The Kenai River king salmon are famous the world over for their size and fighting ability. In years past, trophy kings (generally over 70 pounds) were reported each season. The current world record Chinook salmon was taken in May 1985 from the waters of the Kenai River and weighed a whopping 97 pounds. Even so, the numbers of the gigantic fish have significantly decreased over the past few decades which is of great concern to KRSA and the sport fishing public. The age seven fish (known as five-ocean fish for years spent in the ocean) historically accounted for 2 to 5% of the total return.
The KRSA Release a Hog program educated anglers on the benefits of these big fish, and rewarded the angler with a trophy mount for voluntary catch and release, which helped long term sustainability by putting more “Hogs” on the spawning beds to create future generations of trophy fish. During the lifetime of the Release a Hog program, hundreds of trophy kings were returned to the Kenai as a result.
There is more work to be done to restore the mighty Kenai River king salmon and KRSA is working diligently to ensure this happens.
