The big halibut are showing up in the shallow water… even the drift boats are getting them with salmon rods in 30 feet of water. Combine that with a combo salmon trip, intercepting the Kenai Kings before they hit the River and that is the best way to fill a freezer with freezer pets. Kenai is slow for kings as we are having a slow glacial melt off, making for low water conditions.

In fact, we can wade across the River from the dock to the other bank. The Kasilof River is rocking for Kings and plenty of photogenic moose are around the lodge that don't insist on “What is my good side?” or a demanding a call for make-up. Everything is getting greener and hope the Kenai River fish will appear soon… don't they know that they have a barbeque to attend?

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Mike

It's finally spring here on the Kenai and the snow has melted quickly. The Kenai River is flowing freely again with just a few straggling icebergs left on the banks. Alaska Department of Fish and Game is requiring that all icehouses be off the lakes by April 30th (and as warm as it's been, if they're not off by now they may very well be under water!).

The early season for the lodge starts around May 15. Early season (May 15 - June 15) is a peaceful time to fish. It's the first run of kings and while the river fishing may be a bit calm at times, the saltwater kings are often excellent fishing. Add in a bit of halibut fishing and a fly-out and you've got the trip of a lifetime - and you don't have to fight the crowds!

Mike and Mark will soon be back and gearing up for another great season - and soon the fishing reports will be full of summer fishing action. Check back through the summer and see how our season goes!

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Melanie

We're getting closer to the end of winter and spring can't come too quickly for me! It has been DARN cold this February and into the first week of March. Wind chill yesterday was down to -22F. But, as my Mom mentioned today (she's been in Alaska more than 50 years), cold winters are often followed by very warm summers. It's a good thing too. We NEED to thaw!

Even with the cold weather there are some diehard fisherpeople out there. Soldotna Trustworthy Hardware started their 10th annual Ice Fishing Derby in mid-February and there have been some nice fish brought in. Largest so far is a 13.84 lb. Northern Pike, and the biggest trout tops eight pounds. You can check out the current winners HERE. Be sure to scroll down and see the photos of the kids! Alaskan kids are tough.

I took off this past weekend and headed up to Anchorage. Two of my dogs were entered in obedience trials and I'm proud to report that they both earned new titles. On the way back I stopped to take some photos along Turnagain Arm. This is such a gorgeous drive and definitely recommended for anyone coming to Alaska. The day was cloud-free, the sky was a brilliant blue and the mountains were white with snow. As a friend used to say, "It was a picture postcard everywhere I looked!". Here are a few of the photos. The first is of the frozen waterfalls, looking a bit like melted candle wax, and the other two are of the mountains and upper Cook Inlet full of icebergs.

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Keep thinking summer - it's nearly here!

Melanie

Happy new year to all! We've slid into a new year with lots of snow and some mighty cold temperatures! We were down to nearly 30° below zero here (that's Fahrenheit) but I'm glad to say that it's warmed up and is reasonable again. Today we had a high of about 18°. Nice and toasty.

I hear a few reports of fishing lately but the fish seem to be pretty scarce. A few are bringing in pike and rainbows by ice fishing on lakes, but I haven't heard of anything very big coming in. The sub-zero weather kept most people indoors! Maybe now that it's warmed up more will be stepping out for some winter fishing.

I was down by the inlet a few days ago and the ice bergs are thick in areas - even well up the Kenai River near the bridge between K-Beach Road and Kenai. It's amazing how big some of those chunks of ice are!

I put out a newsletter last week - if you want to have your email address added to the newsletter email list, just pop a request to me at info@towerrocklodge.com and I'll add you. The newsletters will probably come out about once a month. Expect photos of FISH and some tales (tall or not) from Mike and Mark.

Hopefully I will have more actual fishing news soon! I'm surviving the winter in good style and the dogs all have nice thick coats, so they're managing well too (not that they spend much time outdoors, the spoiled mutts). Khana will be learning to fetch a beer from the fridge soon, so she and Trick can take turns. You can never have too many beer-fetching dogs.

Keep warm and check back for updated reports!

Melanie