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Many dipnetters at Kenai's North Beach described Friday's fishing as slow, but Fred Bauer had not been in the water for more than five minutes when he found himself struggling to land a fat Kenai River king salmon without tearing his net.

"I've fished here for years before, but I've never got a king," said the Anchorage resident who came to Kenai with his son Brandon.

Bauer, who wore a yellow windbreaker over his chest waders, stood looking down at his catch. By most angler standards, Bauer's king was relatively small -- about the length of his leg -- but it was still bigger than the reds most dipnetters dragged to shore and drew the stares of many as it lay on the beach.

For Bauer, who caught kings at the Copper River dipnet fishery, this is the biggest fish he's landed, he said. And while most dipnetters on the beach Friday said they were going to freeze, smoke or can their catch, Bauer looks forward to turning his king into sushi.

"I'll fillet them, freeze them, slice them up with a little wasabi and soy sauce," he said.

Only a handful of dipnetters fished the first weekend of the 2008 Kenai personal use dipnet season, which started on Thursday and ends July 31. Some said they were there for the weekend and would head back to Anchorage or the Matanuska-Susitna area today, others decided to stay on until they brought home their limit of sockeyes. But on Friday afternoon, while reds were being caught, more fishermen found themselves disentangling flounder and throwing them back.

Sammie Johnson said she had been manning the parking station at the end of Spruce Street since 5 o'clock Friday morning and estimated that between 100 and 150 dipnetters paid their $15 parking fee. Johnson, who was hired for the summer by the Kenai Department of Parks and Recreation, was relieved at 2 p.m. She's in her first season as a city employee assigned to work the dipnet fishery, she said, and was told that things would pick up. Even though dipnetters have to pay to park at the end of Spruce, Johnson said folks who want to walk on the beach can still park for free.

Johnson, who grew up in Kenai, said dipnetting's a family tradition for her.

"We would always go down and dipnet over the course of the season," she said. "We would come to (the North Beach) or go to the City Dock if we dip out of a boat."

Regardless of who's fishing for what, Lt. Kim Wannamaker of the Kenai Police Department said the season started out just as expected and will generally pick up as the sockeye salmon run increases.

"We anticipate it getting incredibly busy and incredibly populated as time progresses," he said.

A few weeks before the start of the dipnet season city employees put up orange fencing alongside the vegetated edges of the dunes along with no trespassing signs.

Wannamaker said according to a new municipal ordinance, trespassing on the vegetated areas of the dunes within the fencing carries a fine of $150. Any damage to the dunes or the fences carries a penalty of $500, he said. One of the police department's biggest concerns is people riding ATVs over the dunes, Wannamaker said, adding that a few have already been cited for trespassing and causing damage.

In addition to keeping off the dunes, Johnson said campers should camp within 25 feet of the vegetation line.

Wannamaker said he typically monitors the dipnet fishery through binoculars, looking for the number of jumpers in the water, the number of people dipnetting, the amount of fish being caught and making sure nothing unsafe is happening.

"Everything that people need for a successful dipnetting adventure is there," he said, "Dumpsters, outhouses, the water and, when they show up, the fish."

Priscilla Cousins, a resident of Eklutna Lake, dragged a squirming red on shore and struggled to rid her net of debris. Last year she and her husband came to Kenai on the first day of the season and wound up with their limit before it was over. This year, she said, it's been slow.

"We get at least 28," she said. "That's enough."

Jessica Cejnar can be reached at jessica.cejnar@peninsulaclarion.com.

"(Flounder) is better than salmon," said Pedro Ambrosio, a resident of Spencer, West Virginia. Ambrosio came to Kenai with a friend from Alaska to watch the action on the beach. In a black plastic sled at his feet lay three salmon and two flounder. "You steam them and make a sauce with ginger, onions and olive oil. Once it's steamed you pour it in. I like it better. It tastes better," he said.