Kasilof river speed?

[Alex321]

Anyone want to help a guy out with an estimate of the speed in the kasilof river? Was looking at brining my little boat down to try to dipnet it. I've searched and read a bit but struggling to find anything with a good speed reference. I've run the upper chena mile 40.5 put in and run up it a ways and same with the Chatinika. Also like to cut across the Tanana river using Eddy's and such to help with the slow going up river. The only reference I'm finding is upper kasilof is super lazy and then the lower is referenced as fast. I know It's tidal at the mouth so I realize that will affect the apparent speed just dont want to go through the hassle of bringing my boat down launching and getting pushed out to sea. I've read a lot about sand bars rocks and such which is fine if you've ever run the Tanana or upper chena you understand the risk of mud bars and rocks. Experience Dipnetting in chitna from shore and no way would I venture down to the canyon in my boat it's far to quick don't want to get into that kind of situation. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[kasilofchrisn]

I've run the upper and lower Kasilof many times in a drift boat.
From the upper launch all the way down to the beach.
And many years ago I even dipnetted the mouth with a powerboat.
It would be helpful to know what size boat and motor you have.
That will make a big difference.
Without knowing that I can't really give you any advice as to whether you should bring it down or not.

 

[Alex321]

Thank you for the reply. I'd bring my 8hp Thai tail and 11' I can boogie along well enough it's a different kind of setup but handles really well. In some more research I found there's commercial netters that run up the mouth so that helped me ease my worries some. If they can make it then it's not super fast like jet boat territory right? Those big ole things have some power but aren't to quick from my experience. Although they would make some fun wake in a river I bet.

 

[AudiAK]

I don't believe the commercial guys go very far up river. Within the first few bends are all the commercial docks and the mooring buoys don't really extend beyond the tidally influenced section. It's been a while since I ran that stretch from the bridge down, from what I recall most of that stretch is calm and slow. The section below the bridge for the first mile or two was more rough and faster moving. It might be slow going, but I would think you could get up there. I've got a bigger outboard on mine, but it hates chop and I had to bring it off step and trudge through that section. I didn't really have any concerns for underwater hazards when I did it.

 

[Alex321]

I don't believe the commercial guys go very far up river. Within the first few bends are all the commercial docks and the mooring buoys don't really extend beyond the tidally influenced section. It's been a while since I ran that stretch from the bridge down, from what I recall most of that stretch is calm and slow. The section below the bridge for the first mile or two was more rough and faster moving. It might be slow going, but I would think you could get up there. I've got a bigger outboard on mine, but it hates chop and I had to bring it off step and trudge through that section. I didn't really have any concerns for underwater hazards when I did it.

Awesome thank you. I managed to find some youtube videos and I realize it's hard to see current speed on a video but I has people in little boats buzzing around.

 

[kasilofchrisn]

Yeah it's nowhere near whitewater or anything of that nature.
As long as you can comfortably launch on the beach you'll probably be okay.
You just have to watch your boat control in the current depending on the tide.
When the tide is going out the current can easily shove you into some of the commercial boats that are sitting there on mooring buoys.
I knew one guy that hit a commercial boat so hard he knocked the 65 horse motor off the back of the skiff breaking the bolts and losing it forever in the river.
This also caused him to hit the deck of the skiff and he sliced his hand open on the diamond plate flooring requiring a few stitches.
That was just an inexperienced person in a boat he should not have been operating.

 

[Alex321]

Yeah it's nowhere near whitewater or anything of that nature.
As long as you can comfortably launch on the beach you'll probably be okay.
You just have to watch your boat control in the current depending on the tide.
When the tide is going out the current can easily shove you into some of the commercial boats that are sitting there on mooring buoys.
I knew one guy that hit a commercial boat so hard he knocked the 65 horse motor off the back of the skiff breaking the bolts and losing it forever in the river.
This also caused him to hit the deck of the skiff and he sliced his hand open on the diamond plate flooring requiring a few stitches.
That was just an inexperienced person in a boat he should not have been operating.

Awesome thank you.

 

[kenaifoto]

I used to dipnet and fish in the Kasilof with a 14’ Jon boat with a 4hp Johnson outboard. Never had any problems.

 

[Alex321]

I used to dipnet and fish in the Kasilof with a 14’ Jon boat with a 4hp Johnson outboard. Never had any problems.

Thank you. Yes I've watched some YouTube videos and it looks pretty tame relatively speaking.

