Fishing the Kenai with Dallas Voss

Jennie is joined by Dallas Voss, a fishing guide on the Kenai River where she grew up. We talk about fishing the river, how to make sure you have a great fishing experience in Alaska as well as being a kid and raising kids in Kenai.

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Music credits:  Largo Montebello, by Domenico Mannelli, CC.

Transcript

Jennie Flaming: 0:03

Welcome to the Alaska uncovered podcast with me, your host, Jennie Flaming, my occasional co host and full time husband Jay and I bring you accurate, helpful and entertaining information about Alaska travel and life in Alaska are you interested in going fishing on your trip to Alaska? Today we are talking about fishing on the Kenai River on the Kenai Peninsula. My guest today is Dallas Voss. Dallas is a lifelong Alaskan and a fishing guide who helps her clients land trophy fish in her backyard. Growing up almost every adventure she can remember revolved around fishing, exploring large rivers and small streams in the Cook Inlet. Her family not only found free time for sport fishing, but also took part in multiple commercial fisheries, gill netting for salmon longlining for halibut and farming oysters. As a teenager Adela spent multiple summers working for a commercial fish processing plant inlet salmon and three summers working for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Soldotna. Today, Dallas is a fishing guide and an ambassador for Trout Unlimited on the Kenai River Dallas. Welcome to Alaska uncovered. Thank you for being here.

Dallas: 1:33

Thank you for having me, Jennie. I'm excited.

Jennie Flaming: 1:36

I am excited to this is a great, great topic. And before we kind of get into the episode, I wanted to just mention for our listeners, that phishing is something that happens all over Alaska, there's all different kinds of sport fishing, and commercial fishing and and what we are talking about today is specifically river fishing on the Kenai River. So that is what we're getting into today. So Delos, um, tell tell us how you got to Alaska.

Dallas: 2:08

you know, lifelong Alaskan, but technically wasn't born here is born in California. My parents were they originally from my dad started working for Halliburton. And so we were transferred up here when I was three. So he was a sloper you know, working up on the north slope and so he would do two on two off, and for whatever reason Halliburton at the time was running, you know, their, their workers kind of out of the town of Kenai they had like, not a housing like area, but like for whatever reason, that was an easy place for them to put their workers up in houses. There's a small airport there in Kenai where they could then fly up to Anchorage, and then from Anchorage, all the way up to the north slope. So we kind of jumped on that or my parents did and they moved us all up three siblings or three things but two of them my older sister and brother and then when they got up here, they had my third sibling, my youngest sister. She was actually born in Alaska so amazing childhood we got to you know, go for wheeling out into the wilderness we got to go down on the beach and have bonfires a lot of freedom that we got living in a small town down here versus if they would have had to move up to Anchorage. Yeah. And then more of in the city. Right. So amazing childhood didn't appreciate it at the time. But look back now and it's not yet right. Yeah, it was just like, oh, you know, we're living in small towns is terrible. But no, this was amazing. Like the, the resources that were available to us, you know, not only on the fishing, but the hunting, everything was just right in our backyard. And you know, something that you know, looking back on it now, it was an easy brainer for us to come here and start my family here because I had such a great childhood. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 3:52

in this area. So I'm curious are your are your own kids kind of like you were they like, Oh, you got to get out of this small town or are they like we love it?

Dallas: 4:01

Not not yet because they're still very young. Okay, and so I don't think they've quite grasped that yet. But we still you know, we're putting them into all these activities and you know, very Alaskan type stuff. You know, they have a snow machine they go skiing at the resort, you know, we go down to the beach, they go fishing, and I don't think they have any idea of the appreciation you know that most kids don't get to do these things. Yeah. So you know, hopefully they have a love for fishing and skiing is you know, two of our favorite things to do. You know, we can't force obviously can't force it on kids but that's Yeah, our hope is that that's what they want to partake in our boys. Lake is actually even playing hockey this year. So yeah, a lot of Alaska things we put a rink in the backyard from the skate around on which was way more work than it was worth. In my head. I'm like, oh, put a rink and you just, you know, flood an area it freezes. No, no Oh, it's like hours and hours of like sprinkling this area, because you don't want to put too much water in and then the top layer will freeze and it'll be softer neath right. So you got to like, layer by layer, and it's just like, yes. Oh, me on what we thought was gonna be Oh, he's gonna love this. And I think then, of course, we bought him the snow machine, and he's barely been on the brink. Right. So you're like, well, oh, well, naturally. But yeah, just the opportunities for them down here, you know, in this small town, you know, half the time, we're not locking our doors. We're not locking our car doors when we go to town, you know. So, yeah, all those luxuries that I had with a kid is still available now. That's cool. It's special. Yeah, definitely. That

Jennie Flaming: 5:44

is really, really wonderful. So Dallas, I'd love to know how you got into being a guide, because you have all this experience working in the fishing industry in various ways. What what sort of brought you to the guiding side of working with clients and visitors?

Dallas: 6:03

You know, I didn't grow up thinking I was going to be a guide, even though we spent, you know, countless hours with my dad on the river. It wasn't something that, you know, I never thought I was going to do. So you know, I left for college. And then I ended up back in Anchorage doing media relations for the athletic teams there at the college. And I loved it, you know, it was great. And, you know, I thought that was my career. And I put in, you know, I think about 10 years total in that field. And I had a great time. It just so happened that I met my now husband, Dustin. And he was taking a job down here in Kenai as a firefighter at the time. And it's like, oh, cool, you know, it's my hometown, you know, but you know, so anyways, you know, started dating and eventually turned into okay, I'm moving to Kenai with you, you know, years later, I was like, Well, what am I going to do down there? You know, and I had this background in fishing, I love to fish, we still, you know, went out fishing every weekend, we could the two of us. So we're trying to decide, You know what I was gonna do. And then with his job at Kenai fire fire fighter. He works two days on four days off. So he's got this great flexible schedule, where it was a situation where well, I don't want to work at nine to five, where, you know, you're off for days and getting to go adventure and fish and hunt and hike. And I'm, you know, sitting in an office someplace.

