Renting a raft on the upper kenai

[work4fish]

This will be my tenth fishing trip to Alaska and beleive it or not I've never fished the Kenai. I've mostly done float trips and fly outs staying away from the crowds. But I've had people tell me that I MUST fish the upper Kenai, at least once.
So I have set aside a day to fly fish the upper Kenai for trout.
I'm guessing parking and hiking is tough due to crowds or not being able to cover enough water. Also not many posters are going to volunteer their secret out of the way spot to me.
I really don't want to do a guided float trip (it's really not in the budget). It seems if we rented a raft at Coopers Landing we could handle a day float and find fish ourselves.

Everytime I search all I get is very expensive float trips. Any suggestions would be helpful.

[Tom L]

Work -
I'm not sure about rentals in Cooper Landing, but you might check with Alaska Canoe Rental in Sterling. He's in the 'phone book at 262-3583 and I think he also posts here from time to time. If I remember correctly, they've got a few rafts parked out front.

FWIW, if you are willing to walk a bit, it's not impossible to get into fish (either salmon or trout) on foot.

What are the dates you are planning on? Crowds will decrease substantially after about August first as the second run of reds slows down a bit.

Hope this helps -
Tom

[Alaskacanoe]

rentals

A new outfit in Moose pass may be renting out Drift boats for the upper Kenai river. I met them at the sports show in both Anchorage and Soldotna this spring, but haven't checked with him this summer. I don't remember the name.. I will try and find the Brochure, and put it out there.
Also Alaska Raft in Anchorage rents rafts of all kinds that you can put in your car and bring down to the Kenai. talk to Tracy Harmon
The shuttle from Jims landing back to your car is sometimes a pain if you don't have two vehicles, but I have seen some do ok by hitching a ride with someone that is going back up river. Usually pretty friendly group up there..
We had a group rafting out of our place in Sterling going from Sportsmans landing to Jims in a 14 ft raft this last week from Switzerland and they had no trouble getting rides back to get the car and trailer at Sportsmans.
Max

[Michael Strahan]

Upper Kenai Float

I usually float-fish this section several times a summer. It's not difficult to float, but there is one spot below the bridge on the upper river that you want to be careful with. It's called "Schooner's Bend", and it's the right-hand turn below the bridge. Just keep to the inside and you'll be fine.

If you're halfway fish-savvy at all, you'll find fish in the upper Kenai. If it were me, I'd rent a raft from Alaska Raft and Kayak (reserve it now or you may be out of luck). They also know quite a bit about fishing the upper river and could be of some assistance there. You might also talk to the fly fishing boys over at Mountain View Sports; they're a wealth of knowledge. There are a few guys at Sportsman's Warehouse that fish the upper river for 'bows too, and could help. Not a lot of secrets there; most all of the spots along the upper river are common knowledge.

Have a great time!

-Mike