My personal crusade to promote discretionary release of Kenai kings in now in its 11th year. And while the tide has turned with the conversion of a handful of dedicated C&R guides over the years, I must admit it is very discouraging to witness that 85-90% of the kings caught on the Kenai still end up in the fishbox!

But early this morning I received this PM (name omitted), and it really made my day. Makes the whole consevation effort ( despite repeated tongue lashings and darts in my back over the years) TOTALLY worthwhile. Allow me to share it here....

This might come across as kind of strange, but I just wanted to say thank you for helping to educate me on the health of the Kenai King fishery.

I'm not from the PNW, in fact, I live on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan. I'm an avid fisherman and try to keep up on the health of the fisheries all over the US as much as I can. When researching a trip that I wanted to take to Oregon a few years ago I came across this site. I don't post, only read, and your reports are always some of the best.

My wife and I spent July 14-23 on the Kenai Peninsula. It was my fourth visit, but my wife's first. We rented a cabin at Beaver Creek Cabins and fished with Keith Holtan (great guy!) a few times during the week. In fact, the afternoon that you passed over a few fresh sardines to us I was the guy who held out the net. Over the course of the week my wife and I landed seven beautiful Kenai Kings all in the 30-45lb range and all were released after a few quick pictures in the water.

I guess I just wanted to let you know that your reports, stories, and history of the health of the Kenai had an impact on me and my wife all the way over here in Michigan. I agree that everyone has the choice whether or not to keep or release their kings, but knowing what I know now we wanted to do our part to see that our son has a chance at catching one of these trophies when he's old enough to.

Take care and best of luck in your fishing adventures.

(name deleted)
Marquette, MI