Frequently Asked Question

Kenai Riverside Resort is located just a few minutes drive down Funny River Road and just past the Soldotna Airport. Most of our customers will rent a car in Anchorage and then drive to our resort. On our trip planning page, you can find rental car agencies, maps, directions, and other useful links.  Our address is: 33978 Johnsons Dr, Soldotna, AK 99669

There are no shuttle services that operate between Anchorage and the peninsula. If you would prefer to be picked-up and transported we can arrange for a shuttle for you and your party at an additional price.

Absolutely! You’ll be on the banks of the Kenai River within seconds of stepping out of your canvas cabin. There is almost 400′ of beautiful river front, dock, fillet station, and rods/reels always on the ready. 

Renting a car is really one of the best options. It provides you with flexibility during your stay and is really the best way to take fish back home. There are two local airlines RAVN and Grant air that do fly into nearby Kenai. However, these airlines do not code-share with any major partners and therefore you would end up paying baggage fee’s for your fish for both airlines. When traveling as a group of 3 or 4 this can add up quickly.  A car is the best solution – and the drive is fantastic.

This is a complicated question because it depends on so many factors. There are always great adventures and fish to be caught anytime from mid-May until October. So we like to tell folks the best time to visit Alaska is when your schedule allows you to spend the most amount of time, relax, and enjoy as much of it as possible. If you have specific fish you would like to target it’s important to review the fishing schedule. You can find out a lot more about this on our trip planning page and specifically the pages that address salmon run timing. 

This question is so frequent that we have an entire what to bring page entirely dedicated to addressing it. Our resort provides high quality, beds, linens, house keeping, and you’ll find hair dyers, body wash, and other basics so that you can limit what you need to travel with. 

Yes and we think you’ll love it. We provide both a continental along with a few hot items breakfast such as pancakes, breakfast burritos in a selection that changes daily. Lunch will be served make-your-own sandwiches that you’ll usually take with you on your adventure for the day. Dinner is a social hour at 7:00PM followed by main courses in the evening throughout the week. There will always be a large assortment of cereals, coffee, burgers, brauts, and dogs that you can make on our community BBQs anytime you wish.

There is also so many great restaurants in the local area that if you just prefer to try some of them out we’ve made some recommendations for you on our local restaurants and resources page.

The weather varies enormously from season to season and from day to day. In May and June and July you can expect generally warm days and comfortable nights. However, some days we see rain and those days can get chilly on the water. It’s important to pack in layers and be planning for hot sunny days and for colder rainy days. In August and September, daytime high temperatures can be very comfortable and nights become cooler requiring jackets and coats. We’ve had days in July when the temperatures have been so low while we’re out fishing that we have wool hats, gloves and coats on and the next day we’re wearing short sleeves and sunscreen wondering why it’s so hot! These are not exaggerations and you need to plan for both.

At the resort we have hip waders, rods, reels, and all the basic tackle you’ll need to fish from our bank. When you’re fishing with our guides you’ll be outfitted with chest waders, boots, and everything needed for your days adventure besides your personal belongings and required warm clothing.

You are certainly welcome to bring your own fishing gear. The gear we supply you is the same professional gear that is used by our guides and professionals all over the state.  However, if you have some special gear you just really love to use you can absolutely bring it. We provide the gear that we do to help lessen what you have to travel with but by all means bring whatever gear you wish.

Absolutely. In fact, nearly every trip is customized by our staff for our customers in one way or another. Please just let us know what you have in mind and we’ll definitely be able to help.

Yes, high speed wi-fi is available throughout the property.