Jennie Flaming: 7:29

Yeah, that'd be dumb. Yeah. So

Dallas: 7:31

it was just hard, you know, like, but what did we do, we knew we wanted to start a family, you know, and, you know, be, you know, have one of us around to you know, that stay at home mom kind of scenario. So it just so happened to kind of fell into our lap, I had some previous co workers that were looking for a fishing trip, and I knew some guides down here. And I sent them to those guides. And I was like, hey, you know, I've got these friends I want to fish. And our buddy was like, well, Dallas, you know, when you send me people, you actually can make a commission off that was like, what? Like, yeah, when you refer someone to us, we'll you know, we'll give you like a 20% cut. And, you know, so for doing that, so feel free to send as much as you want. I was like, well, that's interesting. And then we kind of looked into it as like, Okay, well, I've got this background, I've got the knowledge of the fisheries. I've got now this media relations background where I know website design, I know social media, graphic design, all the other elements of starting a, you know, business, if you will, you know, maybe it's a situation where I'm not guiding but I'm just booking trips for, for clients. And that's kind of how we started it as. And then as we're going through the process of, you know, that might be my career is just booking trips for clients and not actually doing the guiding, you know, well, I don't have the followers, you know, I don't have the reach of clients yet. Yeah. And so it's like, okay, I still need to make some money. So it was like, Okay, we'll go through the guide Academy, which is required on the Kenai River, you go through a week long course. We'll start there, we'll go through the guide Academy and see where that takes me. And I finished it. And I remember I reached out to my friend one of the guides down here and I was like, hey, you know, I'm obviously a first year guide. I just finished the guide Academy, you know, do you know anyone that's willing to hire, you know, rookie guide, who's obviously very green, but knows that, you know, knows the river and the fishing. And, you know, is a female as well, you know, which is definitely, you know, something that, you know, we felt like could be a hurdle as well, right? And immediately he's like, Well, I'll hire you. And it was just kind of holy cow this is happening. Oh, that's awesome. You know, it's like we really like he's like, yeah, he's like, you know, and his name is Corey and he has a he's like I've got a drift boat that I use on the concealer river for fishing early in the spring. But once we get into the main season on the Kenai River, he's like I'm running my power boat and that drift boat is didn't empty he's like you already know how to row. So it'd be easy for you to transition into, you know, running that boat and running clients for me. And so that's where it got started and pretty soon so I did four years working for Cory, you know, only one year in the drift boat, and had, you know, had a great time. So that's what I knew. I knew drift boats, I knew how to row I knew how to read read the water, especially for the trout fishing. And then we did a lot of sockeye trips to sockeye salmon trips, where we go to the client, or go to the shore with the boat, you know, which is a little bit more challenging the drift boat, but you know, first year made it work, no problem. And then as we're going into my second season, he's like, I'm going to be buying another powerboat, you're going to learn how to run the power boat. I was like, Whoa, that's not that's a whole you know, those things go fast. There's rocks, you know, but the drift boat, you got time, you know, you got you can see that rock company, right? You got time to roll around it and prepare yourself. It's a whole new ballgame when you're running a prop and you need to know all those groter those gravel bars are where the rocks are, and be prepared to, you know, safely get down that river, especially when you got four clients sitting there on the boat, you know, so yeah, you know, went through some growing pains that, you know, preparing for it, but got it figured out and help that we have a personal jet boat that my husband and I kind of fun fish out in the winter time. And so I was able to kind of get some practice running that that outboard even though it's a jet and just understanding exactly you know how to control a boat going at a faster speed and yep. So yeah, I was in the powerboat with Cory for another three more years before and he knew from the get go that we were going to want to be starting our own business. And so it wasn't like a shock to him. So you know, we were able to build our clientele and our returning clients as I was working for him to get ready for launch and explore Kenai so we were kind of perfect. Yeah. So what was super nice of him is he even let me book my own trips while I was still working for him. That's awesome. Yeah. So I was able to bring in my own people, while getting the knowledge and experience from him and getting more to having, you know, more trips to go on because he was also supplying me with clients. So very special, very lucky, you know, most most guys aren't going to let you do that. So it was a very unique situation that he was able to. Yeah, let me do that. So yeah, basically, we figured about after my fourth year, we had enough client to tell to go out on our own. And, yeah, and we're getting ready to start our seventh season. This summer. And when I say we started my husband, you know, as a firefighter with that great work schedule. He's also able to come guide as well on his days off. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So he is able to make up the other portion of explore Kenai being able to do the trips with me on his days off, or he can trade his two days that he's at this fire department, and with another buddy there, and then make up those days in the wintertime when we're not as busy. So during the peak season, where we've got a lot of trips, and we're busy, he can actually take like a good month and a half off from the fire department and run trips continuously with me. So that's awesome. Yeah. So it's been a real fun experience together. We're both, you know, we started the same year. And he actually started it. While I was working for Cory. He was doing it with another, another friend on the river, who were pretty good. They were great mentors to work with as well. You know, so we learned a lot from a lot of the guides out there, and just the knowledge we gained from all of them was super helpful and launched us into our own business.

Jennie Flaming: 13:36

That is really awesome. Thank you for sharing that story. That is really cool. Yeah. So I would love to hear before we get into some logistics for folks who are not familiar with fishing and not familiar with Alaska, or from another salmon place. Can you explain what a salmon run is? Or what it means when someone says the X type of salmon are running? What does that mean? And what does that mean for fishing?

Dallas: 14:12

Right? So obviously, the you know, the lifecycle of salmon, you know, from when they are, you know, the eggs are laid in the river to when they hatch, they go back out to the ocean, they leave the river, the river system go back up to the ocean, and depending on the species, they have a different amount of time that they're going to be out in the ocean. So for us, our primary focus are the sockeye salmon which take up a bulk of our season. They live anywhere from like two to three years out in the ocean before they return to the river. And you know, which is one of those amazing miracles of nature of where how they're able to find the river they are born in

Jennie Flaming: 14:50

and read so yeah, just just amazing. Yeah,

Dallas: 14:53

I'm not sure how the biology on that but just so impressive that they know to come back. Yeah, to that area. Like, to my knowledge like even to you know the exact spot like the same like general area in the river system too. So I don't know if it smells or what but they. So anyway, so the sockeye salmon will be out in the ocean, depending on when they decide to come back from two to three years. And generally, hopefully around that three year to get a little bit bigger once they come back in. And we've got two runs on the Kenai River of the sockeye salmon. The first run are actually fish that were hatched in the Russian River, which is a confluence off the Kenai River up by Cooper Landing. And that first run will come in so those fish will start entering the river. And so that's the what we call the first Sockeye run of the season. And that usually shows up around mid June. And those you know, they'll go through the lower of the Kenai River, but they book it, they book it straight up to that Russian River, because that's where they want to go, right? So they don't dawdle. There's not a lot of hold over on the Kenai in any area, it's to get up to that Russian River, where they can then go ahead and spawn. So we've got that first run that'll come in, like I said, mid June kind of tapers off at the end of June. You know, it's a amazing fishery, it's super easy to target those, those Sockeye because they get funneled into that where the Kenai meets the Russian right there at the confluence. And so fishermen sport fishing guides can sit there and basically just, you know, like shooting in a, what do they say that fusion bucket, you know, shooting

