I noticed most of the bad reviews are related to "processing"... we chose to use Kenai Cache for fishing and it was GRAND! Chris was our guide, we had four in the boat - all fairly new to fly fishing. Chris was very good in detailing technique and showing us tricks to fish for trout. We started in the lake then down river to a bar to wade and fish for trout and sockeye. The wind was not cooperative, it rained most of the trip, and the temps were on the chilly side. I would definitely use them again. Chris found plenty of fish and checked in regularly with the shop for reports. Great fun to fish with knowledgable talent like Chris :-) read more

Sam, our guide, was exactly what we needed. We were all new to fly fishing and he made things easy to understand and FUN David the owner was thoughtful and excited about his business and clients. Support local business owners!!!! read more

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Attempted to have 300lbs of sockeye processed. The guy in charge of the fish processing, older guy with a southern accent, treated me like i was doing him an inservice. He was rude and had no customer service skills. ABSOLUTE JERK. Go somewhere else to have your fish proccessed. read more

Just like all tours in Alaska, there are several options to choose from! But if you're going during peak seasons like "Salmon Madness" then you better book early. We lucked out and found Kenai Cache that has more boats and is a little farther drive out but was available. The four of us woke up at 1am. (this is the life of a fisherwoman??) We drove 2 hrs from Anchorage to Cooper Landing (hotels out there were booked and the one nearby was $300+/night). This was the first time we saw Alaska dark and the views of the moon were amazing. Got there and found it with their flashy lights on the store and the Kenai Cache sign was hidden on the side of the building. Travis was our guide for the day and not sure he knew what he was in for. We had no idea we were going out on a little drifter. We thought it was going to be a big boat and possibly catch halibut. haha. He got us set up with waders, collected our permit info (we picked up the $20 permits from Fred Myers in the sports section the day before), let us use the portapotty and then we jumped into the jeep and headed 1 hour out. Wear spandex and wool socks! layer in a jacket, long sleeves, gloves, hat, sunscreen, bug spray, lunch, drinks, snacks, camera. Use the bathroom again at the dock. We were freezing heading down the river. Saw lots of bald eagles, tons of salmon jumping out of the water where two rivers merged together. All the good spots were already taken by the time we got there. Don't these people work??? But we found a spot and it was a little cramped but we took turns. Learned how to fly fish and I got the technique down. I almost hooked a fish 3 times but they got away every time! They just weren't biting for anyone up and down the shore. My friend caught two. One was cleaned by Travis right there on the shore and filleted for us to take home. The other one was hurt and we had to let it go. The restaurant near Kenai Cache wanted to charge us $25 per person to cook our salmon. That's how much it would've costed if we had just bought a salmon dinner from them! No thanks so we just went home. It was a fun day. For $240/person it would've been wayyyyy better if we had salmon to take home but ah, memories are what counts. They had met their limit (6 fish) for the previous 4 days. It was just too nice and pretty the day we went and the fish weren't feeding- they were chillin out from the warm weather. I had to take motrin when I got home cause my arm was sore from casting the line all morning. :-) Oh yeah and stop at the Wildlife preserve on the way back to Anchorage and see moose! read more

Kenai Cache Outfitters - Waders and life jackets on! Ready to head out on the little drifter boat - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Cooper Landing, Alaska

