Little Su king fishery closed for remainder of 2011

Effective tonight at 11, the popular Little Susitna River king salmon fishery will close to both harvest and catch-and-release fishing for king salmon for the remainder of the year.

The Little Susitna River king salmon escapement goal was only minimally attained in 2009 after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed the fishery that year in early July. In 2010, the department used the same tool in an attempt to reach the king salmon escapement goal, but did not attain the Little Susitna River king salmon spawning minimum of 900 fish.

As mentioned in this column last week, all Little Su salmon anglers interested in the future health of this heavily used and valuable public resource would like to see the king salmon spawning escapement goal reached. There is controversy, however, in how ADF&G has measured the progress of the run in 2011.

Whereas some type of aerial king salmon survey counts were used before emergency changes were made in 2009 and 2010, this year the emergency closure has been made based on an informal exit survey conducted by Park Service fee booth attendants at the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility. According to ADF&G Area Sport Fish Management Biologist Sam Ivey, numbers of king salmon harvested as reported through the exit survey are down even from those recorded in 2010.

What do low

numbers mean?

According to longtime Little Susitna River sportfishing guide Greg Acord, who has been guiding king salmon charters exclusively on Little Susitna River this year, his observations show more king salmon in the Little Sustina River right now, — both upstream and downstream from the Little Susitna Public Use Facility — than he has seen at any time during the last three years.

Acord contends that high, muddy water causing grass and other debris to build up on anglers’ lines contributed to low Little Susitna River success rates earlier in the 2011 season, but created ideal conditions for king salmon to swim upstream through the fishery. He also issued a personal invitation to the ADF&G manager to come out on the river with him and see the number of king salmon present.

All in-season monitoring ends today

In a phone conversation I had with Sam Ivey on Wednesday, I posed the question that if the sport fishery closed, would that also end all in-season abundance monitoring of Little Susina River king salmon? With the park services informal king salmon creel census ended by the emergency closure, Ivey’s answer was, “Yes, in-season monitoring would end for 2011, with a post season spawner survey (depending upon water conditions).”

According to Ivey, ADF&G expects to possibly attain only the lower end of the Little Susitna River king salmon escapement goal by the emergency order closing the 2011 sport king salmon fishing season.

It will be interesting to see what the post season aerial king salmon spawner survey shows. Basing an emergency order on an informal survey, and/or perhaps some personal observations by those who could be affected by an emergency order, is far from the best scenario.

But at this time those seem to be the best data sources ADF&G has for the Little Susitna River king and silver salmon fisheries. How big and important to an area do specific sport fisheries need to be in order to garner scientific in-season monitoring by ADF&G?

What will the effects of closing Little Susina River be on other Mat-Su Valley king salmon fisheries?

Deshka king harvest

continues to perk along

Over on the Deshka River, where king salmon escapement is monitored by a weir, Ivey is concerned about escapement as well; however, solid weir data has allowed him to feel comfortable keeping the fishery open with bait allowed as a means to harvest surplus king salmon. Good fishing and harvests have continued on the Deshka, but any dip in king salmon numbers passing through the weir could cause a bait restriction or some other type of change on the Deshka to pass additional king salmon on to the spawning beds. Escapements are currently near the critical level needed to attain the Deshka River king salmon spawning escapement goal.

Mat-Su Angler’s Club announcement

There will be a club fishing event on Saturday at Finger Lake from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., followed by a potluck. For information contact Julie Busch at 892-7543.

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.