King salmon fishing options through the end of the season

Although king salmon fishing started late and catching was slow in the early part of the 2013 season, the late end of the season has produced some better than normal results.

Starting last Saturday, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game re-opened bait fishing on the lower 17 miles of the Deshka River. That action, combined with nearly a week of cooler weather, has produced some of the better king salmon fishing of the season on the Deshka. In addition, king salmon escapements (while in decline) have remained strong for the last week of June and the first few days of July.

I usually figure that Deshka can get about 1,000 king salmon through the weir during the first week of July — and this year a slug of over 1,000 king salmon passed the weir on the first day of July. The total weir count is now over 15,000 king salmon on the Deshka and still climbing. While some anglers are still trolling near the river mouth or casting lures at upstream holes, the majority of anglers are now fishing bait — specifically cured salmon roe.

The later-than-normal opening of bait fishing on the Deshka has put more fishing pressure on the river at a time when it is normally relatively quiet, and I suspect this holiday weekend may be quite busy, both with anglers and boaters traveling to upriver Deshka cabins. Still, the Deshka will likely provide the largest king salmon harvests in the Mat-Su over the weekend and through the end of the king salmon season on July 13. Other than Eklutna Tailrace, Deshka River is the only location where bait may be used in fishing for king salmon and harvest is allowed on a seven-day-per-week basis.

Talkeetna king salmon

Earlier this week I talked with Margo of Tri-River Charters in Talkeetna, and it sounds to me like the Talkeetna River/Clear Creek area likely offers one of the best, if not the very best, opportunities to catch king salmon anywhere in the entire Mat-Su from now through the end of the season. The one “catch” is that this fishery is being regulated on a catch-and-release basis for the entire season in 2013.

According to Margo, Tri-River Charters’ Clear Creek drop-off trips are down significantly in 2013, so if you are interested in a prime salmon catching opportunity with considerably lower than normal fishing pressure, give Tri-River Charters a call at 733-2400.

All Susitna River tributaries upstream of Deshka River and downstream from Talkeetna River are now closed for the remainder of the season to king salmon fishing.

Other Mat-Su salmon options

Talking with ADF&G fisheries biologist Suzanne Hayes this week, I learned that the department had counted the first two chum salmon past the Little Susitna River Weir and had also caught the first chum salmon in the department fish wheels near the confluence of the Yentna and Susitna Rivers.

While these early scout fish are very low in numbers at this time, there is the possibility that some lucky angler may hook into one of these dynamite fighters over the holiday weekend. I also notice that Upper Cook Inlet commercial fishermen have already been harvesting stronger numbers of coho salmon than occurred in early July last season.

On Monday, Central District drift gillnetters caught 889 coho salmon and Northern District setnetters caught another 12 coho salmon. While the number of these popular sport fish is low in Northern Cook Inlet waters, there are a few present already, and it would not surprise me to hear of a few Mat-Su sport coho salmon being caught over the weekend. An early showing of these fish in commercial harvests often indicates the likelihood of a good Mat-Su coho salmon return — as long as the drift fleet is not given too much opportunity to harvest July coho before they reach Mat-Su streams.

Little Susitna coho — stock of concern or stock of little concern?

It should be noted that ADF&G already adjusted sport fishing regulations by emergency order through Aug. 5 on the Little Susitna River. This year, all fishing through Aug. 5 is restricted to one artificial lure with one single hook.

With the bulk of the Little Susitna River king salmon escapement already upstream past the salmon counting weir, this regulation will become primarily a means for boosting coho salmon escapements in the Little Susinta River. This brings up a good question; if ADF&G has already restricted the Little Susitna River sport coho salmon fishery by emergency order, what kind of emergency restrictions is the department placing on the commercial fishery where most of these fish are harvested throughout the entire month of July?

The single-hook artificial lure sport restriction will be effective every day through Aug. 5. Will the department be announcing a similar restriction to the commercial fishery through Aug. 5? Northern coho salmon are designated to be managed primarily for sport and guided sport fishing opportunities in the Northern District Salmon Management Plan. If these fisheries are already restricted, how does ADF&G plan to share the burden of conservation?

ADF&G managers have failed to achieve the Little Susitna River coho salmon escapement goal in each of the past four seasons (and some would say qualifying this salmon stock for Stock of Concern status). Will ADF&G effectively manage all Upper Cook Inlet harvesters to turn this situation around in 2013?

Stay tuned to learn more on this subject as the 2013 fishing season continues.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides (fish4salmon.com) and is a member of the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission.