Last 5 days for Mat-Su Valley king salmon fishing

As this column is made public on Friday, counting today, king salmon fishing will only remain open for five days at specific locations, and then the Mat-Su Valley king salmon fishing season will end for 2011.

The one exception is the stocked king salmon fishery in and near Eklutna Tailrace, which will remain open for the rest of the year. Of the fisheries I’ve participated in or heard of lately, anglers have still been catching some king salmon at Talkeetna River, Lake Creek, Talachulitna River, Deshka River and Eklutna Tailrace. While king salmon fishing would best be characterized as past peak and slowing down, there are still king salmon available to be caught.

July/August runs of other salmon coming soon

While the only salmon other than kings that I’ve heard of anglers harvesting have been a few early sockeye salmon, a review of recent commercial fisheries catches from Upper Cook Inlet on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website shows that sockeye salmon, chum salmon, pink salmon and coho salmon are all showing up in the commercial catches. I expect some of my salmon charter guests will catch additional bonus salmon, other than kings, within the next week.

On July 11, the Upper Cook Inlet commercial drift fishery will be restricted to a smaller fishing area in an attempt by the Alaska Board of Fisheries to move more sockeye, coho and other salmon to the northern portion of Upper Cook Inlet. I would expect some of those salmon allowed to pass through the middle of Cook Inlet on the 11th could be reaching Mat-Su Valley streams by July 13-15.

It will be interesting to see how this attempt to allow more salmon to reach northern Cook Inlet spawning streams works out.

Additional days when the drift fishery will fish a restricted area in order to pass salmon on to northern streams throughout the season are scheduled to happen later in July, unless 2011 in-season Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) sockeye salmon return estimates to Upper Cook Inlet and the Kenai River grow too large.

If or when ADF&G sockeye salmon projections exceed a specific number, the new commercial restrictions designed to pass salmon on to streams at the northern end of Upper Cook Inlet could go out the window for the remainder of the season.

ADF&G installs Fish Creek salmon counting weir

Department staff from the Palmer office were busy installing the Fish Creek salmon counting weir on Wednesday, so initial return numbers may be available on the ADF&G website by the time this article is published.

Often, early July Fish Creek salmon escapements are very low with few sockeye salmon swimming past the weir. Hopefully, the July 11 commercial drift restriction will cause those often-low numbers to swell. An additional change made by the Alaska Board of Fisheries this past winter was to allow personal use dip net fishing by state residents at Fish Creek once the ADF&G sockeye escapement to Fish Creek can be projected to exceed 50,000 fish rather than the 70,000 fish previously used. If enough sockeye return to allow a fishery once again in 2011, this should provide an additional boon to those wanting to harvest Mat-Su sockeye salmon, and a resulting boon to Valley businesses as well. In a year where many Mat-Su king salmon returns were, once again, below historic numbers, the prospect of larger returns of sockeye, chum, pink and coho salmon is welcome by Alaska visitors and Valley residents.

For those interested in keeping up-to-date on ADF&G-monitored salmon return numbers, here is the URL address to the above-mentioned ADF&G webpage where this information is available: adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts.

Of particular interest to Mat-Su Valley residents may be the Deshka River weir counts in addition to the Fish Creek weir counts. These are the best two locations for sport anglers to get an in-season feel for what is happening in the Mat-Su Valley. Previous years’ salmon counts for Cottonwood and Wasilla Creeks may also help those unfamiliar with normal run timing for specific Mat-Su Valley salmon runs, and Little Susitna River weir counts provide a historic perspective of coho run sizes from one of the Valley’s most popular salmon streams.

Unfortunately, the late nature of counts from the upper end of the Little Susitna River provide little benefit for anglers and ADF&G managers interested in what is happening at specific times on the lower Little Susitna River near the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility. Many Little Susitna River anglers and others interested in the health of Mat-Su Valley salmon runs are hopeful the Little Susitna River weir location will be changed in the near future.

Mat-Su Anglers Club news

A recent conversation with club president Julie Busch revealed that the club event planned for Saturday at South Rolly Lake had to be canceled. The Club’s monthly meeting at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center at 7 p.m., July 14 and the kid’s casting clinic July 15 at the same location are still on; however, additional kids are needed to sign up for the casting clinic — the clinic is a great opportunity for kids or parents interested in getting their kids involved in the sport of fishing. Call Busch at 892-7543 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.