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We had used Kenai Cache for our Alaska Trip in 2019 and very pleased with the sockeye fishing results and their guides so it seemed a good choice to use them again for our just completed trip in 2023. I made the reservation in January 2023 for two boats (4 family member each boat) and had numerous emails and telephone conversations on various subjects with Julie before we arrived on July 11th. I also bought a fly rod and reel (Echo) for sockeye fishing from David in April. When we went to pay the balance after arrival on the 11th the guy behind the counter was surprised when we talked about a lower Kenai river (Soldotna area) float. This was our intent and the main focus of our trip. He told us that on the day before (10th) they did a lower float trip and only caught one sockeye as the river was high and not many spots to get out of the boat. He told us the fishing for Dolly Varden, rainbows and even some lakers starting in Kenai Lake was good and we could fish for sockeyes the last couple of hours near the end of the float take out at Sportsman Landing. Based on that recommendation we reluctantly accepted an upper float trip. We also understand that there is NEVER any guarantee to actually catch fish but feel using a guide increases the odds because of their experience and local knowledge plus a boat. We had rented a large Cabin at Gwin's lodge so just a short walk the next day where we met our guides Chris & Scott at 6:30 am. We got into our chest waders and then Chris repeated that we would start fishing in Kenai lake and then pull out for a short lunch near Gwin's/Kenai Cache and fish the last couple of hours for sockeyes. I was never told but found out during the float trip that Scott was NOT an actual Kenai Cache guide but worked for Gwins as a guide. The first Boat with Chris had my son and daughter and their companions. The second boat with Scott had my son two grandkids (16 & 18) and myself. The boats separated after launch at Kenai Lake and we only briefly saw them a couple of times after that. The fishing was poor but a few Dollies were caught and many times not everyone could fish at the same time as the river was fast and high making boat control hard. I was surprised that during the morning float that Scott was on his cell phone numerous times (at least a dozen) talking, texting and checking it. I certainly felt his focus should have been on us but didn't want to make a scene in from of my grandkids. In conversations with my other family members they only remember Chris talking twice with Scott. When both boats pulled out at the same sandbar before lunch I saw Chris setting up some rods for sockeyes. We pulled out of the river at Gwins lagoon around 11:45am and were back on the river around 12:15 pm. We continued our float trip and I asked Scott about sockeyes and he mumbled something about checking with Chris but I never heard him call to discuss. When we pulled out of the river near a small Island a number of sockeyes actually jumped out of the slack water during the 30 minutes we fished for dollies and it looked like a great spot to try for them. After we got back into the boat I took a good look at the rods Scott was carrying and none of them looked capable of being used for sockeyes. We continued to fish for dollies (bobber) and finally pulled out at 2:30 pm at Sportman's landing and then were driven the short distance back to Kenai cache. The other boat ended up fishing for sockeyes near the island and Russian river confluence for a couple of hours and pulled off the river at 4pm. They also told me that they saw Scott launching his boat with his girlfriend when they were pulling off. Needless to say I was very disappointed mainly for my grandkids who both limited out in 2019 for sockeyes. I later went to Kenai Cache and the guy at the counter directed me to David (Owner) who was in the fish house. He continued to work vacuum sealing fish and seemed unimpressed with my feedback and never apologized for the bad experience with our guide. I then sent an email to Julie the same day (13th) and she replied to me on the 16th saying that she wanted to talk to Scott first. In that email I told Julie that Scott, "was personable enough but spent time on his phone as well. I asked a couple of times about when we would try sockeyes and he kind of beat around the bush saying something like checking with other boat. I looked at his rods and he didn't even have anything that he could set up for flipping. At the end he pulled off the river at 230 pm and the other boat at 4 pm. Needless to say it was unsatisfying for me and our party given the lack of equipment to even try. Chris in the other boat had a setup and my other family members were very satisfied. I think in hindsight I would have liked to have been given the option of two separate day floats in order to get your guide instead of finding out on the river Scott didn't work for you." Julies reply was basically, " I had to outsource your boat be read more

We wanted to be sure to have a successful trip so I booked a walk-in on the Russian River. Caleb was my guide. We went to a surprising part of the river, relatively few people but lots of fish. We had to work at it but we came away with 18 fish. Beautiful environment. Caleb was a patient instructor. He was also able to maintain balance while I flailed around and clawed at him. I still fell a few times but he was right there to avert disaster. I had no problems discussing my special requests over the phone, super helpful, polite, efficient. I had a follow-up email question which was also informative. We will be using their services again. read more

Tackle shop is fine.... Have been going there for 20+ years. DO NOT use the fish processing. They no longer ship. You have to take your fish with you....you would think they would lead with that but not so much. We had to leave ALL our fish this year as we had no ability to take the fish with us on the plane. Sucks, worked hard for those as we were between runs and reds were 2s and 3s coming through. Not happy. read more

Update 9/6/17: Added screenshot below. I think it speaks for itself. Stopped in here to rent some gear and buy a few things. The guy who owns the place is a dick -- I assume he's the owner by the way he orders the young employees around. You want to rent something and he tries to sell it to you instead. Went in a second time for a simple screw that fell off one of our reels and they weren't helpful with that, but sure were happy to try to sell us a new reel. You feel like you're nothing in this shop, not worth spending any time on unless, and only as long as, you're spending money -- can't speak about their guide services because we didn't use them for that. The young guys that worked there were mostly nice and friendly but seemed to be overly aware the boss was right there watching their every move. In the end, the "owner" got pretty officious with my husband when we returned the rental gear, and that was the last straw for me. Definitely won't be back. read more

