Rules are made to be followed

If you’re like me, you get irritated every time you write a check to the borough for property taxes. We don’t have any kids, so we get nothing from the hundreds of millions of dollars funneled into the school budget. For the 18 years we’ve lived in our home, only once was the road maintenance done correctly for both summer grading and winter plowing. The one good thing we get for our tax dollars and, thankfully, have never had to use encompasses the fire and EMT/ambulance services available. The station is maybe a mile from our house.

However, one other good thing came out of our borough taxes. The Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee developed a publication that was submitted to the Alaska Board of Fisheries this past meeting cycle and was instrumental in the board’s voting to pass more salmon north to our Valley river systems. This publication was written with the aid of a contracted professional fisheries biologist/consultant who used the information supplied by the committee to edit the booklet. The final product was very professional in its content and presentation.

This document in available on the borough’s website. It can be downloaded if you want a hardcopy, but it’s about 80 pages long and in color. To find it, visit matsugov.us/planning/boards/blue-ribbon. Under the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee heading, click on the “Read More” button. In the “Fisheries Reports & Studies” box on the left side of the bottom of the page, click on the title “Upper Cook Inlet 2011 Fisheries Issues” and download the report. There are a couple of other reports in that same box you might want to review if you’re interested in the condition of our Valley’s salmon fisheries and their economic impact on the borough.

Again, if you’re like me, you attended the Great Alaskan Sportsmen’s Show in Anchorage this past weekend. I always plan to pick up the newest edition of the sportsfishing regulations from Fish and Game’s Sport Fish table. The regulation books were out for every region in the state except our Southcentral area. I was told that regulation booklet wouldn’t be available until May 15, even though the new regulations go into effect April 15. There was a small booklet available showing the Southcentral sport fishing regulation change highlights.

These highlighted changes reflect the changes made at the Upper Cook Inlet Board of Fisheries meeting held about six weeks ago in Anchorage. I would recommend you drop by Fish and Game and pick up a copy of the booklet if you plan to do any fishing prior to May 15. Assuming the normal regulation booklet is available by that time, get a copy of it and study the changes. There are new fishing times, a closed weekend, one stream closure, no fishing from a boat around the mouths of Willow Creek and other changes specific to king salmon fishing. The closure for fishing from a boat around the mouth of Willow Creek applies to all species from May 1 to July 13. Fishing for any species is closed within a one-half mile radius of the mouth of Alexander Creek from May 1 to July 13.

Regarding coho salmon, the board made several changes as well. A coho salmon 16 inches or longer that is removed from fresh water must now be retained and becomes part of the bag limit of the person originally hooking the fish. You may not remove a coho salmon 16 inches or longer from any Cook Inlet and North Gulf Coast fresh waters before releasing the fish.

The bag and possession limit for coho salmon was increased to three fish per day in all streams within Units 3, 5 and 6 of the Susitna River drainage. The Upper Susitna streams in Unit 3 include Indian and Portage Creeks. The Talkeetna River streams in Unit 5 include Clear, Larson and Prairie Creeks. The Chulitna River streams in Unit 6 include Byers, Honolulu, Troublesome and the East Fork Chulitna.

Regulations for northern pike were also changed. The size limit for pike on Alexander Lake was repealed. Also, anglers can now use five lines through the ice and bow-and-arrow or spear to harvest pike with no bag, possession or size limits year-round. If you catch a pike in the Susitna River drainage, including all westside tributaries and waters of the eastside Susitna River north of Willow Creek, and in all West Side Inlet area waters, you may not release the pike back into the water alive. If you catch a pike, you kill the pike.

If you catch a pike and don’t want it, you still must kill it and dispose of it in a responsible manner, like slitting the belly and dropping it into deep lake water or the swiftly moving current of a river. The idea is to dispose of the fish without creating an attraction for bears. Ideally, you’ll take all your pike home and use them as food fish. Pike are an excellent eating white-flesh fish. I really like them pickled.

A weekend youth-only fishery for kids under 16 was created on Fish Creek the first weekend in August. Once you’ve caught a limit of salmon greater than 16 inches on the Little Susitna River, you may not fish for any species the remainder of the day from the Parks Highway to the mouth, a distance of about 70 river miles.

There are more changes. Get a copy of the highlights booklet or the new regulation booklet when it comes out and learn the changes. You can avoid a ticket by knowing and following the new rules.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by emailing sports@frontiersman.com.