Jennie Flaming: 16:27

fish in a barrel, barrel,

Dallas: 16:32

Like there's so many. And so, you know, it is combat fishing, there's, you know, you've got somebody, you know, three feet to your left three feet to your right, yeah, it's not my favorite I, you see people, you know, they you hook one, and you take your fish to the shore, and someone will jump into your spot. And that's just kind of the system that is, you know, kind of developed. And then you wait, your turn in the next spot that opens up, you jump in there, and you grab another one. And then you have your, you know, obviously, your fishing game regulations on how many salmon you're allowed to have typically starts up at three Sockeye per day per person. But as that run gets stronger, so the more fish that show up into that system, fishing game, sometimes we'll go ahead and add, you know, another three, sometimes even six fish to your limit for the day. So it's a it's a quick way for especially like Alaska and locals to jump in there and get their fish that you know, that's gonna, you know, supply and for the rest of the season. Yep. So yeah, those are, you know, kind of the first run of sockeye that's coming through. Like I said, they're gonna shoot right up through that Russian and then about mid July, another run will come through and that's your Kenai reds. So they're going to be a little bit bigger than the ones that were hatched in the Russian River. Some, you know, Duke genetics maybe grown up in you know, being born in a bigger stream or river, I'm not sure, but there'll be a little bit bigger. They'll come in around mid July and taper off or, you know, get starts to get pretty slow around mid August. So you've got a good month there where you can target them on the Kenai and so that's what just cause runs, meaning the fissure in the system, you know, they're running or, you know, swimming up river to their spawning grounds. And it's a good time to be out there targeting them. Yeah, case for the sockeye fishery. We're doing flossing for them. The Alaska floss if you will, which is just kind of a fancy name for I don't want to call it snagging, but what you're doing is you're throwing that line out there, and you're letting it bounce on the bottom. And the idea is that the line will then pass into the fish's mouth. And then at the end, you do a sweep that pulls the hook into the fish's mouth and actually hooks a fish. And the reason we're doing that is because these fish once they hit hit freshwater, they are no longer something in their biology is telling them not to eat so they're no longer eat. So they come in and they're ready to just get to the spawning ground and do their thing. And they're not eating so you know, I don't know who it was It figured this system out but pretty impressive that they really figured out okay, these fish aren't gonna bite how do we catch them? Well, you put a line out there and you tried to hook them in the mouth. Obviously fishing game doesn't want you just throwing a line out there and snagging these fish you know in the belly tail, that type of thing. Yep. And you want to try to do it right catch them in the mouth. And you know, a lot of people will have you know, issues with that. My main reason for understanding why Fish and Game has kind of like the no snagging while you're not just trying to pull in three fish as fast as you can, is if you throw that hook out there and are just ripping it back and forth. You know, not really caring what you're doing. There's a lot of bycatch that could be injured. Right. You know, we you know, we love our rainbow trout fishery on this river. The Dolly Varden population is good too. You know, those are the some of the species that can get injured, doing that type of fish that type of technique. So Yeah, the lacing system, while it will occasionally hook one of those other fish, it minimizes it drastically, which is definitely good. So that is good. So we've got just kind of answer your question more that those two Sockeye runs that come in. And then another one we focus on is the silver salmon that come in, they'd like to show up around mid August. And they'll taper out about beginning of September. And that's the first run of the silver salmon. And then we've got a second one that sometimes kind of overlaps the tail end of that first one, they'll start showing up, you know, beginning of September, and you can usually tell when the second one is coming in, because they're, they're typically larger than the first one as well. And we'll be able to fish those throughout the rest of the month of September. So those are the two we'd like to target as far as, you know, guiding operations. Yep, there's definitely two other salmon that come in the river, and one being the pink salmon, which only come in on even years. So this year, be in 2024, the pink salmon will return in great numbers this year. You know, unfortunately, there's so many of them, but they're just not good eating, they, as soon as their bodies hit the freshwater again, there, it starts to deteriorate their meat and their system. And so you if you catch one super fresh right out of the ocean, you know, you might be able to, you know, smoke it. But for the most part, you're not gonna want to target these fish, they're gonna get pretty soft and pay pail, the meat will turn pretty pale. Yeah, so it's not a huge resource that gets utilized. What they do bring, though, is when those pings come in, and they start spawning, there's just that many more eggs in the system, which then provides us with really fat rainbow trout, which is what we just love, because these, so these rainbows will just put on so much extra weight, because they're just gorging themselves on that much more food that's in the system versus, you know, the odd years when there's not a pink run. Or not as many things coming in the system, you know, less food for them, so they don't get as fat. But man, when they on an even year, they put on the extra weight. So even if you're fighting, you know, a 16 inch rainbow, you know, it's got an extra inch or two girth on it. Wow, that is amazing. Yeah, which just makes the fighting that much more fun. So come September, when those pinks are dropping, and the trout are just, you know, and they're, they're tart going after everything, because there's just so much food system. So they're just targeting all the different types of eggs that are out there. And so it's easy for us to get on him. So anyway, we'll get back to rainbow trout at a time. But the other salmon that, um, you know, is why this river is was famous is the king salmon run, the world record was hooked back in the 80s and 97 pounder. And since then, it's been the place to go to to catch king salmon. Unfortunately, for the last couple of decades, the runs have just diminished. And that's kind of statewide is what it seems like. Yeah. All the different rivers in the state are seeing a huge decline in the king salmon, unfortunately. Yeah. So fishing game, close the king fishery down last year, we weren't even allowed to fish for him in the years past. We were able to fish for him, you know, for a couple of different runs. But it was, you know, catch and release only. And then last year, you know, in my opinion, they did the right thing, they closed us down to just not even be able to target them. And yeah, you know, and I'm not I would imagine that's what we're gonna see going forward, especially in 2024 for this season. Yep. But, you know, it's, I'm hoping it's what could potentially save them, you know, if enough of them get left alone, they can go spawn, and then maybe in five or so years, we can see, you know, some numbers reached searcher return. Yeah. So versus you know, that so the, like I was saying before the sockeye are returning every two to three years. Silver's about the same about three years, the kings are usually out in the ocean for about five. So potentially, if we leave them alone for five, hopefully that means that next, you know, six year whatever we're going to see, you know, more numbers come in, you know, so, yeah, we could probably spend the whole day talking about the king salmon fishery, but it's yeah, you know, something that we want around for our, you know, our kids to be able to fish. So yeah, I'm kind of hoping that, you know, statewide, they're able to kind of get a solution for it, you know?

Jennie Flaming: 24:35

Yeah. And I know that has just devastated so many communities and Alaska, that lack of kings in the last few years. Yeah.

Dallas: 24:44

So many people depend on it not only as a food source, but you know, as a way of tourism, that they're seeing just a huge decline in the economy even here. You know, the month of June is typically where we target them on the Kenai River, and I've got a friend And that owns the Kenai River Lodge. And she was just saying her her month of June is just wide open. You know, there's the tourists aren't wanting to, you know, even though it's a great time to be in Alaska, right, you know, it's still great weather. It's, there's plenty to do but because they're not able to target these king salmon anymore, they're seeing a huge decline, you know, and booking Wow, wow. So just Yeah, so the different factors that it's, you know, contributing to by being a poor run, but, yeah. So again, yeah, hopefully they're able to figure it out. There's, you know, a lot of finger pointing at different different areas on what's causing the decline. Yeah. Myself. Personally, I think it's a combination of everything. You know, I'm not going to point my finger at one, one demographic and say, This is why we're why we're having a problem. Yeah. situation. We're probably just leaving alone. And we'll see what you know, see what happens from there. Yeah, yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 25:56

Cool. Okay. So other than salmon, so you mentioned rainbow trout. You You guide trips for rainbow trout?

