Mat-Su Ice fishing, upcoming fishery regulatory meetings

On Monday of this week I asked Mike Hudson with 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle in Wasilla for a recent fishing report, and found his reply quite upbeat, although mainly providing similar information to what I’d heard recently. According to Mike, ice fishing at local lakes including those in the Meadow Lakes Area and the Kepler - Bradley lake complex have been producing some good results. Mike also noted Lake Louise for providing some catches of large lake trout, and Long Lake up the Glenn Highway for some good catches as well. In addition he mentioned that fishing at Big Lake was tracking well with what might be expected — and ice was plenty thick enough for people to drive out on. The one kicker is choosing a pleasant - weather day on which to enjoy an ice fishing trip -- with temperatures remaining colder than Mat-Su anglers have experienced most of the time during the past decade. In addition, Mike mentioned the wind was gusting to about 80 miles per hour near his Mat-Su Valley home on Monday — and that reoccurring wind combined with the cold temperatures can make for brutal fishing conditions, especially for those without a shelter to fish from.

In consideration of the weather, Hudson said that many of the more remote northern.pike fishery lakes had so far received little fishing effort, because of low snow levels making access difficult for snowmobilers. Expect that to change if and when we get a good foot or two of snow — and those fish will likely be undisturbed and ready to bite at that time.

Mike mentioned that people were signing up to build fishing rods (at a similar level) compared to past years at the tackle shop. Winter rod building of course can provide a pleasant experience to put together a fishing rod specifically to match an individual’s interests. To me that is the essence of building a rod — making exactly or as close to what one wants as possible. Mike mentioned having good opportunities to order up specific rod building supplies, but that shipping times had been up to three weeks recently. Hopefully those shipping delays may decrease after the Christmas shopping / shipping deluge has had a week or more to subside.

Sate Fishery Management Meetings Upcoming

The Alaska Board of Fisheries will be meeting to consider fishery regulation changes at the Bristol Bay Finfish meeting scheduled for January 13 - 18, 2026 at the Egan Convention Center In Anchorage. While the onetime public comment period for that meeting ended on December 29, there will be opportunity to provide public testimony for those that sign up at the start of the meeting, and there is also the opportunity for groups to submit record copies (RCs) that may help the board when considering some of the proposed regulation changes. Of significance at this meeting is an issue with low king salmon returns to the Nushagak River (long considered one of the best sport king salmon fisheries in the state) compounded by what have recently been extremely large returns of harvestable surplus sockeye salmon. If the state is going to make a legitimate effort to manage this king salmon resource (and other declining king salmon stocks throughout the state) on a sustainable basis as required by the state constitution it appears more conservative and precautionary salmon harvest regulations may be required. See proposed regulations and information for the Bristol Bay meeting here.

Commercial permit holders, sport anglers, and subsistence users could all see harvest opportunity changes in order to provide adequate protections to rebuild Nushagak River king salmon returns. If state managers and the board of fisheries looked at this issue on a holistic basis in relation to where declines in king salmon productivity have likely occurred, this issue could also spur more conservative / precautionary stipulations for the state waters pollock trawl fisheries and reductions to large hatchery releases of pink salmon by so called Private Nonprofit Hatcheries (PNPs) throughout Alaska .

The Alaska Peninsula / Aleutian Islands / Chignik Finfish meeting is scheduled for February 18- 24, 2026, once again at the Egan Civic and Convention Center in Anchorage. One of the largest subjects of management concern at this meeting is the impact commercial fishing in this area has or may have on salmon stocks bound for other parts of Alaska, Canada, Washington, and Oregon. There are both proposals to increase commercial harvest opportunity in this area, as well as proposals seeking to reduce commercial harvest opportunity in order to provide adequate escapements and fishing opportunities within specific portions of this area and other Alaska fishing areas where salmon may migrate if not harvested in such large numbers. See the proposed Alaska Peninsula / Aleutian Islands / Chignik fishing regulation proposals and additional meeting information here.

Although it may be a sometimes difficult and tedious process to consider the impacts of new proposed regulations, there is a need for public participation to ensure our salmon stocks and fisheries meet escapement goals and provide for sustainable harvest opportunities throughout the state while providing reasonable harvest opportunities for all Alaskans.

Fish On!

Although Andy Couch is a member of the Matanuska - Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee the thoughts and opinions expressed in this column are his own - unless noted otherwise.