Salmon return to Mat-Su streams

Fish Creek Closes After Providing Early July Harvest Opportunity

Fish Creek near Knik Goose-Bay Road provided one of the best Mat-Su sport salmon fishing options I know of during the past week with sockeye salmon arriving and milling about in the lower creek below the bridge on most high tides. I saw anglers or their vehicles near the creek on most days that I drove past. Paul Warta gave me two reports of catching sockeye salmon at Fish Creek both times he fished the creek this past week, and I heard about other anglers’ successes there as well. On Sunday June 14 more than 3,000 sockeye swam past the Fish Creek Weir in the first daily weir passage count exceeding 1,000 salmon anywhere in the Mat-Su Valley during 2024. Later that same evening at 10:01 p.m.the fishery closed to sport fishing in preparation to the personal use dip net fishery that may run sometime later during July (based on additional sockeye salmon passage past the weir).

Sockeye Fisheries

Cottonwood Creek (weekends only) in the lower intertidal section off of Hayfield Road, Lake Creek off the Yentna River, Jim Creek in the Knik River drainage, and the Larson Creek / Talkeetna River confluence are all locations that may provide some of the Mat-Su’s better sport sockeye catching opportunities over the coming weekend. I would expect limited numbers of sockeye salmon may be available at each of these locations by the weekend.

This past week I also heard of a few coho salmon and a sockeye salmon being harvested from the Knik River side-channel below Eklutna Tailrace as new salmon started arriving in the Knik River drainage. In addition, the fishery for enhanced king salmon at Eklutna Tailrace remains open to harvest, and while king salmon success remains low, I saw a couple fish caught on mid-morning Monday of this week. Both of those tailrace fish were caught by anglers fishing with bait, one drifting it under a bobber, and the other angler anchoring salmon roe with a large sinker near the tailrace / Knik River confluence until a king salmon swam along and picked it up.

From 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle I heard that anglers have been catching some early arriving sockeye salmon from the Larson Creek/Talkeetna River confluence about 25 miles upstream from Talkeetna. This is a very small fishing area that can only accommodate a few anglers at a time, but it is a known congregating/milling area for sockeye salmon migrating to Larson Lake.

On Saturday July 13 I took an 8-hour round trip from Deshka Landing to the lower Susitna River Dip Net Fishery in hopes that some reasonable number of salmon might be available for harvest. It was a very wet rainy trip, and the 4 of us in the boat did not manage to land a single salmon —- although we did pull two chum salmon close to the boat before losing both. During the trip we saw several bald eagles along the river, a beaver, and a seal swimming around near the bottom of the dip netting area. On the way back upriver we pulled into the Deshka River confluence to look for salmon (unsuccessfully) while getting off the main river to fill up the boat gas tank, before the final boat ride segment back to Deshka Landing. Two days later, on Monday, I learned that the first two coho salmon of the season had passed Deshka River Weir on Sunday July 14, along with the first 22 pink salmon, and a lone sockeye salmon.

Little Susitna River

Anglers have been catching a few chum salmon from this location during the past week, and staff at 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle told me on Monday they had heard of a couple coho salmon being caught from Little Su as well. Low numbers of king salmon, sockeye salmon, chum salmon, and pink salmon had migrated past Little Susitna River Weir through Sunday July 14. While angling effort remained low over the rainy weekend, expect it to pick up during the coming week.

The recent weekend rain raised water levels and reduced instream visibility at many tributaries and mainstream drainages, but as of Monday water levels are already dropping and clearing once again. Remember that the emergency regulations requiring small single hook artificial lures only while fishing many waters of the Susitna River drainage and the Little Susitna River have now expired. Bait fishing also opened on many locations of the Susitna River drainage on Monday July 14.

Parks Highway tributary streams to the Susitna River should have catchable numbers of pink salmon, a few chum salmon, and perhaps a few coho salmon in their lower reaches or Susitna River confluences by this weekend.

Personal Use Dip Netting at the Kasilof and Kenai River on the Kenai Peninsula continue to be supported by daily sockeye salmon migrations of thousands of fish per day at both locations, while dip netting in the Susitna River should be better by the coming weekend, and there remains the potential that the Fish Creek Personal Use Fishery could open early — if adequate salmon migrate past the Fish Creek Weir.

While salmon numbers were low in Mat-Su Valley streams at the start of this week, salmon catching success should be bolstered by additional fish migrating into Mat-Su streams before the July 20-21 weekend.

Good Luck and Fish On!