Dallas: 26:04

I do. It's my absolute favorite. Yeah. Cool.

Jennie Flaming: 26:08

And what other Are there any other fish? So we talked about Sockeye. We talked about Silver's we talked about rainbow trout. Um, are there any other fish that you guide trips for

Dallas: 26:24

Rainbows kind of go hand in hand with the Dolly Parton's which is a you know, a type of char, you know, because the way you're fishing for the rainbows is the same way you'd fish for the dolly. So you can't really, you're when you're fishing for them, you're gonna get both. You know, there's definitely different holes in different locations on the river where you're, maybe you'll find less dollies and, and vice versa, you know, you might find yourself in a dolly hole where you're just pulling out dollies or you know, but for the most part, when you're fishing for the rainbows and the dollies, you're not going to know what you're gonna get. Unlike other rivers, you know, we're not doing any sightseeing in this fishery, you know, because the Kenai River is glacier fed. You know, it's just too hazy to see. So yeah, everything we're doing is you know, below the surface, you don't know what you know, who's gonna go after your, your, your hook. So obviously using a different tactics to target the rainbows in the the dollies than the salmon, but for the most part, you're gonna get both, but that's kind of the you know, we just call them trout trips, essentially, even though it's a char instead of a type of trout. But yep. But yeah, it's, uh, you know, it's for mostly, for us, specifically, we only fly fish for them. But what is great about this fishery, because we're not, we're not doing a lot of casting, we're not sightseeing. It's a very easy beginner way of fly fishing. So we get a lot of clients are like, Oh, we want to go for rainbow trout. But we don't know how to fly fish. And it's not an issue at all, I usually tell my clients, you've got about a 30 minute window of kind of struggles of learning how to use a fly rod and how to cast the line out, you know, from the boats out into the river. But after that, you'll be catching fish, you know, usually about a 30 minute window of struggles and then you'll be hooking these fish and getting the final granted, much large, larger trout. You know, anything over like 20 inches to 30 is gonna be a lot more difficult to land. Yeah, if you're if you're new, but it's great that we can teach anyone we can teach, you know, 10 year old 10 do it that's relatively easy. So yeah, so you know, people get worried like, oh, you know, it's more complicated than a conventional rod. And it is, you know, there's a lot more to deal with, you know, line management on a fly rod. But it's just way more rewarding to me. You know, I feel like the conventional rod when you hook a trout, you know, you're essentially just reeling it in, you're not really letting that fish run and do its thing to try to try to get away right, you know, the fly rod gives you that kind of give and take and that finesse that you get with it to really feel a little bit more connected to the fish. And super, super special getting to watch those rainbows jump the dollies won't jump at the rainbows do they love to go airborne?

Jennie Flaming: 29:18

That's so cool.

Dallas: 29:19

I just super unique and like said being able to teach someone who's never even held a fly rod and then having to catch one I think it was my last trip of the season. Last year was a it was actually a trout tournament but it brings in, you know, all these businesses that you know, bring their employees and to do the tournament and the one gentleman I had had never fly fished before and he ended up landing at 27 inch rainbow which he was super stoked about right he was super stoked about it but I still don't know if he really understood like, like, not everybody gets to land at 27 inch rainbow like, you know, especially their very first time holding a fly rod so Wow. Oh, he was great. He followed instruction. And it might be a situation where, because they don't have previous knowledge, right, like they don't have any bad habits. So right, because he didn't do it. He sat there and he listened to my instruction. And he was, you know, just super understanding of what you know, this is what I want you to do this. And he, there was no pride, if you will, right. He was wanting to listen and get the fish to the net. And he did. And it was, it was very cool to be a part of it with him.

Jennie Flaming: 30:29

Love it. Oh, that's so fun. That's awesome. Okay, so one other thing I wanted to ask about was timing, which we kind of already covered. But I want to just make sure I got it. So for those of you listening, just to reiterate, again, we're talking about fishing on the Kenai River. Right. So the seasons in other parts of Alaska, on other rivers and certainly ocean fishing rights don't necessarily have anything to do with this. But for are they in some cases they do but for the Kenai River, so basically Dallas, what I heard you say is that it's sort of mid to late June for that first Sockeye run. And then mid July, to mid August for Red or No, for the Yeah, for red. Yeah. Okay. So for the other run of sockeye, and then mid August, early September for Silver's, which in the first run, and then that might overlap with the second one. And then the rainbow trout and the Dolly Varden are September, right.

Dallas: 31:35

I mean, those are your peaks, right? I mean, basically, we kind of look at it is anywhere from mid June to early, mid October, there's some sort of fishery going on, you're gonna be able to target fish one way or the other, it just kind of depends on what you're looking for. Right? Are you looking to bring meat home? You know, and, and share it with your friends? Are you looking for, you know, maybe going after a trophy rainbow, you know, so there's those different Yep. what your expectations are the rainbow fishery, obviously being catch and release is definitely all season long, there's just certain times when, you know, they're letting themselves on those eggs that are being dropped. So we're targeting, we'll find more of them when those salmon are dropping. So when they're dropping their eggs, right, the trout are going to be more keen to go after our beans, which is what we're using to target them at that point, right. So it those those become trickier. So you've got, you can catch them all year round, but you're gonna find there's certain times of the year that are just a little bit better for him. And yeah, they put and then put on more weight by September, you know what the ones you catch in August aren't as fat right, you're gonna find that the heavier ones come September when they've had more time to fill up. So it's definitely something we probably, in addition to just doing rainbow trips, probably one of my favorites, definitely my husband's favorite trip to do in like, late August, and through September is a combo trip roll, they'll go out and I'll target silver salmon in the morning. And get those and then once you've got your limit on the silvers then go ahead and target rainbows to finish off the day, some days. Some days you can get you might get your get lucky. And get your Silver's in a couple hours. And then like Well, this was an eight hour trip, let's go, you know, you don't want to be done. So having that rainbow fishery in the same system there, you're able to then switch gears and go after the trout, which makes it just really enjoyable and get to you know, a little bit of both worlds in that situation, too.

Jennie Flaming: 33:34

That's really cool. So our rainbow and Dolly Varden always catch a release, or just at certain times on the

Dallas: 33:43

You're right. Thanks for clarifying that. So technically, you are allowed to keep one rainbow under 16 inches a day.

