Mat-Su salmon season winding down

For those of you who have been following this column, the above headline comes as no surprise, as the coho salmon fishing in the Mat-Su Valley has been slow throughout most of the area for most of the season. The difference now, is that there simply may not be much fish left to return at most Mat-Su locations. On the Little Susitna River my guests and I mutually agreed to cancel charter fishing trips on both Tuesday and Wednesday, as the trips simply did not seem likely to live up to what both the guide and guests were expecting when the reservations were made.

Instead of opening for bait on Aug. 6, the Little Susitna River has remained closed to bait fishing the entire season. Not being allowed to use bait has significantly slowed down sport coho salmon catching on the Little Susitna River,but so has the lack of fish that resulted in no opportunity to use bait in the first place.

As posted on my website fishing reports, we are at the point where I’m expecting guest to catch a coho salmon or two per trip, even if I have a full boat of guests. There are a few schools of salmon around and we can usually find some fish to cast at, however, most of the salmon are not very interested in biting our lures, and then any angler is likely to loose some of the fish that bite and hooked, before they can be brought to the net. On the lower Little Susitna River, at this point the action is mostly dependent upon catching the few silver salmon that will bite, as the other salmon runs are mostly over for the season.

Last year, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game pulled the Little Susitna River Weir on August 27 with a count of 12,321 coho salmon passing the weir through Aug. 26. If the department follows the same weir removal schedule this year, coho salmon passage through the weir will need to exceed an average of 274 fish per day Aug. 24-26 to meet the minimum Little Susitna River coho salmon spawning escapement goal of 10,100 fish passing the weir. It remains to be seen if the goal will be attained, before the weir is removed. Whether the goal is attained or not, the Little Susitna River sport coho salmon fishery has been well below average.

Fish Creek fishery

It is tougher to tell what is happening in the Fish Creek coho salmon fishery that was opened to salmon fishing on a seven-day per week basis, as the department removed their Fish Creek salmon counting weir back on Aug. 15, with total coho passage at the time of 2,483 fish compared to 3,351 coho passage in 2015. As I’ve been traveling home from guided trips on the Little Susitna River, I’ve seen vehicles parked near the small area of Fish Creek open to salmon fishing even after the 6 p.m. daily closing time, so I’m thinking there must be some salmon available for harvest at this location.

One has to also wonder about the Cottonwood Creek and Wasilla Creek fisheries as well.

Report from Little Willow Creek

I talked with Ben Allen who guided a full-day float trip down Little Willow Creek on Tuesday. His guests caught three coho salmon and a few rainbow trout, but that was about all the bites they could get. Water was rising during the trip from our rain this week, and all of the fish were hooked using bait. Ben was not much impressed with the fishing action — or should I say lack of action.

Deshka River rising, weir count flat

With rising waters on the Deshka River once again, one might expect a good jump in coho salmon numbers going through the Deshka River Weir. However, salmon passage has remained relatively flat with less than 100 coho salmon daily between Aug. 15 and Aug. 23. I’ve talked with or heard of several people who’ve gone to the Deshka, but not had much luck catching coho (silver) salmon during the past couple weeks.

Jim Creek Weir passage way low

Even after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game closed all salmon fishing in the Jim Creek drainage starting on Aug. 20, salmon passage through the weir remains less than one-sixth of what had passed at the same time last season. Through Aug. 23, 2015, 2,989 coho salmon had already passed the Jim Creek weir. Through the same date in 2016, only 476 coho salmon have passed the Jim Creek weir. Even though seasonal water conditions were much better for salmon migration this year compared to last year. It appears extremely likely that the minimum spawning escapement as counted in the McRoberts Creek index area may not be attained this year.

As this week’s headline and the season long trend in coho salmon abundance show, the Mat-Su Valley’s coho salmon catching and participation in the fishery is declining rapidly. To my own observation my fishing columns seem to have this same redundant theme. Therefore, next week, I’ll offer some commentary on the department’s salmon counting weir program in the Mat-Su Valley. After that I’ll wrap up the season with some thoughts on fall fishing in the Mat-Su.

Finally I may write about Mat-Su fisheries on a more inconsistent basis during the fall, winter and spring.

Good luck and fish on!

Andy Couch is a member of the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee and the Matanuska Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission, and is a Mat-Su Valley salmon fishing guide