Resident species outshine early Susitna Drainage kings

Stream fishing in Parks Highway Susitna River tributary streams north of Willow this past week has provided considerable action for rainbow trout, arctic grayling and Dolly Varden char.

Margo Nealis of Phantom Tri River Charter reported good fishing for all three species in the Talkeetna River drainage and mentioned their popular Clear Creek drop off trips targeting these fish .

Joe and Marilynn Rouswell reported catches of the same three species for anglers fishing out of Susitna Landing at Mile 82 along the Parks Highway. Marilynn also mentioned she had an angler fishing hard our front in search of a king salmon on the same early date when he landed one last year. So far, I’ve heard no reports of king salmon caught along the Parks Highway, yet, but it would not surprise me if someone lands the first one in the coming week. Remember that king salmon fishing in all Susitna River drainages upstream of Deshka River is on a catch and release only basis following an emergency order issued by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. While king salmon catching is likely to remain spotty through the next week, for Mat-Su big fish addicts, nothing matches the size and power of early season king salmon.

Deshka River has already been producing a few early king salmon for more than a week now, although anglers are putting in lots of time for every king salmon caught. I’ve fished the Deshka three times in the past week, and no one in my boat has seen or hooked a king salmon yet, although my guests have been catching some northern pike in an upstream side slough, and there has also been an abundance of arctic grayling swirling in some of the upstreams holes as well. With all the grayling we haven’t had a whole lot of luck catching them, but have had fun trying. The “secret” to catching the earliest Mat-Su king salmon is to spending enough time fishing for them.

As the season progresses the numbers of available king salmon will explode to where king salmon passage through the weir can exceed 1000 fish usually for several days during the season. Similar to past years there is an abundance of bald eagles along the fish-rich Deshka River that we have been spotting on every trip. An ADF&G spokesperson told me they were planning to install their Deshka River salmon counting weir on Wednesday, so daily fish passage updates through the weir may already be posted on the ADF&G website by the time this column is published.

Expect very few king salmon to pass the weir in the first few days after it is installed. Peak Deshka River king salmon passage often occurs during the second and third weeks of June. Deshka River king (Chinook) salmon passage may be viewed at the following web page: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/sf/FishCounts/index.cfm?ADFG=main.displayResults&COUNTLOCATIONID=17&SpeciesID=410

Stocked trout and char action

As of May 16, ADF&G had already stocked catchable-sized (about nine inches) rainbow trout and arctic char in 19 different lakes scattered along the Mat-Su Valley road system. My 15-year old nephew has already been out catching and attempting to catch these fish in three or four lakes close to his Palmer area subdivision. Some of these lakes may also have good number of larger holdover fish as well. Single salmon eggs, small spinners, and flies are all popular for catching fish from Mat-Su lakes.

Most stocked lakes provide higher limits for rainbow trout and arctic char than lakes or streams which have only natural producing populations. Many stocked lakes also provide longer season opportunities to use bait than Mat-Su stream fisheries.

Checkout the following URL for the latest on Mat-Su fish stocking: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=SportStockingHatcheriesSearch.areaSearchResults

You may want to bookmark this particular page for future reference, as the department updates it on a weekly basis and makes additional stockings throughout the year although most are done in the summer.

Even when fishing stocked water bodies, be sure to check regulations before attempting to fish a new water body or one you have not fished for a while. Rather than reading and attempting to memorize regulations for all water bodies in the Mat-Su I find it beneficial to concentrate on the general regulations then focus my attention on regulations specific to the few locations I intend to fish.

Alaska summers are too short, so now is the time to get out and start enjoying this one on some of the Mat-Su’s quality waters.

Fish On!

Andy Couch is the owner of Fishtale River Guides, member of the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee, and member of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough FIsh and Wildlife Commission.