Jennie Flaming: 33:52

Okay,

Dallas: 33:53

that being said, I don't know any guides that do that. It's definitely possibly we definitely do not. And I think that's why we have such a world class fishery for the trout is because people you know, we've kind of all just been putting them back. And it's one of those things, you know, clients are like, well, you know, do we want to eat these? Should we keep one? It's like you honestly, in my opinion, don't they are, you know, they're eating salmon flesh off the bottom, you know, at that time, you know, these aren't the trout that are you know, smaller stream in the States. These guys are eating guts and stuff of Sam and the stuff that we're throwing away that we don't want to eat. So when you open up one of their bellies, it's not it's not great inside. Yeah. And I could see if it was, you know, if that was the only fish you know, in this river that we were dealing with, but we've got these amazing salmon runs. Yep. And so whenever anyone is going like, oh, I want to keep a rainbow. It's like okay, what if we go to target the sock guy real quick? Are these Silver's real quick? Yeah, you know, that's gonna be something worth keeping. Right? That's going to be something you're gonna want to eat. You're gonna want to take home and lay up versus flying these little, you know, 16 inch trout butts, you know, you know, feed maybe you and a child. Yeah. So usually it's a very easy sell. And you know, someone books with me, I'll explain that to him or I'm like, Hey, this is catch and release. You know, regulations say you can keep them but we don't. Yeah. So and get we've got 30 inch rainbows, you know, which is pretty unheard of in most systems. And I think that's, you know, largely contribute to the fact that we're taking care of these fish. We're trying to keep them wet if we can barbless hooks, you know, doing all the things we can to keep these fish swimming off strong when we put them back in the water. Yo.

Jennie Flaming: 35:38

Awesome. Cool. So then on the Kenai for the runs that you were talking about, that you guide for for sockeye and Silver's. Can you keep those obviously, within the the limits and the requirements? Are those all fish that you can keep? Are there? Is there any catch and release in the salmon fishery at the moment as well?

Dallas: 35:59

Those silver and sockeye are all you can keep, like I said the only one that could potentially be catching releases if they let us fish for the king salmon. Yep. But yeah, for the most part, as far as I know, there's no worry about the sockeye run, or the silver run. So they're letting us as long as you're staying within your limit. You're good to go. Yep. And a lot of times those runs will be so strong, especially the sockeye run the last couple years. That has they've seen so many numbers come into the river that they'll go ahead and they'll increase that limit as well. So we always start off with three Sockeye to start the season per day. And typically by at least like the end of July, it's already increased to six. So you have a good shot you know, you bring up a family of four you're walking with, you know, 24 fish, you know, it's a nice one. Yeah, one day and your your freezers full. You're not most families probably can't eat 24 Salmon throughout the winter. So yeah. It's definitely a easy way to bring home some meat be able to breathe, share some with your family at home. Yeah. And have that experience. Yeah. Perfect.

Jennie Flaming: 37:05

So tell me a little bit about when folks go out to the Kenai with you. Um, are they? Are they waiting? Are you taking the drift boat out? Are you fishing from the boat or just using it to get to a different place? Like how, how does that work?

Dallas: 37:28

Yeah, the logistics for us are actually pretty simple. And super convenient for the clients themselves. We're fortunate enough that another guy and friend of ours again, so many people that have just kind of helped us on this journey and have you know, shared things with us. She actually owns property on a back slew of the Kenai River right in the town of Soldotna. So centrally located, so all the amenities of the town. She's got this river access that she actually lets us lease to boat slips off her property, which allows us to keep our boats in the water full time so they never get, you know, trailered out. I don't have to launch them in the morning. I don't have to take them out. Yeah, they're sitting in the water they're ready to go. It's in a private area where we even can keep you know rods and gear on the boat without any fear of anyone taking anything. So what's super nice about this property of hers is a pretty big open pad so the clients will show up Park and then right there the property we're able to get them into their waders that we provide the waders and boots for them. You know, get them sized up, make sure you know we've got all the right sizes so they'll get into their waders and boots, and then literally walk down to the property and walk onto the boats and we're fishing out of 20 foot power boats. I myself and fishing out of a Willie predator. My husband's fishing out in North River scout. So big comfortable open boats. four seats each. My husband's even have nice little armrests that he likes to brag about that. He's got armrests. I've got cupholders though so

Jennie Flaming: 39:03

Oh yeah, well that's that's really important. You

Dallas: 39:05

got to have the amenities. Yeah, you got to have the cupholders. You gotta be able to hold your beer. So yeah, they walk they get the Raiders on the walk straight on. They get to go out of this cool little back sue the river where you typically see a lot of moose and ducks exit this loop and it pulls us right out onto the main stem of the Kenai and not Gosh half a mile down river is where we like to then pull over and target the sockeye salmon. So like I'd mentioned before that flossing for them is a technique that is definitely best done while waiting it's can be done out of a boat but it's very difficult especially to land them and the the soccer swimming on on the bottom of the river. And so you want to be able to get your line download where they're swimming which is definitely harder when in a boat so we'll take him down there. Park the boat the boat will be right next So so so it's nice, it'll still have, you know, all their clothes, snacks, drinks, you know, obviously, all my tackle is all right there. So in case we need anything and you just turn around and and or you need to warm up your feet, you go hop back into the boat, you know, so there's so the comfort of having a boat, you're just not actually fishing from it so, and then you'll be fishing right off the shore or right off, you know, 1015 feet from it for the sockeye. So that is kind of how we handle this, you know, and if that spots full, there's spots all along that area that we can pull into, to target the fish. The silver salmon fishing, for the majority, majority of the time is gonna be done out of the boat. It's definitely a more leisurely fishery. While Sokka you're actually doing a lot of work and you're out there flossing, constantly trying to catch these fish. The silver fishing, you're sitting in these chairs, which is where the armrests come in, come in handy. Holder. Yeah. Exactly. Your coffee, whatever you need. So it's you're sitting in your chairs, your rods are actually sitting in rod holders. And they're we're back trolling, but we're back trolling from anchor. So we're on Anchor, okay, and the lines are shooting out the back end with plugs, typically with bait that are attracting new silver. So you get to basically, you know, chit chat, you know, drink your coffee, relax. And then we've got our rod set. you know, a little bit of a noise that it makes when a fish even hits it. So you're not even necessarily even watching your rod, you'll hear oh, that's, you'll hear Yeah, you'll hear the fish pulling line off your reel. You know, and you'll be able to like, oh, wait was that we look around, there's the Fit rod that's going off. You grab your rod, everybody else reels in there rod so their lines don't get tangled with Yeah. And like I said, we're sitting on Anchor, a lot of times, what we'll do is we will disconnect from the anchor, just leave it there with the buoy system floating in the river, and will actually float down with that fish. So it's easier to fight, right? It's better for the fish to like, right, you're not really in that fish straight up to the boat, you're gonna let it kind of fight and do his thing as we're drifting down the stream with it. So it takes some pressure off the fish and off the angler to write being able to not have the work is hard to get it to the net. Yeah, so definitely, I always you know, depending on my clients when they're booking, you know, talk to him, you know, you know, are you looking for something more physical than you want to go do Sockeye fishing you want you're gonna be out there. Yep, you're you're doing the work. You're the one out there with the rod versus the silver fishing is a more laid back, relax, you know, let the rod do the work and then you get a real inna a really cool fish that also jumps which is another unique thing about the silvers. You know, it's like catching a big rainbow they like to jump in and put on a little bit of display for you. Yeah, that's cool. Oh, yeah, two very different fisheries as far as the two salmon are concerned. Yeah, but both equally a lot of fun to catch. And can be again, we're using conventional rods for both those fisheries or sorry we're using the conventional rods for the silver salmon for soccer and we are using fly rods but it is by no means fly fishing donor reason we're using fly rods is because it's a lighter setup. And you can imagine being out there continuously casting and flossing over and over again trying to catch these fish that you want the lightest setup possible in your hand it's not to hurt your arm you know that's a it's a weird movement that you're probably not used to wherever you're coming from. So yeah, we used to fly rods but it's not fly fishing. It's just the lighter setup but conventional tackle on those silver so so cool. And then yeah, once a limits have been made. We will fillet the fish typically right out there on the river because the regulations allow you to throw the salmon guts you know heads eggs, bones, all that right back into the river system. Oh, that's great. Yeah, so super nice in again, great for that rainbow fishery right those that's the reason why those fish are getting so big. It's because we're putting that food source right back into the system for him. So we're cleaning right there for you put the flays in bags. Obviously take you guys take the clients back to the property waiters off and depending on the package, you know we can either get them processed for you or you just run up the street in town there since you're right located in Soldotna to one of the processors who will then clean up the flays vacuum pack them and freeze them and then they can either ship them home for you or they can put them in a fish box and you can actually take them on the airplane with you as a another check bag to save on on shipping. Yeah.

