It’s all about Mat-Su silver salmon

Early August has arrived, and with it should follow the peak of Mat-Su Valley silver salmon fishing.

Today is the first day bait fishing is allowed on the Little Susitna River and consequently, like most years, Aug. 6 should be the single largest salmon harvest day of the entire year on one of the Mat-Su Valley’s most popular salmon streams. Today through Sunday will likely be the busiest days of the entire season for fishing pressure on the Little Susitna River. If solitude is what you crave, then consider fishing the Little Susitna River later in the month, or choose one of the Mat-Su Valley’s other fine silver salmon fisheries during these three days.

On Wednesday, the Alaska Department of FIsh and Game (ADF&G) issued an emergency order opening the weekend only salmon sport fishery on Fish Creek near Knik-Goose Bay Road a week earlier than normal. Expect Fish Creek to provide good numbers of both late sockeye and early silver salmon when it opens at 6 a.m. Saturday. In addition, fishing has been expanded for the remainder of the 2010 season on three normally weekend-only fisheries to also include fishing on Mondays. These locations include Fish, Cottonwood and Wasilla creeks.

Finally, bag limits have also been expanded on all Knik Arm Drainage streams except for Jim Creek and Little Susitna River to allow harvest of three silver salmon per day. For more information, you may call the Palmer ADF&G office at 746-6300.

On both Little Susitna and Deshka Rivers silver salmon fishing has slowed recently. On my last two charters to Deshka River the large schools of silver salmon that had been present at the river mouth seemed to have moved upriver as the high water from several days of rain started to drop. In the lower Little Susitna River the number of salmon jumping as they moved in with the high tides has dropped significantly, although in both cases one has to hope normal peak silver salmon run timing that happens during August may bring large numbers of silver salmon into the streams once again. Expect these two locations to remain some of the most popular for boaters and anglers fishing on guided trips.

While the daily silver salmon bag limit remains at two fish on Little Susitna River, the silver salmon from this stream average so much larger in size than the silvers from most other Mat-Su streams that a two-fish Little Su silver limit may weigh as much or more than three silvers harvested elsewhere.

ADF&G Area Fisheries Biologist Dave Rutz told me on Wednesday that silver salmon fishing on Yentna River sloughs and tributary streams has been excellent the entire season. Catchable numbers of silvers are present now in Susitna River tributary streams from Willow Creek to the Talkeetna River. Expect these destinations to provide some of the better less pressured salmon fishing experiences over the coming weekend.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides (fish4salmon.com), is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member (matsuanglers.org) and member of the Matanuska-Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.