2010 Mat-Su salmon fishing season coming to an end

As I’ve been reporting, silver salmon fishing on the lower Little Susitna River has been dropping off, and fishing is now at the point where it is difficult to catch silvers in good chrome shape on a consistent basis. Even catching blushed fish has turned into a contest of convincing reluctant fish to try an extra appealing bait or getting them to snap at a flashy spinner.

I would draw the comparison of getting kids to eat vegetables or some other type of food they really have no interest in. Of course, when a person does catch a salmon under such conditions, there is, or should be, an extra feeling of accomplishment. My charter business at this time is advising potential guests that how many (if any) salmon we catch on a charter is totally up in the air. We’ll be shutting down the charter business for the year soon, and one of my guides ran his last trip on Wednesday.

In upriver locations, there may be considerably more salmon available, as my friend Bob Meals reports from Talkeetna. But according to Bob, most of the Talkeetna River silvers have now made a rather quick transition to darker spawning colors, and catching good quality salmon for eating is now more difficult, there as well. Bob hopes to keep Tri River Charters operating through the quickly approaching Labor Day weekend for salmon trips, and after that he’ll switch to guiding trout charters, and dropping off rafters.

Although he has already shut down his charter business for the season, Ben Allen, owner of Miller’s Riverboat Service told me he had some good personal silver salmon action at the mouth of Montana Creek earlier this week. Ben reported that about two thirds of the silver salmon he caught were blushed, but he did manage to catch a limit of chrome fish as well. Ben and Bob also mentioned that there are still hard fighting chum salmon available in the Susitna tributary streams and Talkeetna River.

FIsh Creek, off Knik Goose Bay Road, seems like kind of an oddity to the diminishing of good silver salmon fishing, as strong numbers of silver salmon continued to swim through the Alaska Department of FIsh and Game weir over the past weekend and into this week. Even so I would think available salmon numbers will shortly become somewhat irregular, but this could be a good location for those wanting a good chance at catching silver salmon directly out of the saltwater this coming Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Remember this fishery is only open three days a week, but the silver salmon limit was increased to three per day as reported earlier in this column.

Regulations change soon

Also keep in mind that bait fishing on the Susitna River drainage end the last day of August and switches to artificial lures on the first day of September. In some locations single hooks will also be required on the first day of September.

As mentioned in last week’s column the Mat-Su Angler’s Club smoked salmon night is fast approaching. September 9 at 7 p.m. is the time, and the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Complex is the place. Call Julie Busch at 892-7543 for more information about how you can participate in this fun event.

As my fishing season winds down, I am anticipating this may be my last fishing column for the season. I will be involved in the fisheries regulation process this fall and winter, but my time on the water will soon be greatly diminished, and with it my firsthand knowledge of what is happening on a regular basis.

E-mail this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member www.matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska - Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.