Change of seasons

We are definitely heading into the fall/winter season here in the Valley. Not only are the overnight temperatures dropping into the teens, but Fish and Game has started announcing hunt closures and beginning to tally fish counts. Those latter items are an even bigger indication to me of the onset of winter than just some frosty nights!

I usually try to hunt the Eklutna Management Area registration moose hunt (RM445) just because that area is beautiful and is relatively easy to access using the road than runs alongside Eklutna Lake. The hunt is bow and arrow only and closes either when a predetermined number of moose are harvested or when hunting conditions deteriorate enough.

The news release closing this hunt arrived in my email this past Wednesday, so by the time you see this, hunt RM445 will already be over for the season. The quota of four bulls has been reached and to maintain a healthy bull/cow ration, the registration hunt is done.

This year, I didn’t make it out to hunt there. I also enjoy chasing grouse in that area with my bow and arrow, but family matters involving some health issues have kept me close to home this hunting season. I hope to be more active next year!

I also missed most of the fall coho fishing for the same reasons, but in talking with some of the Sport Fish Division staff in Palmer, this 2014 season was seen as a good year overall in the Valley. Staff noted that the run was consistent throughout the year and was considered strong enough to raise bag limits and extend fishing times in certain drainages of the Knik Arm. After being lowered to two fish, I don’t remember seeing Fish and Game raise the coho bag limit to three fish anywhere in the Valley since we moved here in 1990.

I’ve noticed, personally over the years, when the drift fleet is allowed to fish long and hard out in the middle of Cook Inlet, our Valley coho runs tend to be hit or miss, depending on the commercial fishing periods. If the nets were in the water from late July through the first third of August, coho in the waters I fished were often few and far between.

I can’t remember if it was 2007 or 2008, but the sockeye returns in the Central District were quite low and the drifters were only allowed to fish the minimum times specified in the existing drift management plan. My wife and I did a lot of fishing that coho season here in the Northern District and we encountered a steady flow of fish in the waters we fished all season long. I haven’t seen it like that since, but, like I said, I didn’t get out much this year. If there was a year to rival that of my uncertain memory, it would have been this year!

Saying this past coho season was good because of the changes made to the drift management plan this past spring would be a bit premature, given only one year’s management under the new revisions. However, I think the new management scheme contributed to the improved Northern District coho returns. Time will tell how much the improved management is affecting our coho stocks!

On another note, I was told that Fish and Game is hoping to stock out some older rainbow trout brood fish this week in the Kepler-Bradley Lake system and in Long Lake (mile 86 Glenn Highway). A few hundred fish are available for this effort and should provide some unique fishing as early as tomorrow, assuming the stocking was completed.

These fish are 5-year-olds and are past their prime for egg take purposes at the Anchorage hatchery. What better use for this “over the hill” group of fish than to stock them out? They’re a nice size and could provide a child with a real thrill (and maybe some of us geezers too!).

I’ve noticed a lot of boats being towed to wherever in the last few days. It’s that time to look at getting your boat and motor, whether outboard or inboard, winterized and ready to survive another cold season. I’m planning to get out one last time with my boat and then do the winterization it needs. I’m hoping to catch a fish or two while I’m out on that last run of the year. Maybe if I finally figure out how to use the downriggers….

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.