Jennie Flaming: 44:31

And I just want to break in here and say if you are visiting Alaska and you are wanting to take fish home, you absolutely want to get them packaged, processed all of that there and either take it with you or ship it whichever works out but like you definitely want to do that. Just don't don't try to not do that. Just be like yes, I want to get everything like packaged up up in a reasonable size sizes and frozen and like dealt with for me?

Dallas: 45:06

Yeah, absolutely. It's not something you want to gamble on on not having it done right. And then all sudden you're on a delayed flight going home and they're sitting, you know, in a plane for 24 hours. And yeah, those freezer boxes do pretty well, we actually were delayed going to Hawaii in January. And we were bringing my sister who lives there some fish. And it was probably a good 48 hours since those flays had been in the freezer. And they were still they were still good when we got to her house. So yeah, it does do very well, but definitely count it count on an extra expenditure of paying for it to be processed properly.

Jennie Flaming: 45:47

Okay, um, a couple other logistical things, since we were talking about taking fish at home, and stuff like that, I'm getting a fishing license, if someone books a trip with you do you sort of tell them what they need and help them facilitate getting that? Absolutely.

Dallas: 46:04

So what I typically do is, you know, I'm either communicating with my clients either over the phone or through email. And then once they, you know, pick their date, and they're confirmed, they're gonna, you know, they want this this trip, um, depending on what they're looking for, I will actually send them a confirmation email, that will have all the details as to where they need to be, what time what they need to pack. But then one of the things is the link that is to their fishing license. So what's nice is the fishing game finally went to a digital license that maybe five, six years ago is when they switched to it. So yeah, there's an online link for it, that they can go to, and they can purchase it and pick which dates they're going to be in Alaska fishing, right. So that way, it covers that timeframe. So I think there's one day, three days a week, you know, and so forth on the timeframe. And yeah, purchase your ticket, and then they'll let you have it just on for the Kenai River, they will let you have it just on your phone. Well, let me step back, you still have to like electronically sign it online, and then leave it on your phone. It's just like a photo. And so if you get you know, pulled over by fish and game, they will accept it digital on your phone, which that's the only thing I will say that, that doesn't work. A couple things that that doesn't work for is one if we are going after king salmon, one. So let's say that fishery was open, you'd have to have what's called the king salmon stamp. So they charge you additional money from what a normal fishing license costs. Yeah, go after kings, right? They're trying to get extra money is just going into, you know, the protection of the kings and the research for him. Yep. So you got everything Sam and Sam. And then they want you to be able to write down that can only allowed one king salmon at that if it was open. Right, right down right after you catch it, you know, that you caught one date time, you know, all those types. So you have to be able to have a paper copy. We're going after kings. Yeah, so that is different. But that's something that can still be purchased online at home, and then just print it out and carried on you. Yeah, so the days of having to go into a grocery store and wait in line are gone, which is still available. So if you're someone who likes to have, you know, an actual fishing license from a store, hardcopy, you're still able to do that. But most most just go the phone route. I will say this, if you're looking to do a saltwater trip, you know, Homer Seward, and they'll check wherever you're going. They like you'd have a paper copy as well, because they have to do some. I forget exactly what they're writing down, but they do have to write some things down on their fishing license as well. Makes sense. Yeah, so those are just some things to consider depending on what you're doing. But if you're just you know, Kenai River fishing for sockeye Silvers rainbows, the the Phone Copy is going to be all you need.

Jennie Flaming: 48:51

Yep. Cool. Okay, so one more thing before we take a short break and then move to the kind of wrap up questions. What I know you provide waders for people um what what do people need to bring with them for a day of fishing on the Kenai River?

Dallas: 49:12

Yeah, so we'll provide the waders and boots and then of course all the tackles as far as rods reels and and that doesn't mean that clients you know they've got a fly rod that you know, they like to use and they you know it's a correct weight. They're more than welcome to bring it and we can set it up for the way that we're going to fish it for no problem. But for the most part, most people don't they just kind of use what we have. But as far as what you're kind of on the hook for you obviously want to have warm layers. It is Alaska and while you know end of July we might have weather in the 70s the next day might be 50s and raining. Yeah cold so the the layers, warm socks, all the base layers rain jacket, even rain pants. So let's say you're going on a silver trip or rainbow trip where you're not even fishing The water, so we're not providing you with waders right, you're still gonna want something on the lower half of you. Yeah, in case it rains, those seats are gonna get wet. When it rains, there's no recovery. There's no coverage on the boat. So all basically always be prepared for all rain gear, all warm layers, hat and sunglasses. And even on a rainy day and cloudy day, you're still gonna want those, especially when we're trout fishing there's those hooks are flying around all over the place. And last thing you want to do is catch a hook in the eye so the hat and sunglasses is more for protection than anything. Yep. And then meals again depending on the package you booked with us. You know our basic package doesn't include meals or drinks. So basically we tell the clients whatever they want to eat or drink on the boat they're welcome to bring with them they can bring cooler you know, whatever they're wanting to have a more expensive package. You know, we'll obviously provide the meals for him and drinks depending on dietary concerns. Sure What else fishing license like we already went over?

Jennie Flaming: 51:03

That's what about bugs and bug protection? What do you recommend for that? No,

Dallas: 51:09

like it's weird. We we see a lot of the mosquitoes but it's usually like in May you know versus places in Bristol Bay where you're fighting the noseeums like crazy and you just can't read the word nuts. Yeah, we're not we don't see that on the Kenai River even when the mosquitoes are a little bad when you're out on the river. You're you barely notice them and maybe that's just more me cuz I'm, you know, we're used to it. But I always carry the bug spray in the boat. So I wouldn't ever tell someone they need to bring some because we're always have someone to vote for him. Cool. But I can't tell you the lesson. We actually used it. Yeah. It's

Jennie Flaming: 51:43

and I'm sure it also helps if someone is wearing. You know, if you're wearing waders and a rain jacket or rain pants on a rain jacket. You know, you're not really going to need bug spray, because they're not going to get you through your rain.

