Coho ho! Silver fishing strong in the Mat-Su Valley

The first summer after the Alaska Board of Fisheries reconfigured Upper Cook Inlet commercial drift fishing regulations to ensure more adequate spawning escapements of salmon to Northern Cook Inlet streams and to provide a more reasonable opportunity for Northern User groups to harvest some of the Inlet’s salmon bounty, Knik Arm silver salmon stocks have arrived in streams in some of the best numbers in the past six years, with good return numbers best documented in Knik Arm streams.

Aug. 6, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order increasing the coho salmon bag limit to three per day in Fish Creek, Cottonwood Creek, and Wasilla Creek (Rabbit Slough).

In addition these weekend only fisheries have been expanded to allow salmon fishing on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays for the remainder of the season. These changes go into effect starting at 6 a.m. on Saturday. The 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. fishing hours remain in effect.

A documented strong coho salmon return through Fish Creek weir and the correlation between Fish Creek, Cottonwood Creek, and Wasilla Creek coho salmon were the reasons an emergency order providing additional harvest and opportunity could be issued.

For about 10 days now, Little Susinta River coho salmon fishing has been heating up, and as of August 5 more than 6,000 coho salmon had already swam upstream of the Little Susitna River weir.

Bait fishing opened Wednesday on Little Susitna River with a throng of anglers up and fishing before the first rays of daylight in hopes of catching some of the Mat-Su Valley’s largest silver salmon. Wednesday many families were out catching silver salmon on the river, and most anglers, and especially boat anglers, were returning with heavy stringers or coolers of fish.

According to Pat Donelson of I Fish Alaska Guide Service, larger schools of silver salmon are now available at the Deshka RIver mouth, although warm weather and water conditions have made getting bites and catching fish difficult at times. Expect the cooler temperatures and often-cloudy weather of August to kick the Deshka River coho salmon fishery to a higher catch and harvest level.

Lloyd McDaniels gave me a good report of catching limits of silver salmon from a Parks Highway tributary of the Susitna River over this past weekend, and fishing for and catching silver salmon on these streams should only get better on the approaching weekend. Throughout most of the Mat-Su Valley this weekend should provide some of the best silver salmon fishing and catches of the entire season. It is simply the time at which many Mat-Su silver salmon invasions peak on an annual basis.

So now is a great time to get out and catch them.

Expect good Mat-Su silver salmon fishing to continue on through the month of August, however, the new fishing regulations adopted by the Alaska Board of Fisheries should also provide greater instream abundances of silver salmon throughout the entire month.

Some of the hope that Mat-Su anglers had for 2014 being a better coho salmon fishing season has been coming true, but it is not just a matter of more coho salmon returning to Knik Arm streams. Anglers are also seeing and catching larger average sized coho salmon in the rivers this year. Fish have been in prime shape as well, with seemingly higher percentages of clean salmon with little or no net mark burns. The fishery has been providing a much appreciated economic infusion for many businesses in the Mat-Su Valley.

Coho salmon are available in many streams throughout the Mat-Su Valley, and are known for their willingness to strike both salmon roe and artificial lures, although roe is often considered most effective by many Mat-Su anglers. More coho salmon are caught by Mat-Su anglers than any other salmon species, and these fish provide some very fine table fare as well.

When using the right techniques and fishing some of the Mat-Su’s better silver salmon waters, it is my opinion that catching these fine sport fish can be nearly as easy as catching stocked trout. The huge difference is fish size.

Where most stocked trout may run up to about 12 inches, silver salmon from most Mat-Su Valley fisheries run about five or six pounds, with some weighing more than 13 pounds.

If you have never experienced the thrill of catching one of these salmon, or even if you have, right now is the best opportunity in years to catch some Mat-Su coho salmon.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com , and is a member of the Matanuska - Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission.