Knik River stocked, ready for king fishing

The king are in at the Knik River. That's right, the Knik.

Last year the Alaska Department of Fish and Game stocked 100,000 king salmon smolt at Eklutna Tailrace, a side channel of the Knik River accessed off the Old Glenn Highway. Some of the one-year ocean fish are returning this summer, and while they are all less than 20 inches long they are still enough to draw a crowd of anglers.

"We'll give it a shot, anyway," said John Ylitalo of Wasilla as he and two friends prepared to get their lines wet earlier this week. He said he heard about the Knik kings from a friend and decided to see if he would have better luck catching one here than he's had at the Little Susitna or Willow Creek.

Odds were in his favor. Although fishing was slow that afternoon, there were reports of an angler catching and releasing nearly 30 fish earlier in the day.

Eleven-year-old Chris Anderson hadn't caught anything, yet.

"But I had like five bites," the young angler said enthusiastically. "It's really fun."

But no one should be expecting to reel in a 50-pounder here, at least not yet. It takes years for king salmon to grow to that size. For now, the Knik waters are offering 500 or so jack kings, and each year the fish should get bigger and more plentiful.

Fish and Game decided to begin the stocking program last year in hopes that another king salmon fishery would help take some of the pressure off other streams.

"It's a good place for people to come. They can fish in the morning before work, or after work, and it will relieve some of the pressure on our wild populations," said Dave Rutz, area fishery biologist with the Palmer office of Fish and Game. "It's a really good thing all the way around."

An added bonus is the Knik River doesn't have a native run of kings that stocked fish would compete with, Rutz said. At the same time, Eklutna Tailrace is an already popular fishery for stocked silver salmon, it's road-accessible and a quick drive from the core Valley area.

Later this year, Fish and Game plans to pour another 200,000 king smolt into the stream, and in following years 150,000 to 200,000, depending on the availability of space in the hatchery raceways.

"Ship Creek gets about 300,000," Rutz said.

And in ways, Eklutna Tailrace is set to become the next Ship Creek, a popular Anchorage fishery where anglers go after stocked kings each summer and sometimes haul in fish weighing more than 50 pounds. Rutz is predicting a similar future for Eklutna Tailrace. Eventually, Rutz said, the area will also attract thousands of anglers.

"We'll get some good-sized kings in there, 40 and 50 pounds," Rutz said.

The goal isn't to have the kings spawn in the Knik, but instead to replenish the supply by restocking it each year.

"We're going to liberalize the fishery in hopes that people catch them all," Rutz said.

Because current regulations don't allow fishing for anything but jack kings in the Knik, next summer the fishery will be opened to kings larger than 20 inches by a Fish and Game emergency order. By 2005, Rutz said, Fish and Game regulations will reflect the new king fishery and specific regulations will be set up. Rutz said the department hasn't yet decided whether full-sized Knik kings will count toward an angler's annual bag limit of five larger than 20 inches.

This season, though, anglers can count on relatively lenient regulations. Bait is allowed, and the bag and possession limit of the jack kings is 10.

Eklutna Tailrace can be accessed at Mile 3.5 Old Glenn Hwy., near the Eklutna power plant. The dirt access roads are on the river side of the highway and are in good enough shape even for small cars.

Rutz does warn drivers to be careful when entering or exiting the highway, as visibility is poor on this section of the Old Glenn -- and don't forget your current fishing license.

Eklutna Tailrace has a fish cleaning table, and anglers have set up camping areas in the nearby trees. Rutz said Fish and Game also has about $500,000 earmarked to further improve the access area.