Dallas: 51:56

Yeah, I mean, you might see a couple out there a day but you really don't see a lot. Like I said, I feel like the main mosquito hatch usually happens in May, maybe early June. And from then it's it's not as bad around this area. Yeah. So it's a little or in your location. Yes. In my little little it's a little earlier than your main fishing. Exactly. So by the time we're fishing, yeah, like I said, but we'll carry the bugs read on our bug spray on our boats as well as sunblock. So those are two things that if someone doesn't bring will already have handy with us.

Jennie Flaming: 52:30

Awesome. Yeah. Well, we're gonna take a short break. And when we come back, we're going to have some final wrap up questions for Dallass.

R. Jay F: 52:40

Hi everyone, sometimes co host Jay here. I'm guessing you're like listening to Jennie as much as I do. If so you can help. Alaska uncovered does not have ads. We try to keep this podcast as authentic as possible. Please help support Jennie by supporting us on Patreon. The link is in the show notes. You can become a member for free and ask us your questions. Or you can become a financial support of this podcast for $5 a month and get access to our exclusive members only podcast once a month. The first one will be May 29. Join us before May 15. And you can get a founding member sticker and access to our very first call for your questions. Enjoy the rest of the show.

Jennie Flaming: 53:18

All right we are back with Dallas Voss and Dallas is a fishing guide on the Kenai River and we've been talking all about the different kinds of fish and different kinds of fishing you can do and how to do that on the Kenai River. But to finish up this episode, we're going to talk through a few questions that we ask all of our guests on the podcast so the first one is Dallas, what's your favorite month on the Kenai River or in Kenai?

Dallas: 53:51

Definitely September because we are so we just love that rainbow fishery and so I don't think you know it's it definitely gets a little chillier come September. But you know, you put on some layers you battle through that first morning, you know brisk air and then yes, a warm up. But yeah, watching those big rainbows jump. You know, and because you're using that lighter rod and more finesse, it's just yeah, there's something magical about it. You know, my, my husband's getting more into the silver game and he he's tend to like one of his Silver's a lot more recently but there's still something very special about about those. Those rainbows but September is great, right? We kind of get the silvers and the rainbows all in one.

Jennie Flaming: 54:32

Yeah, that's awesome.

Dallas: 54:33

So okay, definitely yeah, unique time for us that definitely holds a special part in our heart for

Jennie Flaming: 54:39

Yeah, for sure. So what is your favorite way to eat salmon?

Dallas: 54:45

So I will preface this by saying my husband does all the cooking. So preparing wise how he prepares it for me. You know I thoroughly enjoy Sam and I will say this when I was pregnant with my kids. I eat a ton of Salmon obviously for the Omega threes. So I got to a point where it's like, gosh, you know, just so much salmon that you can eat just grilled, you know, and he actually I'm not telling you I'm not sure where he came up with this recipe, but he makes it with me ploys sweet chili sauce. Because kinda like, or I think it is, you know, when you have, you know, like Chinese food, the stuff that you dip your egg rolls in. Yes. You know that red sauce. I think that's the exact same sauce that they use. So basically, what he does is he cubes, the salmon, you know, which is really nice about the sockeye salmon is very versatile meat, and it stays together when you get it. Yeah. So he's able to cube them into little chunks, and then marinate it in the sauce. You know, he likes to use a cast iron skillet for it. Uh huh. And he marinated on the stove in the sauce and adds a little bit of I think it was teriyaki sauce with it. Yeah. And basically, the fishes absorbs it. So for anyone who doesn't like the taste of fish, you can not taste this fish at all. There's no fish Enos, ah, however, it's right. It completely absorbs it. And then yeah, he usually serves just over a bit of, you know, rice. And that's pretty much it's a very simple way of doing it. But we've definitely had it had friends over. They're like, Oh, I don't like fish. I'm like, Well, why don't you just give it a shot. And sure enough, even most recently, like that trip, I just went to Hawaii in January, my sister, roommate wasn't a big fan of fish. And now she's been making it herself with the fish that we gave her. So Oh, that's so fun. Which is another reason why that Sockeye fishery or fish is so unique is that it does hold together, you know, versus like a king salmon. That meat is so buttery and soft. That you won't be able to do that when you cut into it. You're not going to build a cubit Yeah, right. So you're able to do that with a sock. I mean, they're flays pretty unique. But yeah, that's definitely my favorite sweet maze. Or may ploys sweet chili sauce.

Jennie Flaming: 56:59

Love it.

Dallas: 57:00

Find that at most stores.

Jennie Flaming: 57:01

Yeah, I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to try that. That sounds really good. How often? Does your does your family eat? Salmon? Is it I? How many times a day? How many times a week? No,

Dallas: 57:16

I bet I bet we're down to just like once a week. I guess I had it a lot more when we were pregnant, because but I'm probably just once a week at this point that kids aren't as keen on their favorite, but the way they will eat it is they enjoy smoked salmon. Okay, so my father in law when he's up here helping with child care, while we're busy during the guided time, you know, get season. He's constant. We're constantly bringing in socket for him. And he just turns right back around and smokes it. Oh, sweet. So we built that smoker out in the yard. And he helped us tinker with his different recipes for it. So luckily, the kids really enjoyed smoked, so they're getting the vitamins that way. They're not super crazy on it any other way? Yeah, at this at this point. So, but yeah, so probably about once a week, we'll actually still have fish that isn't smoked, or actually flame. Grilling something or Yeah, so

Jennie Flaming: 58:11

love it. Cool. Okay, so what is your favorite thing to do in Kenai with your family?

Dallas: 58:20

Um, I mean, kind of what we touched on earlier, the Skene. Yeah, you know, obviously the winters take up such a huge chunk of our time. So that's kind of the mode that we're in right now is ski season for us. Right. You know, so we, we just got back from the resort and Girdwood a few days ago, we go back again on Thursday. The kids are both just starting to get into it. We started like a couple years ago, and now he's able to ski most of the lower mountain. Andy or three year old is enjoying it a lot more. She still is on these. I don't know. It's essentially like a dog leash. I've got like a harness for that. Yeah, yes. It's skiing out in front of me. The training skis Yeah, yeah, exactly. So she's, she's doing her thing on front of me. She used to get you know, she has no fear right? She just flies down the mountain and she knows I'll stop stop her before she crashes into anything. Yeah. And they're obviously enjoying the the apres ski vibe of going to the bar afterwards and having fries and hot chocolate. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 59:18

I mean, the whole it is not amazing about fries and hot chocolate. Today, yeah,

Unknown: 59:25

definitely major cheat day for them. They get to he gets to miss school and they get to go skiing. So that's kind of RAD. Where we're at right now and that's definitely like our other passion besides fishing. Family wise going on fishing is definitely something Dustin and I love Blake is starting to get into it obviously being only you know, he'll be turning five here soon. He's not super down. So a lot of times this last summer when we take them out. You know we'd hook a trout or and let them reel it in, you know, but he's not quite at the point where we're trusting him to set the hook and actually hold the rod and not just lose it. into the river just yet,

Jennie Flaming: 1:00:01

right so yes, cuz he could just let go and fishing gear yeah when

Dallas: 1:00:08

our setup so yeah, Andy she she definitely is a little frozen you know Princess rod that she plays her within the house and it's pretty cute She walks back and forth saying she's gonna be a fishing guide or she pretends she has a fish on. Oh. So while it's something we love to do, it's not a huge family outing just yet.