 

[catchfish]

Bigger question because I have not ran a long tail but how are you going to dip from it and drive at the same time. Don’t you have to keep a hand on those long tails the whole time? I don’t have any experience that’s why I’m asking.

 

[Alex321]

Bigger question because I have not ran a long tail but how are you going to dip from it and drive at the same time. Don’t you have to keep a hand on those long tails the whole time? I don’t have any experience that’s why I’m asking.

100% the long tails are a wild thing to control need contrast attention once you get it down they are super fun. But yes I definitely wouldn't be able to dip while it runs I'd have to kill it and hold it up with a strap and then just drift and dip. My plan was to let my wife do the work 😉😂 and I would just drive.

 

[kasilofchrisn]

I think you have a good plan of just running the boat and letting others catch the fish!
I've dipnetted both the Kasilof and the Kenai River by motorboat many times.
More so the Kenai than the Kasilof.
And whenever we've done it we've always had an operator who only runs the boat.
They don't handle any nets they don't handle any fish they're one and only job is to operate the boat safely.
I truly think it's asinine that anyone thinks they can safely control a motorboat on a river and also operate a dip net at the same time.
The problem on the Kenai is oftentimes you're in a conga line of boats two or three wide. When you let go of the steering wheel or the tiller your boat is adrift in the river amongst the Sea of other boats.
On the Kasilof they're aren't so many other boats but there are usually commercial gill netters moored up in the river and the channel is definitely a lot narrower plus there's a lot of people fishing from the shore to watch out for.

 

[ta_perez]

I've run the upper and lower Kasilof many times in a drift boat.
From the upper launch all the way down to the beach.
And many years ago I even dipnetted the mouth with a powerboat.
It would be helpful to know what size boat and motor you have.
That will make a big difference.
Without knowing that I can't really give you any advice as to whether you should bring it down or not.

Hello! I moved to the lower peninsula a few years back and am yet to float the Kasilof. Could you help me with some basic info, like put in/take out options, how long does the float take, anyone offering shuttle services?

Thanks so much!

 

[JEH97LX]

A 11' boat, if you can carry it by hand is easy to launch at the Kasilof mouth. In a trailer it's a bit trickier with the mud, south beach is usually better with more gravel. I ran a 12' jon boat with 6 hp no prob at the mouth just carried and launched. The boundary marker to mouth is all tidal and slow.

From the bridge launch the river is fairly quick perhaps 10 knots or so with bumps, trivial for a larger jet boat. I probably wouldn't bank on getting back to the bridge very fast with two people and fish only running 8 hp. It's quicker to offload at the mouth and carry on.

 

[kasilofchrisn]

Hello! I moved to the lower peninsula a few years back and am yet to float the Kasilof. Could you help me with some basic info, like put in/take out options, how long does the float take, anyone offering shuttle services?

Thanks so much!

Well there is a shuttle service on the concealer I don't ever use them.
So I can't help you with that.
Usually we take two vehicles of our own or I call my parents who are retired and they pick us up and shuttle us. If I call my parents in advance it's usually pretty easy to arrange for them to shuttle us.
Currently there's only two put ins in one take out one at the end of Tustamena lake road one at the bridge and the take out at Kasilof river cabins on the lower River.
The first two are actual ramps where you can put in and take out and the last one is a pullout only.
As far as how long it takes it all depends on how long you spend fishing and everything else I haven't a clue of how long it actually takes if you were just running it without fishing.
I'm sure it could be anywhere from a couple of hours to as long as you want.
If you run it too early in a season you won't make it down without getting hung up.
Even in a canoe. Trust me, been there, done that!
While none of it is any real serious White water there are lots of gravel bars, boulders, logs, and other hazards.
And I would not run a motorized boat anywhere other than the mouth or upstream of slack water unless I was a very experienced jetboater.
I'm sure a 5-minute Google search would have given you the same information, but, now you know.

 

[ta_perez]

Thanks! I haven’t been able to find a good float time before. I’d be going for the first time with wife/kids so wanted to have a sense of how much time it would be on water. We will probably just self shuttle - coming up from Homer.

Appreciate taking the time to respond!

 

[AK_Hollywood]

Bigger question because I have not ran a long tail but how are you going to dip from it and drive at the same time. Don’t you have to keep a hand on those long tails the whole time? I don’t have any experience that’s why I’m asking.

Sorry for the dumb question but can you explain what a “long tail” is?

 

[AKBEE]

Sorry for the dumb question but can you explain what a “long tail” is?

A long shafted engine at a shallow angle to run shallow water or over obstacles. A quick google search will show you images of ones like mudbuddy.com