Quit wishin’ — time to go fishin’

Here’s another reminder about the gun show being held this weekend at the Big Lake Lions Recreation Center in Big Lake. The doors open at 10 a.m. and from what I hear, there will be a lot of vendors and tables full of firearms and outdoor products for sale. I plan to help out at the Mt. McKinley Mountainmen table when I’m not cruising the aisles looking at stuff!

The ice on several of the local lakes is either breaking up or is already almost gone. Now is a great time to fish for those lake-bound trout or salmon. The fish are usually quite eager to bite on almost anything once the ice starts clearing. It’s been a long winter for them, too, and fresh access to food is appreciated by all.

Here are a few things to keep in mind if you venture out to try your luck fishing. First, you need a valid sport fishing license. Second, if you’re fishing for rainbow trout, the season is closed until June 15 in all flowing waters – lakes are the only locations which currently allow the harvest of this species. Third, know where you are fishing. Lakes defined in the Susitna Drainage are limited to a bag limit of two rainbows. Stocked lakes in the Knik Arm area have a five fish limit. Pick up a copy of the 2016 sport fishing regulations booklet for Southcentral Alaska and check things out.

Wherever you fish, if you land a rainbow trout larger than 20 inches and decide to keep it, you must immediately log that catch on the back of your license or on your harvest card. The seasonal bag limit for 20-inch or longer rainbows is two fish.

Northern pike should also be stirring with ice-out, so give some thought to targeting them too. As the lake waters warm in our extended daylight hours, pike become more active for breeding as well as feeding on items not available with ice cover. They also move into shallower waters. Usually around Memorial Day, I start looking for some place to go bowfishing for pike. This year might even be sooner because of our early spring.

Since we’re talking a little fishing, I’ll mention something I just learned the outcome of earlier today.

In early April, the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee (MVFGAC) voted to send an emergency petition to ADF&G and the Board of Fisheries (BOF) asking that the first 4.5 fishing periods of the Northern District commercial king salmon fishing season be closed this year. The thinking was to more equitably share the burden of conservation in harvesting king salmon between the sport and commercial users of this resource.

The sport anglers have been living under significant restrictions for the past several years while fishing for kings in the Northern District and many felt the commercial sector had freer reign to harvest fish. The Sustainable Salmon Fisheries Policy (SSFP) regulation requires that, when closures or restrictions are made to a fisheries resource for conservation reasons, the burden of conservation should be shared as equitably as possible between the competing user groups.

The commissioner of Fish and Game wrote a formal reply to the Chair of the MVFGAC denying the request and generally outlined his reasons for denying the petition. The commissioner also wrote a formal letter to the Chair and members of the BOF explaining the reasoning why he denied the request.

I saw both letters and felt the explanation was much broader and more extensive in the commissioner’s BOF letter.

As is normal in these types of situations, the problem lies in the perception of how well the burden of conservation is being shared. The MVFGAC saw the situation from one perspective and the commissioner from a different point of view. Since the commissioner has the authority to do what he did, I wasn’t surprised at the outcome.

However, I was a little surprised at the tone of his letter to the AC. In the last paragraph, the commissioner states, “This is my final decision on your emergency petition. The board has been notified of my decision and two members of the board may call a special meeting in order to take a different action on the petition if they choose to do so. You may appeal my decision to the Superior Court within 30 days from the date of this letter.”

Maybe this is normal rhetoric for a Commissioner’s letter, but it seems a little “stiff-backed” to me!

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. This column is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman or its parent company, Wick Communications. You can leave Delo a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.