By RASHAH MCCHESNEY and MOLLY DISCHNER
PHOTO BY PENINSULA CLARION
In this May 28, 2011, photo, the sun rises behind Steve Rinker early on a Saturday as he fishes the Ninilchik River for king salmon on the ceremonial start of the Kenai Peninsula sport fishing season. Early run fishing for kings in May and June on the Kenai River was closed in 2013 as a record-low return was observed and the minimum escapement goal was not met.
Dena’ina tradition holds that each spring when the Golden Crown Sparrow warbles its distinctive three-note song the first of the five Pacific salmon runs to the Cook Inlet have arrived.
Legend has it that a man waiting on the bank of the river heard the bird sing, hurried down to the river with a dipnet, jumped into the water and caught a king salmon, according to ethnographer Peter Kalifornsky’s book.
The king, or chinook, salmon are the largest of the salmon species and since the world record for a sport-caught king — a 97 pound and 4 ounce fish — was landed in May 1985 by the late Les Anderson, the king fishery on the Kenai River has exploded in both popularity and controversy.
Due to copyright law, the Alaska Salmon Alliance is unable to repost this article in full. You can read the article in its entirety here.
Rashah McChesney is a reporter for the Peninsula Clarion in Kenai. Molly Dischner is a reporter for the Alaska Journal of Commerce in Anchorage.
As with all the articles we link to on the ASA website, this report does not necessarily reflect the views of the Alaska Salmon Alliance.