A Kenai River King Salmon Catch of a Lifetime! One of Y2K's Best Fish Taken

Alaska Outdoor Journal's Photo of the Day!

A Kenai HAWG With a Long Tale!

JULY 12 - Although the Kenai River is known for its large king salmon, statistically speaking the number of trophy-sized fish over 60 pounds make up a relatively small percentage of the total number of returning fish each season - no different than the number of humans over 7 feet tall in our own population. Mix in the fact that only 10-30% of the salmon in the run will have the "urge" to strike at a lure or bait once they are in the river. Then the corker....fish over 60 pounds are very difficult to land and the larger the fish the greater the chance it may break the line, or tear the hook loose with pure brute strength. So when an angler successfully puts it all together (including plenty of lady luck), its truly a feat of a lifetime in the angling world and on the Kenai.

Karen Peterson is now a member of that elite club, having landed one of the largest kings of the Kenai River season so far. And this fish indeed has earned a place in the spotlight for its "prowess" as you will learn from the tale to follow.

No doubt you readers have read Holly House's July 11th report mentioning Judy hooking and fighting a fish suspected to be well over 60 pounds before it wrapped the line on a rock and broke off, taking the spin n glow and hook with it. Judy and her group went out again for a second trip the next day and three out of the four in the group got 40+ lb. fish each. That was the same day (Wed.) that Karen bags this Kenai HAWG, just a couple fishing holes downstream of where Judy had lost her big one the day before. And quite often, fish that have been hooked and released, or that get away after being fought will drop back downstream a ways and recover their strength and witt in a deep hole before continuing upstream. So the suspense and the plot thickens eh?

Well, when Karen's guide, Rich Hill, landed the fish, everyone noticed a SECOND spin n glow and hook stuck in its jaw. Oddly enough, it was the same pink with black spots color that Judy was using the day before when her big one got loose. Coincidence? Same fish? Well, you never know...there were a lot of pink with black dots glows being used on the river the past couple weeks. The POINT to be made here is the fact that these huge brutes are very difficult to get in the boat, with a large percentage beating the angler and attaining their freedom. Someone before Karen had the thrill, perhaps only for a short while, of having a real Kenai Hawg on the line before it parted company.

Karen, hailing from Hines, Oregon, and her dad Harvey Peterson (Leadore, Idaho), were up here on a casual summer vacation, motoring around in an RV while stopping off to spend the day fishing on the river with Alaska Flaggs Kenai Charters. Since Loren had Judy's group for a second day, Karen and Harvey loaded up in Rich's boat on Wednesday. As Martha Stewart would say, "it was a good thing."

Our congratulations to Karen for her great achievement that few have attained. No doubt when she returns to her teaching job in the fall she will direct a few extra readers to AOJ's Photo Gallery as she tells her students the details of her summer vacation. One note about the above photo: look closely and you will see the fish is "taller" than it first appears. Often when fish are in the fish box for a while the portion of the skin which lays in the water in the fish box will lighten up compared to the portion that stays in the air. If you look closer, you can realize its not as "skinny" as it appears.

Oh, I guess you are wanting to know how big it was? Well, after being in the boat's fish box all morning, it weighed in at 67 Pounds. Typically a king of this size will lose close to 2 pounds of weight from dehydration and slim loss while being in the fish box for many hours. So no doubt this fish was probably pushing 69 pounds of live weight when it hit. It measured out at 54 1/2 inches in length; that's four and a half feet long! Hey, it beats the Klondike Kid's best fish and I've been fishing this river every year since the summer of 1970!

Photo Courtesy of: Alaska Flaggs Kenai Charters

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