Kasilof Dipnetting from a boat anyone?

[Beartraks]

Usually dipnet from beach on Kenai but want to try Kasilof from a boat. Anyone have info on regs regarding this? I've tried to read them but am just a wee bit confused. I know you can launch by Sterling highway, but from there the regs regarding use of a motor are vague. I'm talking dipnetting from a 16' skiff with a 25hp motor.

Help...

 

[wildog]

Kasilof from a boat

Kasilof from a boat

Usually dipnet from beach on Kenai but want to try Kasilof from a boat. Anyone have info on regs regarding this? I've tried to read them but am just a wee bit confused. I know you can launch by Sterling highway, but from there the regs regarding use of a motor are vague. I'm talking dipnetting from a 16' skiff with a 25hp motor.

Help...

I think I can help you with this. I have only been up here for two summers, but I have drifted the Kasilof numerous times for Kings, and dip-netted from my drift boat twice now. From what I understand, you cannot fish with a motor. You can use a motor to get where you are going, but once you start your motor you are done fishing. For dip-netting, you could launch at Ed's Seafoods and go down, I wouldn't recommend launching up at the highway with the skiff and motor or you might ruin your prop. You could also launch at the lower cannery on the Soldotna side of the river, when we were there they were going to take some cash to let us launch, but we ended up launching with a 4-wheeler from the beach, easy to get stuck too.

Incidentally, I watched people absolutely slaughter them from a boat last year on the Kenai, and those are bigger fish. You just launch from the public boat docks and rip up the river, then net your way towards the mouth.

Good luck.

 

[Bob Ball - Piscatorial Pursuits]

In the past ... you haven't been able to launch a powerboat (per his rule) from Trujillo's. Perhaps he's changed that??

You can launch from the bridge and go up and down all you want with any size motor if you're dipping only ... and sport equipment on board an you're in violation.

The upstrwam boundry has been extended. It was Trujillo's last year, but does not extend that far this year so that ADF&G has some open area to conduct test netting for their second-run king study. There is a regulatory sign that will be be in place shortly to mark river mile 3 which is the upper terminus this season per the most recent EO for dippers.

 

[NORTH2AK]

Emergency order

Emergency order

According to the emergency order below, you can dip net from shore up to the sterling hwy bridge and up to river mile 3 by boat. They have also extended the time.
http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/eonr/Devpdf/2006/R2/Sol - 2-RS-1-19-06EO.pdf

 

[Rob B]

In the Kasilof, are you still allowed to run a motor up the river from the Cook Inlet? I'm thinking about trying it out this weekend.

 

[skydiver]

Cook Inlet

Cook Inlet

I've launched on the Kenai and motored to the Kasilof in a 16-ft inflatable a few times. Be aware of a few things.....water can get rough quick, you will have to maneuver around LOTS of set nets (trying to match up which two buoys belong to a net can be difficult, especially if the water's rough. Also, that means you'll have to go out quite a ways from shore so take plenty of fuel), and don't leave or enter the Kenai at low tide. I tried to come back to the Kenai once at low tide and the water was so low about 1/2 to 1 mile from the mouth that I couldn't even use my outboard on the inflatable, even with it tilted up. Had to wait for the tide to come in.

 

[swmn]

Kinda sorry to bump an older thread like this, but I did do a search first ;-)

My question is how fast does the water run in the Kasilof from the Sterling bridge down to the mouth?

I have a just barely big enough boat, and by the grace of God a reservation at the Crooked Creek RV park. What I want to do (up here in Fairbanks on the Chena) is load the kids and dogs and however many cinderblocks it takes to slow my boat down to whatever speed that is to see how much freeboard I have left.

My tentative plan is to launch at the state launch near the Sterling bridge, motor down to the bouys, drift and dip however much closer to the mouth, motor back up to the buoys, repeat as needed, motor back up the bridge and takeout there.