Jennie Flaming: 1:00:29

Yeah, because they're a little young. Yeah, but hopefully,

Dallas: 1:00:32

you'll get here soon. Yeah. And hopefully we're not pushing it too much where they don't enjoy, you know, right. I have memories, obviously, so many memories of fishing with my dad and mom, you know, but I can't say I loved it. There was a lot of time where we weren't catching anything. So you'd find me on the bank, you know, poking at the minnows or something? Or yeah, you know, playing in the bushes. So, obviously not wanting to push it too much to her that you don't like it? Yeah, we'll see how it goes. Ah,

Jennie Flaming: 1:00:57

love it. Okay. Um, is there anything like that we haven't talked about that you wish your clients knew before doing a fishing trip with you? Before coming to Alaska? Maybe?

Dallas: 1:01:15

Yeah, I mean, I think probably a lot of things that you run into when, you know, helping someone plan their trip. Not understanding the true size of Alaska. Yeah, you know, so, yeah, we get a lot of calls and they're just like, hey, you know, we want to come down and see you and fish and like, Okay, well, when do you get to town to like, well, we'll be in Denali. You know, this day, we want to come fish the next day. It's like, oh, no,

Jennie Flaming: 1:01:40

yeah. Like, take the whole day to get Yeah, you know,

Dallas: 1:01:43

just just not understanding the logistics of getting from one excursion to the next and the time that it takes and what it takes out of you of doing those long drives to get from the different spots. Yeah, you know, the Kenai Peninsula has so much to offer. But when you try to combine it with something like Denali, it definitely adds a lot more to your you know, you get to add more days to it, for sure. Yeah, I think that's usually kind of like the biggest thing is when I'm talking to clients, and then not understanding Oh, well, we'll just go you know, we'll just pop right over there. It's like well, it's it's not the same you know, you can drive through most of the states from Denali all the way to the Kenai so yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 1:02:21

yeah. So yeah, I think that's some drive, but it's a long way. Yeah,

Dallas: 1:02:24

it's a lot to handle. So yeah, you know, always making sure that their logistics are, I know, and most people, you know, obviously with the internet are able to figure that out. But occasionally we run into where people just have, they want to see so much. Right, and they have a limited timeframe. And being able to fit everything into their schedule is definitely difficult. So, you know, try to pinpoint what their their expectations are and what the main focus should be. Yeah. You know, from there.

Jennie Flaming: 1:02:50

Yeah. Cool. Well, um, before I let you go Dallas, if someone wants to go fishing with you on the Kenai River, how do they find you? Yeah, like that happen?

Dallas: 1:03:02

The best way probably is always check out the website first. Because it'll have all the details plus price points, so that way you can kind of get an understanding of what you're you're gonna be paying so we're at we're at explorekenai.net Unfortunately, someone's got that.com and not utilizing it right.

Jennie Flaming: 1:03:18

Oh, man, that's so frustrating.

Dallas: 1:03:20

I know there and then you'd have to spend like insane amounts of money to but yeah, 80 grand or something. I'm like, yeah, no harsh. So yeah, explorekenai.net is definitely a good starting point. And then from there, easy. My numbers listed all over the website is four and email and phone number to reach out to me. So that makes it is probably the most convenient way to do is kind of get an idea of what we offer on the website first, and then give us and give us a shout from there. Cool. And

Jennie Flaming: 1:03:49

I'll put that in the show notes too. So folks can find it easily. Yeah. And I also want to say one thing that I appreciate about you Dallas is like if you're not offering what that person is looking for, on a particular day, or you're booked up that day, or you just don't offer that type of trip, you are really awesome about like referring people to other guides who can offer that. So, um, that is really cool. Also, like, if you're not the right person, you'll just tell people that and get them where they need to be. Yeah,

Dallas: 1:04:22

it works. Yeah, we're so great. Obviously, with us with the younger kids, it limits the time that we can be out there, you know, when we have childcare not so being able to have the partners that we work with, even just there at the private SLU where we keep our boats, there's still I think there's five other boats right next to us. So it's super convenient, like hey, well, I can tell you exactly where you go and line it up for them because I'm, you know, obviously I've experienced in that location so I can put them right in that spot and then having the partnership with people that you know do the deep sea, halibut charters and all those relationships. Everyone just kind of works together. Yeah. Which makes it really unique. To make sure we can provide, you know, a solid package for those that are coming up. Yeah,

Jennie Flaming: 1:05:04

love it. And it's so important to you, when, at least all of you that I know about our very small family businesses like yours, it's really nice to be able to have each other's backs and, and, you know, kind of work together to provide what people need. That's

Dallas: 1:05:22

really, absolutely, yeah, I mean, obviously, the dream is one day, you know, we would have all those, you know, we'd have a notion vote and all those things, but as we're building, you know, this is where we're at. And so having those relationships definitely helps us succeed. Like I said, from the get go, we've been helped from the people that hired us to start with and shared their knowledge with us on the different aspects of guiding and what we needed to know. Yeah, it's been a huge Yeah, I couldn't have done it without them. You know, I would be missing to say if I didn't do a shout out to my my in laws, if it wasn't for them. We couldn't do what they come up every summer and live with us for gosh, a good two months. Oh, that's a lot. Yeah. And we do not have a big house. So they, they come in here and they take care of those kiddos. Because some days, you know, we've got soccer trips, I've sometimes started four in the morning. Yeah. So it's not like you can go take your kids to daycare before you go. So like being able, being able to just they get to sleep, and we sneak out the door and we fish and we come home and hopefully get to spend some time with them afterwards. So the in laws have been just amazing. That's awesome. Or the time you know, they wanted to be grandparents, and they're sure getting their money's worth at this.

Jennie Flaming: 1:06:34

Oh, that's awesome. Well, Dallas, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing all this wonderful information about fishing. The Kenai it was really great having you. Thank you.

Dallas: 1:06:46

Thank you, Jennie. It's really enjoyed being here. And I appreciate all your help that you've been doing with our business as well.

Jennie Flaming: 1:06:53

I hope you enjoy this conversation with Dallas. We love to bring you stories and insider knowledge from people like her. That's what keeps us going here at Alaska uncovered. Just a reminder that next week's episode may 29 2024 is our first subscriber only episode. We'll have a little bit of the episode available for everyone. But this is a chance to help keep us going out Alaska uncovered and support us through our Patreon so please consider subscribing today and so you don't miss out next week. The link is in the show notes. Thank you for listening