Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska The Kenai.....

A now deceased buddy of mine caught an 81 pounder on the Kenai. I don’t know the length but I remember the girth was 32” because I told him me and his fish wore the same size pants!

Wow.... Hopefully it gets "good" again, I'd like to hit it once or twice...

I thought you hated AK and everyone who lives up here?

My neighbor and his buddy caught a 97# King.

Was one of them named Les?

If only obviously.

I'd like a big king, the weather sucks generally, and it appears from the last time I was up there, "in 91" , most Alaskans still think they're bad men..... Though my taste of Alaska was pow which is mostly druggies and tramps....

Unfortunately the days of consistently catching big kings are gone forever. They're out there, like 30" mulies and 375" elk, but the odds are slim.
There's good and bad everywhere. I grew up in Wa, but have the same opinion of it as you do of AK. It's turned into a cesspool that I hate to go back to. As far as weather, its same same.

Hopefully there's a glimmer of hope, 50lb + kings on a regular basis would draw a fair amount of $$$... Was talking with Gary Loomis the other day, appears chilie is the new spot for huge kings..... From Columbia river stock... Go figure...

I've heard that about Chilie.
To bad those June hogs aren't around anymore. Those were impressive fish pics.

Yes. The other is Bud.

That’s pretty neat. Didn’t want to ASSume you were old enough to be neighbors and buddies with them

We still get some hogs in the salt here. You need to spend the time but they still show up.

Generation+ difference, but i have chatted with the one gent.



Ol' Les looks to be struggling a little.

Alaska Sports Hall of Fame
LES ANDERSON’S WORLD RECORD KING SALMON

The Biggest Fish Story
The fish of everyone’s dreams was caught by Soldotna auto dealer Les Anderson early on the morning of May 17, 1985, much to his own shock. Anderson and partner Bud Lofstedt were fishing for early-season king salmon on the Kenai River, the world-famous Alaska salmon stream, when Anderson hooked up for the fight of his life.

Anderson, 68 at the time, was using a spin-n-glo and salmon eggs, and the powerful chinook the bait attracted had the muscle to pull Anderson around in his little boat. Three times Anderson reeled the fish up to the side of the craft, but it was too large to haul in. Finally Anderson subdued it by leading it to land.

Once Anderson and Lofstedt gazed upon the full size of the monster lifted from the water, they realized it was imperative that it be weighed as soon as possible before it dried out and too much poundage was lost. Big fish, they thought. But they didn’t know if it was the biggest king of all. They rushed it to a scale in town where onlookers who had heard tell of a giant catch were already gathered. Anderson’s king salmon weighed in at 97 pounds, four ounces — a rod-and-reel world record that still stands.

For the rest of Anderson’s life — he died in 2003 — he was introduced to people as “the man who caught the world-record salmon.” Sometimes, for short, Anderson’s memorable catch was referred to as “the big fish,” with everyone knowing which fish was being talked about.

Today, the mount of Anderson’s record catch is on display at the Soldotna Visitors Association building.

– Lew Freedman

http://alaskasportshall.org/inductee/les-andersons-king-salmon/

What in the hell were you doing down in the mtn view neighborhood?

Social climbing, obviously...

Or lowering average IQs and moral standards in two zip codes at the same time...

I just want to catch one.

You should "hook up" with Calvin then - I'm sure he could put you on one, or two . . .

Looking for my pic of that 123#er caught in the fish wheel near Petersburg. A Stikine fish. Taku River (near me) used to produce 50 - 60 # kings. Not any more.