Kenai Cache Outfitters - Received via private message. - Outdoor Gear Near Me - Cooper Landing, Alaska

After searching for openings in a busy season I was excited to find openings for two boats for my party with Kenai Cache. I have a sense of compassion for businesses in such a small town (300 population) since COVID essentially wrecked 2020. We met our guides for a two day drift boat booking on both Saturday August 7th, 2021 and the 8th Sunday. When we met up at the shop and made our way to the river things went pretty well. Both guides fit the group and we had a pretty awesome day. The four guys in our group enjoyed the company of both guides (not naming names). On Sunday we woke up to some pretty snotty weather, rain and wind on the river. Let me say with 100% certainty that our crew are not fair weather fisherman, but we weren't looking forward to an all day drift of wind and rain down the Upper Kenai with choppy waters and potentially a skunk. We drove past the river and it was very choppy. So I called the office and asked what their weather policy was (which most guide services have). The response was curt and aggressive with no option for discussion, "if you decide not to go, that's on you...". We ended the discussion with a request for the owner to call us to discuss, essentially hoping for a credit for next year or some type of reimbursement. Not necessarily the entire booking but at least 50% given that the weather was so snotty. No one called. We stopped in the next day to pick up some processed fish that we had them put together for us and were met with the same attitude and response. The gentleman checking out our fish was also pretty abrasive and not very friendly, and we have a very polite and courteous group. It's a small town with a number of guides to choose from. If the new owner (again not naming names) wants to attract and retain repeat clients then there will need to be some changes in their approach. Now out $1100 bucks without as much as a courtesy call back. Be warned that the new management has to learn a bit about client and customer service. read more

It's too bad, I can't give 0 stars as I would have if possible. We brought our sockeye salmon here to be processed. The owner asked my friend to pay in cash. He wrote out the slips and on 3 of the 6 slips no numbers were put. On the 3 slips we had figures, they total 185.6 lbs. We had been averaging with 4 fishermen 62 lbs a day. When he brought out the fish we got 213 lbs. How is it that in the other 3 days we only got 30 lbs or 10/day? When I told him the numbers didn't add up, he angrily screamed at us that we were responsible for writing the figures down. He wouldn't even listen just ordered us to leave. So on doing the math, he skimmed anywhere from 90-180 lbs of fresh sockeye salmon. My friend that was dropping the fish off didn't tally the cash he paid, but he stole from us on both sides, the processing and on the pickup. My honest guess is that he stole anywhere from $1400-$2700 from us based on sockeye sale prices and processing fees. We are honest people and he took advantage of us. Don't bring your business here. What comes around goes around. Dave should be grateful that we are not the type to strap him up on a pole by his "cajones" like most people would do if they stole that much money from them!! He also stunk of booze at 12 pm. Not a nice guy. read more

My friend and I had THE BEST experience with Kenai Cache Outfitters! We were two girls with little to no experience fishing and all of Cooper Landing was full of nothing but experienced fishermen/women (it is definitely intimidating!) We called late on a Thursday for openings on the upcoming Saturday and they were more than accommodating. We arrived early for or 4 hour trip and the men in the store helped us with our paperwork and got us fitted with boots. Our guide for the day was Fly Bob and he truly was such an informative and patient instructor!!! He taught us the basics and made sure we had the Kenai flip down before moving on to a better fishing spot where we tried our best to catch some sockeye and trout. We even got to see a 1 year old black bear, which was more afraid of us, but Fly Bob was prepared with a gun in case we encountered any other bears. It was such a great experience! This was the last activity before we left Alaska and we were so happy to have found Kenai Cache Outfitters :) read more

Kenai Cache is your full service stop in Cooper Landing for all of your fishing, guided trips and fish processing needs. A knowledgeable staff will point you in the right direction to get you on fish or to some of the local hot spots. A fully stocked shop has everything you need or possibly forgot. Kenai Cache also sells some of the top brands in the Conventional and Fly Fishing Industry; Scientific Anglers, Waterworks-Lamson, Ross, Dr. Slick, St. Croix Rods and Umpqua flies read more

Knowledgeable, a wealth of fishing info, down to earth, and easy people to talk to. Best outfitter on the kenai.

