Jim Creek all salmon fishing closure; Little Susitna coho salmon closure

Before last week’s newspaper fishing column [providing information about three (3) Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Emergency Orders restricting coho salmon sport fishing in all flowing waters of the Susitna River drainage and at Little Susitna River — plus one (1) Emergency Order closing Deshka River to coho salmon harvest — was available for public distribution] the Department issued two additional Emergency Orders closures affecting popular Mat-Su sport fisheries.

If you are confused after reading the first sentence of this column —rightly so — as after ADF&G issued six (6) sport fishery Emergency Orders in one week many in the Mat-Su Valley sport fishing community, including both residents and visitors, are confused and shocked.

Starting Saturday August 19 — Sunday December 31, 2023, Emergency Order 2-SS-2-63-23 closed the Jim Creek drainage to all salmon fishing including the Knik River downstream of the Jim Creek confluence to within 100 yards of Bodenburg Creek (waters around the Bodenburg Creek /Knik River confluence remain closed to salmon fishing as well).

From August 19 — September 30, Emergency Order 2-SS-2-62-23 closed Little Susitna River to all fishing for coho salmon including catch & release fishing. Bait fishing continues to be prohibited at Little Susitna River.

Sport coho salmon harvest is now closed at 3 out of the 4 locations with ADF&G established coho salmon escapement goals in Northern Cook Inlet. To an observer it appears highly likely that minimum coho salmon escapement goal ranges may not be attained at Deshka River, Little Susitna River, and McRobert’s Creek (tributary to the Jim Creek drainage).

Through Monday August 21, only 1,533 fish of Deshka River’s 10,200 — 24,100 fish coho salmon sustainable escapement goal range had been counted through Deshka River Weir. This weir was underwater and no salmon passage was counted for 11 days from July 16 - 27, however, I guided some salmon fishing trips to Deshka during this period and did not see or catch many coho, in addition I talked with other guides who were working the Deshka and had similar experiences. Once the water went down and coho passage was occurring through Deshka weir, there was only 3 days with coho counts over 100 fish from July 28 - August 21, so it appears doubtful any abundance of coho migrated past the weir during the July period of high water.

At Little Susitna River weir through Monday August 21 only 3,565 fish of Little Susitna’s 9,200 —17,700 coho salmon sustainable escapement goal had been counted through the weir. Similar to Deshka River the Little Susitna Weir had been flooded, but for only 6 days from July 17 — 22. Once again sport success for catching or seeing coho salmon had been quite limited during this period so it is unlikely any large number of coho migrated upstream undetected.

Coho salmon weir passage numbers are so low at both Deshka River and Little Susitna River, that it has me questioning, “Were enough coho salmon even allowed into either river to attain the escapement goal minimum thresholds — if there had been no sport fishing effort or harvest during 2023?

The same question should also be asked about Jim Creek coho salmon numbers. The total season coho count passing Jim Creek weir through Monday August 21 was 497 fish with a coho salmon sustainable spawning escapement goal of 450 — 1400 from the McRoberts Creek fork index area. Not all of the coho passing the weir end up in the Jim Creek drainage spawning areas, and many years only about half of the spawners go to McRoberts Creek. I’ve heard a few reports of people catching salmon from Jim Creek before the season closure for all salmon fishing started on Saturday, but do not have any sense of how many salmon may have been sport harvested from this location beforehand.

Fish Creek is the one Mat-Su Valley location where an ADF&G established coho salmon spawning escapement goal has already been attained during 2023. Through August 21 a total of 1,348 coho salmon had been counted through Fish Creek weir and surpassing the minimum threshold of the Fish Creek 1,200 —4,400 coho salmon sustainable spawning escapement goal. The Fish Creek coho salmon fishery near Knik- Goose Bay Road remains open on Saturdays and Sundays only with a daily limit of 3 salmon only two of which may be coho salmon.

During this year of documented coho salmon shortages returning to Mat-Su Valley streams, I want to once again thank the Mat-Su legislative team for securing additional funding to operate ADF&G’s Deshka River, Fish Creek, and Jim Creek weir projects through each stream’s entire coho salmon return. After limited data from the previous 3 years from each of these systems, this year's weir counts are enlightening and will provide necessary information for solid Board of Fisheries regulation considerations during the

Upper Cook Inlet Meeting scheduled for Feb. 23 — March 7, 2024 in Anchorage.

Similar to the 2023 king salmon fishing season, the Eklutna Tailrace fishery for hatchery coho salmon now provides one of the best remaining coho salmon harvest opportunities in the entire Mat-Su Valley. Anglers may fish with bait 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, and with a daily bag limit of 3 salmon— all of which may be coho salmon at the Tailrace. This is a bank fishery, however, and the fishing area with the 3 coho salmon limit is limited.

There are other locations where bait may be fished within the Knik Arm drainage, however, only 2 coho daily may be harvested as part of the 3 salmon limit.

When I had a phone conversation with Danielle with Phantom Tri-River Charters in Talkeetna (907-495-2400) last week, She mentioned their charter business had been dependent upon sockeye, chum, and pink salmon sport fishing opportunities earlier this season. They had only recently started catching some late-arriving coho salmon on their charters, when the fishery was almost immediately restricted to artificial lures ( no bait) with a one coho ( instead of three coho) daily limit. Danielle wants Alaska residents and visitors to know Phantom Tri-River Charters intends to continue running fishing charters (including trips targeting rainbow trout) until early October.

Like most of the summer, I now believe the best salmon harvest opportunities, for most Mat-Su anglers, once again require a road trip. A round trip of highway driving to the Copper River Basin, Valdez, or the Kenai Peninsula will likely take 6 - 10 hours of driving time and cover hundreds of miles of highway. So long for now — I have some serious driving ahead.

Drive Safe — Good Luck — and Fish On!