Coho ho! Anglers prepare for height of silver season

The weekend of Aug. 10 and 11, the following five weekdays and the weekend of Aug. 17 and 18 should provide some of the Mat-Su’s very best coho (silver) salmon fishing of the 2013 season.

As I reported in last week’s column, sport salmon fishing harvests had been sparse in the Mat-Su Valley up until that point. Since that time, I’ve heard from both Pat Donelson of I Fish Alaska Guide Service and Ben Allen of Miller’s Riverboat Service that fishing for coho salmon had picked up considerably over the weekend and early during the first week of August on the lower Deshka River.

Meanwhile, a bit further up the Susitna River at Susitna Landing, Jeff Boatright reported that several groups of anglers had caught limits of silver salmon at that location over the weekend. Charter clients fishing with me on Little Susitna River on Aug. 5 and 6 told me they had been catching plenty of pink and chum salmon and five silver salmon at Clear Creek off the Talkeetna River.

The big news for Little Susitna River was the opening of bait fishing for the first time in three years on Aug. 6, and the use of bait certainly boosted sport coho salmon harvest rates on the lower Little Susinta River. On Tuesday, sport anglers reported catching more ethan 190 cohos at this location when exiting the fishery past the Alaska State Parks fee booth. Sam Ivey with the Alaska Department of Fish & Game said fishing for stocked coho salmon had also been good at Eklutna Tailrace recently — where regulations allow sport anglers three cohos per day rather than the two coho salmon limit at most other readily accessible Mat-Su locations.

Former Mat-Su Angler’s Club president Julie Busch reported that her granddaughter caught a couple coho salmon last week at the annual Youth Fishing Weekend during the first weekend of August on lower Fish Creek (Knik-Goose Bay Road area). Julie was planning to take other kids fishing at Fish Creek again this weekend when fishing will be open to everyone from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hint: salmon catching can often be better at this location within an hour of two on both sides of high tides. Most coho caught during this part of the season are in prime shape for eating — although a few early maturing fish are already starting to develop some darker spawning colors.

Seasonal conditions boost catches

Cooler, cloudy and — in some cases, wet weather over the past week has also combined to provide better fishing conditions on many Mat-Su Valley streams that have been experiencing extremely low water flows due to the long period of hot dry weather we’ve had for most of the summer. It was likely lower water temperatures and slight rise in water level that cause decent numbers of coho salmon to finally start schooling in the lower Deshka River with nearly 498 swimming past Deshka River Weir Aug. 5 and 6.

Coho tactics

Most anglers either cast small spinners of spoons or fish bait (cured salmon roe) for silver salmon. Bait often accounts for the largest portion of coho harvested in many Mat-Su locations, but small flies also produce well — in particular on streams with low clear water conditions where coho salmon may be spooked by larger baits or lures. Fishing early or late in the day when coho salmon tend to be more active may also produce larger catches; however, with daylight hours starting to get shorter, anglers may now sleep in a little later and still get to their chosen spot in time for the best action.

My nephew, Paul Warta, told me of getting up at 3 a.m. this week and rousing his grandfather to go fishing only to find it seemed to be too dark for good fishing until nearly 5 a.m. that day. Right around 5 a.m., the coho started biting much better and their group was limited out by 5:45 a.m.

Afternoon coho fishing can be good under less-crowded fishing conditions found on weekdays. On popular fisheries, most anglers often show up and fish early, leaving a less crowded opportunity later in the day. The past couple days, guests fishing with me on afternoon charters have caught the same limits of coho salmon as those who fished the early morning hours. I would expect weekend fishing for the next couple weekends will likely be busy even during the afternoons on the more popular Mat-Su salmon fisheries.

Combining berry picking with fishing is now possible in some locations, as I’ve seem some anglers switching to berry picking later in the day recently. Within the next week, “cast-and-blast’ opportunities will become available as well. With grouse season opening Aug. 10 in many areas, be sure to check your hunting regulations before going.

See you on the water.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides (fish4salmon.com) and is a member of the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission.