2015 an odd year for Little Su silver salmon

On Aug. 6 the Little Susitna River opened to bait fishing as scheduled in the fisheries regulation book. In response to higher-than-normal early numbers of silver (coho) salmon passing through the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Little Su salmon counting weir, the department also issued an emergency order increasing the sport fishing bag limit from two to three silver salmon per day on the river downstream of the Parks Highway. In 30-plus years of guiding salmon fishing trips on the Little Su, this is only the second time I’ve experienced Fish and Game increasing the silver salmon bag limit on the river by Aug. 6. From what I’ve written so far, one might expect excellent silver salmon fishing on the Little Susitna River.

For me, it has proven difficult to find and harvest silver salmon in the Little Su sport fishery this year. From conversations I’ve had with other guides and anglers along the river, I know that others are experiencing similar fishing results. Possibly because of the dry summer and lower-than-normal water levels, the salmon seem to be traveling much quicker than usual, not stopping to rest in many of the typically prime salmon catching spots along the lower river. Many anglers have been catching only a few fish from a spot, before moving on in search of salmon more willing to bite. At times we have caught a silver salmon or two and seen some fish rolling as they mill around or come into a hole, but before long the jumpers are moving upstream and the bite dies until the next group of fish travels through.

Because of a guided trip cancellation, I’m writing this article on the morning of Aug. 6, rather than running a fishing trip, but it will be interesting to see what bait fishing with an expanded silver salmon limit will be like on the Little Su. The use of bait always increases anglers participation and sport silver salmon harvest on this river, and I certainly expect those trends to continue. However, the salmon are migrating upstream so quickly, I suspect Little Su sport silver salmon catches and harvest with bait may be lower than one would expect on an average year. For a year with such a high early weir count of silver salmon I expect catch rates and silver salmon harvests could be considerably below expectations.

On normal years most of Little Su’s silver salmon catch and harvest occurs in the lower river near the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility boat launch and campground. With high numbers of silver salmon already past the Little Su weir, I expect much better than normal silver salmon fishing will occur on the upper river, downstream from Houston. In the past week I’ve talked with multiple anglers who reported catching silver salmon in this area. One group of floaters said silver salmon fishing had been very good at a spot they found far upriver, but since that time they had not seen many silver salmon on their float trip. On the upper river — just like the lower river, the use of bait can dramatically increases angler catch rates and silver salmon harvest. This is especially true on the first few days after the bait fishery opens, when there are plentiful silver salmon in specific holes that have not been exposed to bait. Even on an odd year for silver salmon migration, it is wonderful to have a salmon counting weir on the Little Susitna River, that allows Fish and Game fishery managers to adjust regulations to maximize angler benefit from the resource, while at the same time ensuring adequate salmon spawning escapements occur. I have no doubt anglers and businesses in the Mat-Su Valley will experience added benefit from the Little Susitna River silver salmon limit increase.

Parks Highway salmon fishing

Jeff Boatright at Susitna Landing told me anglers at that location have had good silver salmon catches since last weekend. Because of hot weather, the water at Susitna Landing has been quite muddy with visibility of just a few inches, so nearly all of the salmon have been getting caught by anglers bottom fishing with salmon roe. Other Susitna River tributary streams crossing the Parks Highway between Willow and Talkeetna should also have good numbers of silver salmon available this week, and anglers will likely find low clear water conditions on the streams unaffected by glacial melt. The Fish and Game weekly fishing report also mentioned silver salmon catches occurring form the Talkeetna River drainage — although peak silver salmon fishing may occur a bit later that far up the Susitna River drainage.

Fish Creek sockeye salmon

Fish Creek near Knik-Goose Bay Road continues to experience high sockeye salmon escapement to the extent that numbers could exceed Fish and Game’s goal range of 20,000 to 70,000 fish on or before this weekend. Note that Fish Creek is open only to sport salmon fishing on the very lower end of the creek, and only on Saturdays and Sundays of each week. With Fish and Game’s Fish Creek weir showing such an abundance of sockeye salmon, it seems like there should be an opportunity to liberalize this normally restricted fishery in response to a large harvestable surplus. With the large return of sockeye salmon at this location I would expect much better fishing for sockeye than coho salmon at this location over the weekend. (Note: The current salmon bag limit at Fish Creek is three salmon, two of which may be silver salmon.)

Jim Creek silver salmon

I have not said much about this Butte area fishing hotspot, but the entire month of August is peak timing for catching silver salmon at this very productive fishery. Most of the harvest occurs near the Jim Creek confluence with the Knik River and road access can be a bit rough. With our dry summer, access should be much better than on wetter years. Note that starting Aug. 10, Jim Creek and all Knik River waters downstream from its confluence to 100 yards above Bodenburg Creek are closed to all fishing on Mondays and Tuesdays.

The coming week should provide some of the very best Mat-Su Valley silver salmon fishing of the entire season at these and many other locations. Good luck and fish on!

Andy Couch has guided salmon fishing trips in the Mat-Su Valley since the early 1980s, and has 10 years of daily fishing reports posted on his Fishtale River Guides website fish4salmon.com.