First kings show up in Mat-Su streams

Soon after writing last week’s column I learned of a king salmon caught May 12 at the Deshka River. I attended the annual Deshka Landing Association membership meeting May 14 and heard from three people about that king salmon being caught, and also about some Deshka River king salmon being caught on that Saturday morning.

First 2011 king from my boat

I took Ben Allen, Dave Osgood and Jason Votruba over to the Deshka River on Sunday afternoon, and in very short order Osgood hooked a chrome king salmon on a K-15 Kwikfish. Like many early season fish, it provided a great battle before coming close enough to the boat that Ben could scoop it with the net. Dave’s fish was a female of about 23 pounds, and although very chrome, it did not have sea lice. After that bit of quick action, Ben, Jason and I all became more hopeful that we would hook up and perhaps land a king salmon of our own. But that was the last bite anyone in our boat got that day. The wind was blowing the whole trip, and it was a good thing everyone brought plenty of warm clothes because by the end of the trip everyone was chilled. Still, we all considered it a success that even one person from the boat caught a king salmon on a mid-May trip.

More kings Monday

I guided two guests on my first king salmon charter of 2011 on Monday, and Jerry Fuller started the trip off by hooking a large male king on a K-15 Kwikfish. The big, bad boy ran all over the river, with me rowing the boat in pursuit. It ran right up against the bank, threatening to get wrapped around a snag, but everything worked out and Jerry led him over to where I waited with the net. We estimated that chrome fish at about 35 pounds — a large fish from any Mat-Su stream. He was loaded up with sea lice.

Jerry was now delegated to watching after landing his king salmon (regulations on most Mat-Su king salmon fisheries require anglers to either quit fishing or quit fishing for king salmon for the remainder of the calendar day after they have harvested a king salmon). Bob Labbe, Jerry’s fishing partner, fished intently, and even though we saw a couple other king salmon roll they were either spooked from all the activity required to land Jerry’s lunker or simply not interested in Bob’s lure. Eventually, after a couple hours of dragging a K-15 Kwikfish plug around behind our boat, Bob snagged bottom and we ended up breaking off the plug. I put out the anchor while Bob got set up again. A few minutes after Bob put a new plug out so it could wiggle enticingly in the current, and while we were still anchored in the same spot, something grabbed Bob’s Kwikfish and doubled his rod over. He set the hook and after another exciting battle Bob had a female king salmon of about 16 pounds in the boat. For most of the morning there had only been one boat fishing near us — and the lack of competition had likely contributed to our success. It definitely made for an enjoyable morning of fishing.

I stayed around the house fully intending to get many household chores accomplished on Tuesday, but this time of year I spend more time on “off days” daydreaming about fishing than actually getting things done.

Word out Wednesday

I returned to the same fishing spot on Wednesday, and the number of boats looking for early season king salmon had expanded from two at the start of Monday morning to 12 on Wednesday morning. We saw some fish rolling around and a bit of action in other boats, but even though I had four anglers in the boat they were only able to come up with one hookup. This time the fish was caught on a K-14X Kwikfish. Sharing the holes with more boats kept us from moving around as much as we could on Monday, and we also had to share the low number of salmon hooked with several other boats. Fortunately, Lillian Lewis was able to turn our one hookup into a 25-pound king salmon in the boat.

How good will the local fishery be?

Fishing has started off fairly well with some king salmon being caught on both the Deshka and Little Susitna rivers well before May 20. In addition, the road leading to the Little Susitna Public Use Facility campground and boat launch has already dried out and been graded into a more passable roadway. People are already asking me what the king salmon fishery will be like based on my early season fishing. It does not take many bites for one to consider king salmon fishing as good — if some or most of the fish are ending up in the boat.

So far this season, every king salmon that was hooked on my boat ended up joining us in the boat. I’ve only had three days of success so far (measured by at least one king salmon in the boat), but there will be several more days upon which I can give a better assessment next week. If you would like to learn more in the meantime, visit my website at fish4salmon.com, click on Fishng Reports and then the specific report page for May 2011. I update daily.

For more May action, fish trout

Mat-Su Valley lakes and the Talkeetna River continue to produce far more fish-catching action than the king salmon rivers at this time. Bob Meals of Tri River Charters told me people who have a raft transported up to where Clear Creek flows into the Talkeetna River have been having much more luck as mobile anglers fishing their way all the way back to Talkeetna than those only fishing near Clear Creek itself. Bob also suggests fishing slow and deep near the bottom to land better numbers of fish. Weighted flies and lead head jigs with active marabou or plastic grubs have been producing well. Bob reports small groups of anglers often have most of the river to themselves at this time of year, and groups with some knowledge of the fishery can catch 30 to 50 fish during a day of fishing.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides (fish4salmon.com), is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member (matsuanglers.org) and member of the Mat-Su Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee. Email this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.