. Hi everyone well it is February 17th here on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska and it won’t be long till old man winter gives way to the coming of spring. Excitement is starting to build here at Jim Rusk Fishing as thoughts of chrome bright King Salmon entering the Kenai River and the Kasilof River in just 3 short months start to fill my head! We are all optimistic that 2020 will have great runs of King Salmon, Silver Salmon, and Sockeye Salmon here on the Kenai and Kasilof Rivers. One positive thing that we are sure of is the Alaska board of fish has just raised the escapement goal for late run Kenai River Sockeye Salmon, which should result in a bit less commercial fishing in Cook Inlet which in turn should help boost returns of not only Sockeye Salmon but also King Salmon and Silver Salmon. This of course is just my best guess but that being said I am very optmistic. Also summer of 2020 will be a Pink Salmon year so if you ever wanted to take the kids fishing Pink years are great for that lots and lots of action, adults also enjoy catching a fish every cast too! Also on pink years the Silver Salmon fishing is typically very good and certain techniques like bobber fishing and spinner fishing can be very productive, unlike non Pink Salmon years when these methods don’t tend to work as well. Last fall I purchased a brand new set of G loomis rods for bobber and spinner fishing and can’t wait to break them in on some fat chrome Silver Salmon on the Kenai River. One more thought on next summers fishing, I want to talk about King Salmon fishing on the Kenai River as many of you know we have had a number of years were the returns to the Kenai River were not what they once were. So here at Jim Rusk fishing we have decided to encourage our guests to release all big Kenai River King Salmon. We certainly don’t mind harvesting the smaller kings for table fair when regulations allow but we feel like the best chance to preserve this unique and incredible run of large Kenai River King Salmon, is praticing catch and release of large mature Kenai River King Salmon. Now I am not saying that catch and release is mandatory at Jim Rusk Fishing and we will decide on a fish by fish basis but we will strongly encouraging catch and release going forward in this amazing fishery. Well that is all I have for now Tight Lines!