A creel survey to estimate angler effort, catch, and harvest was conducted on the Kenai River between the Soldotna Bridge and Cook Inlet from 17 May through 6 August 1995. The recreational fishery in this section of the Kenai River primarily targets chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. The estimated angler-effort and harvest during the early (May and June) chinook salmon run were 165,990 (SE = 4,679) angler-hours and 7,733 (SE = 420) chinook salmon, respectively. The estimated angler-effort and harvest during the late (July and August) chinook salmon run were 323,982 (SE = 8,541) angler-hours and 10,125 (SE = 510) chinook salmon, respectively. During the early run, the recreational fishery was liberalized allowing the use of bait, and during the late run the fishery was liberalized to allow fishing from a boat on the last Monday of July (normally closed to boat fishing) and the season was extended until 6 August in response to a large return. Unguided anglers exerted 59% of the total effort and took 44% of the chinook salmon harvest while guided anglers exerted 41% of the effort and harvested 56% of the chinook salmon. Age and sex compositions of the recreational harvest and inriver return showed age 1.4 fish to be the predominant age class, followed by age 1.3, during each run. The inriver return as estimated by sonar is also presented.