Mat-Su Valley salmon runs building

“This fishing is so good we could be on a TV fishing show about catching Alaska salmon.”

“These salmon really fight, and just won’t quit. They are a tremendous sport fish.”

Those two comments were heard earlier this week from my guests on a couple different salmon fishing charters catching chum salmon on the lower Little Susitna River. It took less than a week for chum salmon numbers to take a dramatic jump on the Little Su, and chums are providing the primary action on the river this week. In addition, anglers are catching silver salmon daily— but they are much less abundant and more difficult to come by than the chum salmon. Over the past several days, most of my guests have caught a limit of salmon — with a fair share of those fish being chums.

Chum, or dog salmon as they are also called, put up a great fight and have tremendous stamina, but many Alaskans, including myself do not consider them as good of table fare as king salmon, sockeye salmon, or coho salmon. For those who have not tried eating an ocean-fresh chum salmon, I encourage you to keep one, cook it and try it.

To me, chums simply have a milder salmon flavor. I prefer that strong salmon flavor, so I prefer the aforementioned king, sockeye and coho salmon. Since I usually catch plenty of salmon to eat for an entire year, I rarely keep chum salmon, or if I do, I keep them because someone else would like to eat them.

Over the years I’ve had many charter guests keep a chum salmon, eat it and come back saying they would like to keep every chum salmon they catch as they really enjoyed the first one. I’ve also had many guests come back after eating a chum salmon and say they would prefer to let chums go and only keep coho, king or sockeye salmon.

I encourage all anglers to try each species of salmon and decide for themselves which ones they prefer to eat and which ones (if any) they prefer to release. Right now there is a tremendous opportunity throughout the Little Susitna and Susitna River drainages to catch and try eating abundant fresh-from-the-ocean chum salmon.

Sockeye now abundant

I talked with Alaska Department of Fish and Game Biologist, Sam Ivey on Tuesday and he was busy writing an emergency order to open the Fish Creek personal use dip net fishery for three days — July 29, 30, and 31. Although a very short season, this will allow Mat-Su anglers an opportunity to dip net sockeye salmon within the Mat-Su area for the third year in a row. This is a fishery for Alaska residents only and those interested need to pick up a dip net permit — the local Fish and Game office in Palmer is a good place to get a permit and get a quick run down of dip net regulations at the same time.

To keep the Fish Creek sockeye fishery open for future years all anglers are encouraged to respect private property along the creek. The area open to fishing is both small and confined, so don’t think there will be any place to “get away from the crowd.” The limit is also generous and your entire season’s quota may be harvested in one day.

For those more interested in catching their fish on a rod and reel, Bob Meals of Tri River Charters in Talkeetna (733-2400) reports that both sockeye and chum salmon are abundant in the Talkeetna River system at this time.

Other Mat-Su sockeye salmon hotspots that may have good fishing over the weekend include Cottonwood Creek (check regulations to know where the small area open to salmon fishing is located), Jim Creek in the Butte area, and remote Lake Creek accessible by a long boat ride or airplane.

Chum salmon, pink salmon and some silver salmon are available at the tributary streams flowing into the Susitna River between Willow and Talkeetna, while silver salmon are also available in greater numbers in the Deshka River and Yentna River tributary streams.

Although silver salmon fishing success has been slow compared to last year, expect the number of silver salmon available to anglers to continue building over the next couple weeks. While bait is allowed now in many areas open for salmon fishing, anglers should examine regulations for specific streams they intend to fish and familiarize themselves with specific regulations that may apply. Some of the regulations changed over the past winter by the Alaska Board of Fisheries, so a quick review may be in order.

Remember, the Kid’s Weekend Opportunity at Fish Creek will be on the weekend of Aug. 6 and 7. For more information, contact Mat-Su Anglers Club President Julie Busch at 892-7543, or read the new fishing regulations regarding Fish Creek located out on Knik-Goose Bay Road.

Late July and early August are good times to fish Mat-Su Valley streams, so I encourage anglers to get out and enjoy Alaska with, “Fish On!”

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska-Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.