My husband’s cousin and her husband came to Alaska (their first trip) to spend a little time with us, we picked them up at the airport in Anchorage (Wednesday the 17th of June) and then headed south to the Kenai River where we spend the majority of our summers camped out. On the three hour drive down they were lucky enough to see a few moose along the way (this fulfilled one of the items on Carol’s [my husbands cousin] Bucket List). Since the first run of Kings (Chinook salmon) on the lower Kenai River wasn’t that hot, we decided that we would introduce them to fishing for reds (sockeye salmon) on the upper Kenai River (Thursday June 18th), so we packed up all the gear we would need and off we went for the approximate 1 hour drive to the area of the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers. After sitting in line for about an hour we finally inched our way into the parking area at the Russian River ferry. Now it’s time to get the hip boots on, rig the poles and gather up the other necessary gear that we would need (stringer, fish bonker, extra leader line, hooks etc.), then off we go to find a spot amongst all the other anglers strung out along the river bank. We are lucky enough to find an area that would allow three of us to fish, but low and behold we were NOT the only anglers who wanted to fish that same area, on the bank lay a young (approximate two year old) grizzly bear.

He looked so relaxed, stretched out keeping an eye on the river, the anglers and maybe the FREE fish that some kind and unknowing angler would provide for him.

Carol, her husband Frank and our son Ricky enter the river and see if one or more of them might be lucky enough to catch a salmon while also keeping a very close eye on the young bear. After a while he gets up and checks things out along the bank area, finding a filleted out salmon carcass

he drags it back up to the bank area and cleans the little bit of salmon meat off the bones, then looks around for more. The bear finally wanders off into a wooded area (at which point our son has one salmon on the stringer), the three of them continue fishing …..(I am standing guard on the river bank with our gear, my son’s fish [one must have all gear within three feet of themselves at all times or encounter a $300 dollar fine while fishing this area] and camera in hand).

About 15 minutes later, here comes the young bear strolling along the bank area

and working its way towards me and my husband’s cousin Carol (who just decided to take a little break from fishing), I pick up the one end of the stringer with my left hand (keeping my camera at the ready in my right hand) and we both start moving out into the river (now to paint the picture a little better, the stringer is in my left hand and the fish at the end of the stringer is being carried with the current downstream towards the area the bear is coming from)….the bear keeps stopping from time to time sniffing the air [we are up wind from him] then once again starts walking upstream, by now I am getting a little bit worried as he is not only walking upstream towards us,

but is also walking out into the river at the same angle as our sons fish which is at the end of the stringer….[do I just let go of the stringer or do I wait and see what this young one has in mind]. I take the second option (which turned out to the the okay one), and wait.

…..[much relief is running through my mind at this point], as I am clicking away….one picture after another! Now the bear picks up one fish, not realizing that there are three attached to a stringer line, he stumbles on one fish but manages to keep the one in his mouth….then he decides it’s time to try another tactic….keeping the one in his mouth, he starts to back up towards the river bank and the woods while using its front paws to drag the other two fish with him (which are attached to the stringer but he isn’t into the ‘knowledge of mankind’ and what they use to keep their fish linked together), after whacking at the other two fish with his front paws, the bear and the three fish finally disappear into the woods

…..as the angler who unknowingly contributed to the bears feeding, realizes he just lost half of his allowable catch of 6 reds. The man just shrugs his shoulders and continues fishing….this is just another day in Alaska fishing the Russian and Kenai Rivers with the bears (blacks and browns) of this area.

What a way to welcome first time visitors to Alaska…..this was one item that was NOT on either of their bucket Lists, but no matter they were so excited for the opportunity that this young bear provided them, and they could go home and actually say that they fished for reds with a grizzly in Alaska!

Goodbye Carol and Frank….we can’t wait for your next visit (who knows what ‘Alaska’ will have in store for you next time).

Images and Writing © Deb Larson