The owner of the store is a complete ass! I purchased a fly rod from him after breaking my other one while fishing for salmon. The next day that rod broke, so I went in to discuss how we could fix it without having to send back to manufacture! He only wanted to try and school me on how I used to heavy of tippet on the rod. 10wt 20lb tippet! After a conversation in front of clients and customers he kicked me out of store! I hope Orvis will drop him and work with other fly shops in area! read more

I found this place while looking for a reasonably priced place to stay while fishing for Red Salmon on the Russian River. I stayed at the Princess Lodge the last time I was there but had my wife with me then. I lived in Alaska for 15 years, graduated high school and college there and both of my children were born there. I am very familiar with Alaska, Cooper Landing and usually know what to expect. This trip was a fishing trip that included myself, my son and a friend. We chose to stay in their "Fisherman Cabins" which were $89/night for the three of us. That seemed like a resonable rate and the cabins were clean in the pictures. What they neglect to tell you is that they have no running water and the toilet is a shared portable toilet located outside. Not having a place to even wash your hands really makes it a pain when you are on a fishing trip. I would have paid the extra money if I had know that there was no running water. If my wife were with me, I would have moved to a cabin with running water. The cabin was clean and comfortable but I dont think that they were honest in their listing by not being clear that the cabin didnt have any running water. No sink, toilet or shower and none available on site. read more

The staff at the Cache are the best on the Kenai. I make a point to stop in for a fishing update when I get into Cooper Landing. I have fished with these guys and they have always put me on the fish. None better. read more

My wife, son, and I stayed here for 5 days. We did two trips through them, a drift boat down the upper Kenai and a walk-in on the Russian. The guides we had for our trips were extremely knowledgeable, and were able to put us on more fish than we knew what to do with. The crew in the shop and processing room were friendly, professional and knew exactly what to use on nearby waters to catch fish on our own. After trying to fish the Kenai and Russian rivers (both practically within walking distance of the shop) on our own, we realized we needed some advice on flies and locations for big fish. Their advice was spot on and we even saw them on the river later on doing exactly what they told us to do! All in all, everything was run very smoothly, professionally, and in a friendly, welcoming manner. An experience of a lifetime. Without a doubt the best guide service on the peninsula! read more

Had a great experience and Travis took care of everything on the trip. Good float for kids and plenty of time for good fly fishing along the way. Nothing negative to say; a good way to learn spots along the river. read more

Limited out on Silvers with our guide Scott. great experience. See you next year for Sockeye.

Every time we come to Alaska we stop in at Kenai Cache Outfitters. They have a great selection and great customer service. Don't forget to try their guide service while your there, it's the best! read more

We had the best experience here! The guide services were awesome and we were able to catch many salmon. Highly recommended.

like to make comments about the fishing guide service at this outfitter.Have been fishing Alaska since 1983 and became permanent resident since 1992.Have used a number of guides over the years, started with this guide service since 2009, 7 years now..Outfitter very good with booking guide who know the river well and will do everything legal to put you onto your species of preferred fish. They know the rive and come early each season to see how weather melt/floods have affected it, they know all the best holds and holding spots also keeping up with what flies or other lures that work best for target species along with keeping up on Alaska changing fishing orders. The boats are well maintained and in safe fishing order, if you do not have equipment, they do and is top notch.If the target species is hard to find they will help as in mixed fish, fishing outings. Also their guides are well versed with helping the new fisherman as well as to assisting with the well seasoned angler, they are very respectful and get you started and stay with you till the cooler leaves in your vehicle unless you decide on on-sight processing of your catch..Also to mention they have lodging available, very clean and reasonably priced considering the location close to famous Kenai and Russian river area..They do have full day fishing, half day and walk ins for those wishing not to be in a boat..For a limit of salmon and wonderful trophy trout for great photos of fish and river I would suggest the full day.Also many snacks, shirts, hads, rods, reels and other items available at KEANI CACHE OUTFITTERS, TACKLE AND GUIDING. read more

We had a great first time charter fishing the Kenai River. Our guide, Jeremy Inman was excellent!! We did the full day trip. Will highly recommend to others! read more