Les Anderson, the man known to many for making Soldotna famous when he caught the world-record king salmon in 1985, died Tuesday. He was 84.
A memorial service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Peninsula Grace Brethren Church in Soldotna with a reception following at the Soldotna Senior Citizens Center.
Anderson is said to have put Soldotna on the map May 17, 1985, when he was fishing for early king salmon with his brother-in-law Bud Lofstedt, and the pair landed the 97-pound, 4-ounce behemoth.
From that day on, people have come to the Kenai River from around the world in hopes of catching one of the monster salmon, possibly even setting a new record of their own.
"Dad always thought Uncle Bud should get more credit," said daughter Sharon Anderson-Leon on Wednesday. "It was the pair that caught it."
"It did take two of us to land it, that's for sure," Lofstedt said.
Recalling the events of the historic day, Lofstedt said he and his longtime fishing partner were taking Anderson's boat down river from Soldotna to Lofstedt's place near Cunningham Park in Kenai early that morning.
"We always liked to go for the early kings, but the river was so low that spring, we had the motor up and were just drifting down river.
"Then, he hooked it and said, 'Hit the motor!'
"I wasn't used to the throttle and when I did, we almost lost Les, the fish and all," Lofstedt said.
The pair ran with the fish for about an hour and a half, and after three attempts to net the big salmon, they decided to head for shallow waters across from the Pillars.
"Les got into the water about waist high with the fish still hooked, and I pushed from behind with its tail in the net. We finally landed it."
At first, the two took the king salmon to Lofstedt's home and put it on the lawn. They thought they should weigh it, and Lofstedt went into the house and got his wife's bathroom scale.
"The fish was so big, I couldn't read the scale, but I kind of peeked under it and could see it was over 90 pounds," he said.
Wanting to show the big fish to the workers and pilots at Lofstedt's company ‹ Kenai Air ‹ they loaded it on his flatbed truck and drove it there.
"The guys said it could be a record, so we started trying to find a scale," he said.
By the time they did find a certified scale at Echo Lake Lockers, it was 3:30 in the afternoon, almost 10 hours after the fish was caught.
"By that time we had a whole parade of people behind us wanting to get a closer look at that big fish," Lofstedt said.
"We really had a big day."
Saying he's known Les Ander-son since age 12, Lofstedt said he's going to miss his fishing partner of many years.
"He taught me how to fish with line and hook."
The partners also fished commercially in Cook Inlet for 12 years.
Suffering from heart problems that were diagnosed two years ago, Anderson never stopped fishing, though his weakened condition did not allow him to fish much this summer.
"He did go fishing on the Kenai with Mike Pace on Monday," daughter Sharon said.
"He caught a silver. He was happy."
On Tuesday, as he was going to be fitted with a face-mask for a respirator at his home, he died. His wife of 24 years, Clara, was with him.
Anderson is survived by his wife; daughter, Sharon Anderson-Leon; step-children, Janet Greeno, Shirley Lemm, Joann Jaillet, Barbara Snell and Don Snell; 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Other than fishing, his family said he loved his children, and he loved people. Other longtime fishing partners include Dick Woodin and Carrol Eby, the family said.
In addition to fishing the Kenai River, Cook Inlet and in the Seward silver salmon fishing derby, he also enjoyed halibut fishing with Al Mathewson, they said.