Any one fishing and over the age of 16 is required to have a fishing license.  They can be purchased online and printed out prior to your arrival. You will need a sport fishing license valid for every day that you plan to fish and a King Salmon stamp for any days that you plan to target King Salmon.  You can pick up your fishing license online at Alaska Department of Fish and Game

We strongly recommend that you plan on taking your fish back home with you as checked baggage. Your fish will be processed, vacuum sealed and frozen before you leave for the airport. Then we will use airline approved cold storage 50lb shipping boxes that are designed for exactly this purpose to transport your fish back home. Shipping fish out of Alaska is expensive and runs between $200-$300 for over-night or 2nd day air. Checking it as free luggage if your able or at $25-$50 per checked bag is an enormous discount over freight charges. You can imagine this 50lb box of fish as if it were a 50lb block of ice because that’s essentially what it is. It will remain frozen for 2 days inside the box and mostly frozen for several days after that. This leaves you plenty of time to get your fish back home.

If due to other travel needs or simply out of convenience you would like your fish mailed to you. We will gladly store if for $10.00 per day per box and ship it to you with standard freight charges whenever you wish.

There is really no limit regarding how much fish you can take. It just depends upon the amount of time you’re in Alaska, how much fishing and catching you do, the strength of the runs, airline baggage limits, and how much freezer space you have at home. It is not uncommon for each angler to go home with two boxes of fish and sometimes more. It’s also not uncommon for anglers to go home with a 20lb box of fish. The state of Alaska has daily limits on how many fish you can catch and retain per day. These limits can be liberalized or restricted as the season progresses depending upon the strength of the run. 

A lot of how much you take home can largely depend up on halibut fishing and the size of the halibut caught. Halibut has a very high yield and these ish can get very large. It’s not uncommon to see more than 50lbs of fillets from a single fish.  

Generally we think about limits as:

• 3 Sockeye Salmon per person per day
• 2 Silver Salmon per per day move to 3 per person per day on Sept 1
• 1 King Salmon per person per day with an annual limit of 2 on the Kenai and 5 total annually throughout the state
• 6 Pink Salmon per person per day
• 2 halibut per person per day (1 of any size, 1 under a certain size such as 32″) with annual limit of 4. 
• 1 Trout daily under 16″

Most of our packages already include 1 box of fishing processing and a cold transport fish box. Any additional fish is $1.50 per pound for processing, vacuum sealing and storage, and additional boxes are $20.00 each.

The Kenai Riverside Resort is a luxury glamping all-inclusive retreat on the banks of the Kenai River. We have 10 “canvas cabins” and 2 bunkhouse cabins that are all setup for 4 person occupancy. This includes super comfortable beds, forced air heating, electricity for charging personal devices, wifi, outdoor eating on your personal patio, a working desk and more. Occupancy and rates are based on 4 people and if occupancy is less than 4 we charge only a slightly higher rate per person.  

You will not be sharing lodging with anyone outside of your own party.

The Kenai Riverside Resort has 5 shared shower and bath facilities that are cleaned throughout the day and throughout your stay. Towels, hand-towels, body wash, shampoo/conditioner, sinks and hair dryers are available in each. We also have eco toilets located at several places on the property. 

Absolutely. We can accommodate groups up to 40 people if booked early enough in advance.  This is totally based upon occupancy at the time of booking.

We will keep track of your entire week’s itinerary from the moment you arrive to help you plan each day. Before retiring for the evening you will have spoken with one of our staff members, and likely guides, about where and what time to meet, what the weather looks like, and what to plan for.

Aww thanks! We can’t wait to meet you. The easiest way to book a trip is to fill out our contact information and inquiry reservation form. It only takes a couple of minutes and will give all the basics to discuss your trip. Once we receive it we can review basic availability and give you a call back. Or, if you’d rather just call us directly you can do that too!

Absolutely. We have many angler’s that are staying in other accommodations including AirBnB’s, RV’s, camping spots, houses, or other lodges that just want to spend the day fishing with us or other adventures. We have others that love the view and environment of our facilities and just want to spend the day with us. We welcome everyone.

The mosquito in Alaska vary from year to year and location to location. It’s been said that mosquitos are the state bird and deet is Alaskan musk. While this isn’t true It’s always a good idea to bring mosquito and bug spray. 

Gratuities are not included in the prices. Folks are often curious to know what are appropriate gratuities for these trips. We know that when we take guided excursions of different sorts we wonder what type of tips to leave. 