It seems like from reading other threads the fish tend to push in on a rising tide, and I guess the river speed is maybe faster chasing an ebbing tide and slower backing up against an incoming tide, so whatever, what is it that I need to know?

 

[Anythingalaska]

What are you going to do with the cinder blocks? A light boat and heavy boat are both going to travel at the same speed with the current down the river...I'm confused.

 

[swmn]

What are you going to do with the cinder blocks? A light boat and heavy boat are both going to travel at the same speed with the current down the river...I'm confused.

I wanna be sure I can get back UP the river to the launch ramp at the Sterling bridge. To do that I need to know how fast the river is flowing so I can figure out how many fish I can pile in there and still get home. I'll use the cinderblocks up here as pretend fish for the timed speed runs.

 

[FamilyMan]

I'm betting that member gr8fl could tell you right off the top of his head. Maybe he'll wander this way...

 

[gr8fl]

swmn, a friend of mine takes his family to the Kasilof all the time and uses the same boat, inboard jet and all, that he uses on the Copper, launching upriver at the bridge.

heavy tin boat, two adults, couple-a-kids, dog, load of fish...how big a boat are you talking about?

 

[DannerAK]

What are you going to do with the cinder blocks? A light boat and heavy boat are both going to travel at the same speed with the current down the river...I'm confused.

Heavier boats drift faster downstream than light boats.

 

[swmn]

swmn, a friend of mine takes his family to the Kasilof all the time and uses the same boat, inboard jet and all, that he uses on the Copper, launching upriver at the bridge.

heavy tin boat, two adults, couple-a-kids, dog, load of fish...how big a boat are you talking about?

I have a Grumman Sport Boat, about a 16' skiff with a 5hp Honda on it. The prop on the motor now runs about 11mph flat out with me in the stern and 190 pounds of son #1 in the front seat. I got another prop with slightly different pitch on it.

 

[gr8fl]

Boat that size a piece of cake. I've used a 12' w 6hp combo with great success on Kasilof. Just threw it in on the beach.

 

[gr8fl]

Here's the launch upriver from the bridge in the fall:

​

...and looking downriver

​

Don't know why you don't just camp at the mouth. Are you pulling a fifth wheel or a camper? Don't have 4 wheel drive? South shore has a nice gravel bank you can launch your boat in with half a tide.

Otherwise, at almost 8 river miles, a loaded 16' boat with a 5hp motor is going to take you a long time to get home. Besides that, how do you know that the fishing isn't going to get really hot as soon as you have to head upriver?

 

[Anythingalaska]

Heavier boats drift faster downstream than light boats.

Care to cite that? I haven't read anything about the weight of a boat effecting how fast it will drift downstream, or with current. Larger boats with more windage will drift faster than a smaller boat with less windage, but I've never heard of weight making a difference.

 

[DannerAK]

I've never read anything about it either. Personal observations after years and thousands of river miles floated have led me to the conclusion.

 

[swmn]

Don't know why you don't just camp at the mouth.

I have a wife, and a reservation at a campground with flush toilets and showers.

We probably will drive down to check out the beach area; we have two rangers, one 4x4 and one 4x2.

Kinda thinking one of us can gut the fish in the boat while the other drives up river. With the last of the kids moving out in about two months our household limit is only 35 fish. If all four kids were still home, they would be camping at the river mouth with nets in the water, Mom and I would drive over daily to see how they were doing. And we got a whole week with both weekends, so plenty of time, if we only catch five fish each day we'll limit on the last day of fishing.

Good question though. Another possible option after the recon would be to drive the boat on the truck from the campground to the river mouth to launch and recover from the beach.

 

[gr8fl]

Sounds like a plan. I shoulda asked about the wife part. She will be much happier for that stretch of time with the facilities upriver..

 

[gr8fl]

Next question is, how're you keeping the 5 fish per day cold for the duration?

Finally, am I right that this is
not really a meat haul?