Low king salmon populations and poaching

With the Alaska Department of Fish and Game implementing king salmon closures throughout the entire Susitna River drainage and the Little Susitna River, before anyone had even caught a wild king salmon this year, and with Deshka River Weir and Little Susitna River Weir king salmon counts some of the lowest on record, there is a very well-documented shortage of king salmon for spawning purposes in 2024. This week, however, I heard of multiple reports of king salmon poaching by both visitors and Mat-Su residents alike.

One person made a point that visitors may read the standard fishing regulations listed in the handy dandy regulations booklet provided by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and see several locations listed as open to king salmon fishing.

If visitors were unfamiliar with the emergency order king salmon closures made by the department before the open-water king salmon fishery got underway in the Mat-Su Valley, they could be unknowingly violating those same emergency closures. Alaska residents of the Mat-Su, on the other hand, should be well aware of the dire king salmon situation and emergency restrictions or closures that have been a regular occurrence for more than a decade.

Harvesting wild Mat-Su king salmon at a time when every spawner could make a significant difference in the future recovery of our king salmon populations robs from all Alaskans and only delays any chance of significant recovery. Please spread the word that we need every wild Mat-Su king salmon to spawn this year— in particular.

When I talked with A.J.Hoffman with 3 Rivers Fly & Tackle on Monday, he mentioned that with very few harvestable surplus salmon in the Mat-Su tackle sales had been extremely poor. He mentioned, that even though the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has been managing northern pike as an invasive species, to be eliminated as much as possible, the northern pike sport fishery had helped maintain local sport fishing effort and the tackle shop through a rough season.

I’ve also talked with 4 guide businesses who more frequently had depended upon the king salmon fishery, but had been guiding some pike fishing trips this year. Mat-Su resident Mia Di Salvo also related that she and her boy friend had been pike fishing at Red Shirt Lake this past weekend using a Tippecanoe rental, and they caught an incredible number of northern pike (all of which were quite small). My nephew, Paul Warta, and I had the opposite experience on Monday afternoon, when we fished for pike on a slough off the Susitna River, but only caught one pike each — both of which were plenty large enough to provide good-sized fillets. Some of the better pike are being removed from lakes throughout the Mat-Su with Red Shirt, Trapper, Alexander, and Big Lake well known as some of the more productive Mat-Su pike fisheries. Expect pike and trout fisheries in Mat-Su lakes to provide some of the better fish catching / harvesting again this week.

Early Tuesday morning I casted spinners at Fish Creek near Knik Goose Bay Road as the high tide was dropping, but I did not see or hook any salmon. An ADFG crew was scheduled to work at installing the Fish Creek Weir that same day. The first salmon passing that weir could be recorded on ADF&G’s fish counts web page by the time this column is published on Friday July 5, 2024. From Fish Creek I continued on to Eklutna Tailrace in search of a first-hand report about the ongoing king salmon fishery for hatchery produced fish king. I saw a dozen vehicle at the lower tailrace parking lot — but less than a dozen people fishing on Tuesday morning. Everyone I saw fishing was workinging the waters between the tailrace confluence with the Knik River and the pedestrian bridge. I did not see any fish surface, and I did not see any angler ev en get a bite — extremely slow would be my description.

For those who enjoy uncrowded salmon fisheries — numerous fishing locations throughout the Mat-Su Valley should be just that over the 4th of July weekend, however, for those who would prefer a solid opportunity at catching salmon, a road trip may be in order — again. The Kenai Peninsula’s Kasilof River will likely provide one of the best opportunities for sport anglers to harvest sockeye salmon by swinging flies through the current. Kasilof may also provide the best opportunity to harvest personal use dip net salmon for the next couple weeks. Russian River is a shorter drive from the Mat-Su than the Kasilof, and should provide a decent opportunity to harvest sport caught sockeye salmon. Note: Russian River is a fly fishing only fishery, although many anglers fish their flies using sinkers and a spinning rod /reel. This may sound odd or difficult, but it is quite easy to learn by watching / imitating the people who are regularly catching salmon. All salmon harvested are required to be hooked in the mouth. Snagged fish (hooked elsewhere than in the mouth) must be released.

Continued conservative salmon management in the federal and state waters of Cook Inlet should provide for the arrival of more catchable numbers of salmon into Mat-Su streams by the July 13 /14 weekend.

Good Luck and Fish On!