636 | Kenai River Sportfishing Association with Shannon Martin - Chinook, Alaska, Conservation
Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Podcast
Dave Stewart
4.7 • 531 Ratings
🗓️ 24 July 2024
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/636
Presented By: FishHound Expeditions
Today, we hang out with Shannon Martin, executive director of the Kenai Sport Fishing Association. She's here to take us behind the scenes into what they are doing to protect the best salmon rivers in the country. Plus, we'll get an update on the Chinook status in this area.
Have you heard of the suicide run? It's a multi-day fishing adventure where anglers stay up all night, catching their limit for the day and getting their limit again for the next day.
There's nothing better than Alaska King Salmon. Let's jump into it with Shannon and KRSA.
Show Notes with Shannon Martin on Kenai River Sportfishing Association.
02:34 - Shannon grew up in Alaska, where fishing has always been part of her life. About 15 years ago, her brother retired from the Army and got into fly fishing on the Kenai River. Shannon joined him, fell in love with it, and got hooked.
Fly Fishing the Kenai River
03:48 - The Kenai River is over 80 miles long with more than 15 public access points. The river is famous for its huge salmon, including the world record King salmon that weighed 97 pounds.
The "Suicide Run" and Dip Net Fishing
06:26 - The "suicide run" is a unique way to fish on the Kenai River. You get off work at 5:00 PM in Anchorage, drive down to the river, catch your limit of salmon by midnight, and then catch the next day's limit after midnight.
This July, the sockeye salmon run is expected to bring in about 3.3 million fish, making it a great time to try out a suicide run.
Dip net fishing is only for Alaska residents where they can harvest salmon using a five-foot-wide hoop net. Each household gets 25 fish for the head of the household and an additional 10 for each dependent.
Kenai River Sportfishing Association
10:25 - Kenai River Sport Fishing Association was founded in 1984 by Bob Penney to protect Chinook salmon. Commercial fishing, especially with gill nets, impacts Chinook as they return to spawn. KRSA aims to balance commercial interests with preserving fish stocks for future generations.
Check out our episode with Adam of FishHound Expeditions! He talked about his experience visiting Capitol Hill to spread the word about the issues facing Alaska's fish.
16:42 - Shannon explains how heavy foot traffic on the Kenai River banks harms salmon habitats. To fix this, they've built light-penetrating boardwalks. These walkways let people access the river without damaging the vegetation that holds the banks together.
18:35 - KRSA hosts events like the Kenai River Spring Cleanup, where local students help remove litter from the riverbanks. They organize the Jr Classic in the fall, where they introduce around 100 children to fishing and water safety.
24:19 - Shannon talks about the importance of educating anglers on proper catch and release techniques, especially for the declining Chinook salmon.
31:24 - We talk about KRSA's major project with Alaska State Parks to restore and improve a popular state recreation site on the Kenai. This includes:
Installing light-penetrating boardwalks
Adding stairwells
Providing offsite parking
Kenai River Classic
33:58 - The Kenai River Classic functions as not only an educational opportunity for KRSA to get together with local policymakers and philanthropists, but it's also a fundraiser. Highlights of the Kenai River Classic include:
A three-day fishing event for about 150 participants
The national round table on sport fish policy, in partnership with Yamaha Rightwaters
Speakers from the American Sport Fishing Association and local tribal entities discussing important topics like the MMPA and in-river fishery protection.
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/636
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today's guests is in charge of protecting the sport fishing for what is known as the top salmon rivers in the country. |
| 0:09.2 | 97-pound king salmon have been landed here. |
| 0:12.4 | Giant 20 and 30-inch rainbows have made dreams come true. |
| 0:16.8 | And this place is also known for the suicide run, a multi-day fishing adventure where people stay up all night, getting their limit and getting their limit again the next day. |
| 0:25.8 | Today, you're going to find out what you can do to protect these fish species and the fish species in your home waters and the fish you love. |
| 0:34.6 | This is the wet fly swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip and what you can do to give back to the fish species you love. Hey, I'm Dave, host the Wet Fly Swing podcast. I've been fly fishing since I was a kid. I grew up around a little fly shop and have created one of the largest fly fishing podcast in this country. |
| 0:55.5 | I've also interviewed more of the greatest fly anglers and conservation-minded people than just about |
| 1:00.5 | anyone out there. |
| 1:02.0 | Shannon Martin, executive director of the Kenai Sport Fishing Association, is here to take us into |
| 1:07.6 | Alaska and behind the scenes and what they are doing to assure you have a shot |
| 1:12.4 | at fishing this magical place and catching some big fish this year. We get an update on the |
| 1:17.1 | Chinook status in this area and what they're doing to help protect them. We hear about these |
| 1:21.9 | boardwalks they're making, how these boardwalks are protecting the off-channel habitats for |
| 1:26.6 | salmon, why they're so important, and how actually rivers are protecting the off-channel habitats for salmon, why they're so important, |
| 1:29.0 | and how actually river users are impacting these areas. Plus, you're going to hear about fish hound |
| 1:34.5 | expeditions and the trip they are planning and we are planning to head up north to Alaska. |
| 1:39.2 | This is going to be a road trip. This is going to be a chance for you to get involved. If you can, |
| 1:43.7 | this is going to be a great one. Looking forward to it. Here we go. Nothing better than Alaska King Salmon. Let's jump into it with Shannon Martin from K-R-S-A.com. How you doing, Shannon? Hey, I'm doing good. How about yourself? Great. It's really good to have you on here today. We were going to be talking about a very important topic around Back to Alaska, which is pretty much, I think, the favorite place for everybody that listens to this. I think it's on everybody's bucket list, if they haven't been there, they want to go there. If they've been there, they want to go back as much as possible. So we're going to talk about your mission and what you do up there, but part of it is supporting, protecting the fish species that we all love. So we're going to talk about all that and talk about Chris, uh, how and some of the stuff you have going, which sounds like you're pretty busy. But before we get there, talk about fly fishing first. How did you get into fly fishing? What's your first memory? And then we take it into, Carissa. Sure. So I'm a second |
| 2:35.4 | generation of Alaskan lifelong, born and raised here. So fishing has always been a part of my life, |
| 2:41.1 | you know, since I was a kid. But about 15 years ago, my brother retired from the Army, |
| 2:47.6 | and he started spending more time on the river and he got into fly fishing and of course |
| 2:53.7 | little sister wanted to go along and I accompanied him and fell in love with fishing the quinoe on |
... |
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