Gratuities are totally discretionary on your part. However, here are some common practices:

• Consider 15-20% for captains,  10-15% for deckhands
• 10-20% the total cost of your charter
• Tip guides at the end of the trip rather than at the end of your stay.
• Housekeeping & lodging staff – tip at the end of the week.  Common tips are 2-5% of the cost of your trip.  These can be given to lodge mana

Tips do not dictate the level of our service and commitment to you.  We are professionals and promise excellent service no matter the size of a tip if any.

If you’d like to read more on tips and gratuities specifically related to fishing guides and lodges you can check out the really great article we’ve sort of buried in our website by Marshall Cutchin called How to Tip Fishing Guides and Lodge

There is literally so much to do that it’s difficult to answer that question. There are certainly guided opportunities for whale watching, bear viewing, scenic floats, bird watching, hiking, and tons more you can find on our home page. If you’re looking for something more self-guided we can recommend all kinds of local trails, hikes to waterfalls, mountain biking, places to shop and get lunch.  There is a ton to do, you just need let us know what you have in mind. Remember, this is Alaska’s Playground not just fishing ground.

We use a combination of boats selected by what type of fishing we’re doing, regulations on the river we’re fishing, how many people we’re taking on our salt water trips and river trips. We use 17′ and 20′ drift boats with kicker engines (5 hp – 9.9 hp), 20′ Riverboats customized for fishing the Kenai River, and large stable 6 pack boats for our salt-water excursions.  

The maximum number of people we will take on a river trip is 4 anglers. The maximum number on the salt water excursions is usually 6 but we can accommodate more with advance notice. 

Soldotna is located in the south central part of the state. Our longest day of the year on June 21 brings 20 hours of sunlight. The sun may drop below the horizon but it’s never quite dark and fishing through the entire night is something that we’ll do sometimes just for fun to say we did it. During the early parts of summer there will be a few hours of darkness and as we reach late July as well.  At the end of the summer season July 31st, there is about 4-5 hours of night time. This number continues to increase of course as we move into August and September.

It’s a good idea to bring an eye mask if you think you might have trouble sleeping without total darkness.

Yes, especially during peak season of Mid June – Mid August, and especially if you happen to be a group larger than 4 and even more definitely if you are group larger than 6 and everyone wants to fish the same days. Those months are very busy and being able to handle all the different adventures against the best schedules becomes more and more difficult, and sometimes not possible, the closer we get to peak season.

The short answer is no. The more complete answer is that we work really hard to get you the best opportunity to catch fish. We’ll discuss with you the species you’re interested in and discuss the chances of success based on all the information we can get and all the experience we have – which is significant. There are days where we can limit out an entire boat in 20 minutes and days where we fish all day for a handful of fish. There’s an old saying: It’s why it’s called fishing and not catching.

A few years ago we were discussing the opportunities to catch a big King Salmon with a customer and starting to describe the chances of landing one of these big monsters. Not to be rude, but not needing us to finish he said, “Please excuse me, I’m just happy to be here, in this magnificent place, on this gorgeous river, and spend it with you all enjoying the company and the entire experience. If we catch fish – that’s great. If not, this is still going to be an amazingly wonderful day”.  

When you bring that attitude you’ll never have a bad day. We’ve been doing this a long time and love catching fish as much, if not more(!) than anyone, and we still try to go out with that mentality every time we adventure.

People have asked this about our salt-water trips, drift boat trips, and power boat river trips. In all of our years guiding on these rivers we can confidently say, “no, you will not get sick on our river trips”. 

Our salt-water trips are a different story and there’s a wide range of tolerance for this and a wide range of seas and weather you could experience. Most customers do not have problems but a few do. For those that are concerned about it, don’t know their tolerance, or know that it is an issue we recommend taking motion sickness medicine the night before the trip and then a 1/4 – 1/2 dosage in the morning. This greatly reduces the chances of getting sick and helps relieve any related drowsiness that might come with taking a full dosage in the morning.