Hooligan are here again

Hooligan have arrived along the Susitna River just upstream from the Deshka River mouth as of earlier this week.

This is always a short duration fishery, and these little fish are available in strong numbers right now. Gulls and eagles are standing or perched along the river near some of the better fishing spots, and the hooligan can be found in shallow water. Some of the places where the hooligan are thick already have dead fish washed up on the shore from passing boat wakes.

Of the four trips I made between the Deshka River mouth and Deshka Landing on Wednesday, I also saw a coyote along the river on three of the trips. It appeared the coyote was specifically hunting hooligan, as it was right near the shore, and only seemed to step away reluctantly into the brush when I approached, too close for comfort in my boat. In the past, I’ve also seen both brown and black bears along the river looking for an easy-to-catch hooligan dinner. People may want to catch and try a few hooligan before going out and catching a whole cooler full. The fishery is open to Alaska residents.

King salmon update

I’ve been guiding salmon charters to both the Little Susitna and Deshka rivers for king salmon, and the fish are present in limited numbers. Some are being caught every day now, and my charters are catching a few most every day as well. So far I’ve only had one day where everyone fishing with me caught a king salmon, with a more normal catch being a king salmon or two for a group of up to four anglers on a six-hour trip. It is fishing, though, and there have also been some trips where no one in the group caught a salmon.

Regulations are tighter on the Little Susitna River with artificial lures required, and those lures may only have a single hook attached. These regulations have been designed to slow king salmon harvests on the Little Susitna River, and if my charters are any indication, they seem to have done that. Of the three trips I guided on Little Susitna River last weekend, the first group of three guests caught one sockeye salmon, the second group of four guests caught one king salmon of about 10 pounds, and the third group of three guests was not able to hook a fish. We saw a couple salmon roll on the first two trips, but did not even see an ocean-run salmon on the last trip.

One good indication for future salmon returns was that we saw salmon smolt jumping along the river in several locations over Memorial Day weekend.

Fishing pressure was understandably lighter on the Little Su and made for a more relaxed and pleasant fishing experience.

Deshka River regulations allow anglers to use both multiple hooks and bait when fishing for king salmon. In addition, the salmon tend to congregate near the Deshka River confluence with the Susitna River. This also creates a crowd of boats and anglers every morning awaiting the 6 a.m. start of king salmon fishing at this location.

This is primarily a boat fishery, with some boaters anchoring and casting lures like Vibrax spinners or Magnum Wiggle Warts, other boaters fishing with salmon roe either on the bottom, or suspended below bobbers, and a third group of boaters trolling up and down through any empty spaces in the pattern of anchored boats. Each method of fishing has been producing catches of king salmon, with some anglers seeming to prefer a specific method, while others switch back and forth between techniques.

Anglers area also catching some king salmon upriver on the Deshka as well; however, salmon numbers are lower with the season total number of king salmon counted past the salmon counting weir by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game posted as 71 fish on May 30 of this year. Nevertheless, upriver boat traffic has been increasing on an almost daily basis on the Deshka, but there have still been a number of prime fishing spots available with low competition along the river. That could change by this weekend.

Stream trout

I’d been reporting on good trout fishing available in the Talkeetna River during the month of May, but my last call to Bob Meals, owner of Tri River Charters, revealed that water conditions on the Talkeetna, while still clear enough for catching trout, had increased with such volume as to make catching trout a much tougher proposition.

With the high water conditions there is simply much more water to strain for each available trout, Dolly Varden or grayling. Bob believes most of the good spring trout, char and grayling fishing on the Talkeetna River has already happened at this point. Looking ahead, when king salmon arrive, with similar water conditions there could be some good opportunities to catch the largest of Alaska salmon species.

While he has taken kings as early as June 10, Bob mentioned June 15 as a more realistic date to expect a reasonable opportunity to catch a king salmon from the Talkeetna River.

Stocked lake update

Talking with Mat-Su Anglers Club President Steve Totten, I learned that he had been trolling a Mat-Su Valley lake near Willow over the weekend and reported very good success catching some of the chunky 12-inch Arctic char that had recently been stocked by the Department of Fish and Game. Steve caught his char by trolling a small Spin-N-Glo behind a cowbell trolling spinner.

The next Mat-Su Anglers Club meeting will be 7 to 9 p.m., June 14 at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Wasilla. Contact Totten at 354-4141 for more information.

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.