Pink salmon city

According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologist, Samantha Oslund the Susitna River drainage has seen a huge influx of pink salmon this year with good numbers of fish as far upriver as the Talkeetna River tributary. Samantha specifically mentioned Deshka River and Willow Creek as hotspots where large numbers of pink salmon have already arrived and sparked angler interest.

ADF&G’s Deshka River weir was already showing passage of 14,677 pink salmon through July 17 compared to only 17 pink salmon on the same date in 2018. Oslund suggested both the Deshka and Willow Creek as good spots anglers might try for both pink salmon and silver salmon this coming weekend. She mentioned fishing bait (salmon roe) under bobbers as a way to target the much less abundant silver salmon amongst the horde of pink salmon. The first 23 silver or coho salmon passed Deshka weir on July 17, however silver salmon often school and mill around the Deshka River confluence with the Susitna River awaiting an increase in Deshka River flow levels before migrating in mass upstream.

A.J. Hoffman of 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle what he saw the past two Sundays when floating Willow Creek. On July 7 he saw large numbers of pink salmon, but also several pods of silver salmon and chum salmon. When he floated again on July 14 he described seeing thousands of pink salmon, but only about five silver salmon and chum salmon. Sounds to me like any silver and chum salmon may be able to find cover in a cloud of pink salmon bodies. Smaller spinners (#1, 2, or 3), spoons, and flies work well for catching pinks and will often catch silvers and chums as well. The confluence areas where the four mouths of Willow Creek drain into the Susitna River are often hotspots for catching the most ocean-fresh pink, chum, and silver salmon in Willow Creek.

Other Susitna River tributary streams crossing the Parks Highway with a similar mix of pinks, chums, and silver salmon include Little Willow Creek, Kashwitna River, Sheep Creek, and Montana Creek. Like Willow waters near the steam confluences with the Susitna River tend to be some the better salmon catching spots.

Coho salmon

Silver or coho salmon are far and away the most sport-harvested salmon in the Mat-Su Valley, but coho catching is often spotty before July 25. While 2019 has gotten off to a decent start with some silver salmon caught this past week from Little Susitna River, Susitna River tributaries, and Eklutna Tailrace this prized salmon is still in limited abundance at freshwater locations. Through July 16, the total silver salmon numbers through ADF&G weirs in the Mat-Su Valley were as follows: Deshka River 23, Little Susitna River 28, Fish Creek 0 (Note: FIsh Creek does not open to sport fishing for salmon until August 3 for youths and August 10 for the general public).

A trend that Susitna River anglers, Little Susitna River anglers, and Northern District Commercial Fishers have noticed this year is that coho salmon seem to be running a bit smaller in size. Part of this is just time of they year, however, there definitely seems to be an unusual amount of smaller male coho salmon.

The Jim Creek Weir is scheduled to be installed on July 18, so coho salmon and sockeye salmon passage numbers will be available for Jim Creek on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website shortly. Significant numbers of sockeye usually show up her before good coho numbers. I think of salmon numbers at Jim Creek starting about July 20-25, but sometimes there area a few earlier salmon.

Coho Outlook: In the lower drainages closer to saltwater, silver salmon numbers will likely still be low this weekend, but expect to see significant increases building into the July 27-28 weekend.

Sockeye Fisheries to Check this Weekend: Cottonwood Creek, Jim Creek, Lake Creek, Clear Creek, and Larson Creek.

Personal use fishing

As of July 16 the Fish Creek sockeye salmon weir passage remained at 1 fish for the year, however, ADF&G is expecting to see a rapid increase in Fish Creek sockeye numbers before long. If the run can be projected to exceed 35,000 fish the Fish Creek personal use dip net fishery may open sometime in late July. This is currently the only personal use fishery available in the Mat-Su Valley. A personal use permit is required of Alaska resident to participate.

Kenai River personal use

When I attempted to call Larry Engel, his wife Nancy answered the phone and told me they were in a rush to go fishing — personal use fishing for sockeye salmon on the Kenai River. Nancy has relatives that live on the Kenai Peninsula and when they pass word the Kenai River fishery is heating up it is usually a safe bet. I believe the Engels and their relatives will catch good numbers of sockeye— and hope the good fishing continues long enough for many other Alaska residents to harvest reasonable numbers of sockeye as well. Personal use permits are available through ADF&G and also through some license vendors.

Copper River personal use

With cooler weather lately some of the higher glacial water flows have dropped, and I’ve been told the Copper River is less dangerous with better fishing conditions once again.

Cooler weather helps numerous Mat-Su fisheries

The return to more normal July temperatures has certainly increased fishing success at numerous Mat-Su locations — in particular in streams and shallow lakes. Low water flows remain in most non-glacial streams, however, and may hinder salmon migrations upstream at some location. Fish often become more wary or spooky in low clear water conditions. This is when smaller darker colored lures or flies can be subtle strike collectors. If you can see the fish and they are running from your lure or fly try smaller and darker in color.

Good luck, and fish on!