Rainbow and steelhead trout (a combined total) size limit in Alaska

A hard 16-inch ceiling, not a minimum - only fish under 16 inches may be kept at all on this stretch, and everything larger goes back. This protects the Kenai's wild rainbow fishery, one of the most famous in North America; the trophy-size fish that draw anglers here are catch-and-release only.

ADF&G source page

What we left out on purpose

• King salmon, sockeye, coho, chum and pink salmon all carry real, currently-in-force numbers on this exact stretch (and king salmon fishing is closed in 2026 by emergency order) - none of this is modelled, since this site tracks trout at the Kenai River, not salmon, and salmon regulations here shift by in-season emergency order in a way this schema's season model isn't built to represent.
• Arctic grayling (5/day, 5 in possession, no size limit), burbot (2/day, 2 in possession, no size limit) and invasive northern pike (no limit, live release prohibited) are also listed for this exact stretch but not modelled - out of this site's tracked scope beyond the three species added to satisfy the internal-linking minimum.
• There is a Kenai-Peninsula-wide (and wider Southcentral-area) annual cap of 2 rainbow/steelhead trout 20 inches or longer per calendar year, with a mandatory-harvest-recording requirement - moot for this exact stretch since its own local rule already caps every rainbow/steelhead at under 16 inches, so a legal 20-inch fish can't be kept here in the first place. Not modelled as a separate rule for that reason.
• This entry covers the Lower Kenai River Mainstem only (the zone this site's tracked coordinate falls in). The Middle Kenai, Upper Kenai/Kenai Lake, Russian River and Kenai River tributaries all carry their own separate, sometimes very different numbers (e.g. Russian River sockeye at 3/day with no size limit, or Kenai Lake tributary rainbow trout allowing up to 5/day in stocked lakes) - not modelled since this site tracks the Lower Mainstem specifically.