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Salmon and summer sunshine: Photos from an evening of dipnetting on the Kenai

Hundreds of Alaskans gathered at the mouth of the Kenai River over the weekend for their share of the sockeye run.

By Emily Mesner
Updated: August 3, 2023 Published: July 24, 2023

People, tents and dipnet fishing gear fill Kenai Beach as people fish for salmon on Saturday, July 22, 2023. Cook Inlet and Mount Redoubt are behind. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

KENAI — Hundreds of fishermen dotted the banks at the mouth of the Kenai River on Saturday as silhouettes of gulls swarmed the horizon, with Mount Redoubt in the distance. Above, the warm — and this year, elusive — summer sun moved across a bright blue sky.

Although fishing was slow, people from across the state dipnetted for sockeyes late into the night.

“It used to be catch a fish, change a diaper,” Jeff Simono said as he handed off his fresh catch to his now-grown son, James Simono, to clean.

Jeff Simono stands with his son, James, after the pair each caught a salmon. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Their family has been dipnetting the Kenai for 28 years, and Simono said it makes his heart happy to have his son out there with him.

Along the river, such stories were common as people hauled in nets with flopping salmon, which were grabbed by family members.

A salmon attempts to get out of a net after being landed in Kenai. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

On a nearby bluff, Leona Tatgavin Demont smiled as she looked out over the beach at the tents below –– the reds of an American flag matched the color of salmon scraps along the water’s edge.

Demont, from Unalakleet and White Mountain, used to take her sons dipnetting here. On Saturday, she just watched as she roamed the beach for bird feathers.

Here are our favorite photos from this weekend’s dipnetting on the Kenai.

Leona Tatgavin Demont stands on a sandy bluff overlooking the Kenai River on Saturday. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Salmon eggs are discarded in the sand near the edge of the Kenai River. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Anchorage resident RaeAnn Eubanks-Sims laughs after realizing the second fish she thought she netted was just a discarded fish head as she pulls her net out of the water. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A person holds their freshly-caught salmon. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Palmer resident Jerry Uhlig, left, high fives his daughter, Scarlett Uhlig, after landing a salmon. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Palmer resident De’etta Goecker waits on her cooler for fish from her family, who are in the water. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Gerard Fahy pulls his net to the beach after catching a salmon. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People line both sides of the Kenai River, near its mouth, and fish for salmon during the Kenai dipnet fishery on July 22. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Nelson Carpluk holds two of his salmon before returning to the water with his net. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Gulls swarm salmon guts and bones on Kenai Beach. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Joshua Aftreth, 2, holds the hand of his uncle, Shane Langland as they walk to Kenai Beach with their family to fish for salmon. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People fish both sides of the Kenai River near its mouth during the dipnet fishery in Kenai. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

People push a cart carrying a cooler of salmon up a sandy hill to a nearby trail after participating in the Kenai dipnet fishery. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Ethan Le, 8, takes a short break and looks down the river after helping his dad, Thomas Le, clean their fish. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

A fisherman returns to the water with his net. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Anchorage resident Ben Dahlin, 6, holds a salmon his family caught during the Kenai dipnet fishery on Saturday, July 22, 2023. His family became Alaska residents last week and landed their first fish Saturday. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Sockeye salmon rest on ice in a cooler on Kenai Beach. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

The sun starts setting around 10 p.m. in Kenai as people fish for salmon. Mount Iliamna is behind as a waxing crescent moon begins to rise. (Emily Mesner / ADN)

Emily Mesner

Emily Mesner is a multimedia journalist for the Anchorage Daily News. She previously worked for the National Park Service at Denali National Park and Preserve and the Western Arctic National Parklands in Kotzebue, at the Cordova Times and at the Jackson Citizen Patriot in Jackson, Michigan.