Season’s last salmon trip

Last Sunday, Paul Warta (my nephew) and I drove to Susitna Landing to bring home a boat I had parked there for a few brief weeks. Paul was along for one more opportunity to fish the Susitna River drainage. He’d previously fished the Deshka a couple times and made a trip to fish for silver salmon at Montana Creek with one of his older brothers. As we traveled north on the Parks Highway we experienced a deluge of vehicles headed south. We saw plenty of motorhomes, and pickups towing trailers with 4-wheelers or boats in the traffic. Crossing the Willow Creek bridge we saw a couple anglers fly fishing, but we did not see anyone at Little Willow Creek. All was quiet when we arrived at Susitna Landing. There were boats in the parking lot, but not one in sight on the river, and not a single person fishing.

When I had talked with landing operators, Joe and Marilynn Rouswell, earlier that day they had mentioned only having a couple anglers fishing at the landing since Labor Day. It made a person wonder if there were any salmon left to be had. The water level was down a bit, and a person could smell the pungent odor of decomposing salmon carcasses along the river. As we boated upriver from the launch that smell was ever present along the river.

Looking closely along the bank one could spot fish-shaped outlines of salmon skins near the river’s edge.

Following the current regulations we casted single-hook Flashtrap Spinners at 4 different locations.Three of those spots were a bust with Paul catching the only fish from them, a very rough-looking pink salmon. Paul also caught the first salmon at the one spot where we found a decent bunch of fish.

That first salmon was a surprisingly-chrome large male silver salmon that fought hard before I could net it. Continued casting and slow retrieving our spinners, produced occasional soft strikes that over an hour translated into several silvers caught by each of us. We released some of the darker salmon, but Paul wanted to keep a few as well. When we returned to the boat launch I asked Paul if he would like to fillet the fish.

“You would probably fillet quicker,” he replied, “but it would be more fun if I filleted them.”

“Paul, why don’t you fillet the fish, while I put the gear away and load the boat on the trailer.”

That made him happy, and we both finished with our tasks at about the same time.

Food for thought

Of the 17 Northern Cook Inlet Management Area king salmon stocks with Alaska Department of Fish and Game spawning escapement goal ranges, Little Susitna River and Little Willow Creek were the only two that reached minimum goal range in 2017.

While Mat-Su in-river salmon harvest opportunities were later than normal for sockeye and coho salmon in 2017, all Northern Cook Inlet sockeye salmon spawning escapement goals were met, and the spawning escapement ranges for coho salmon at Deshka RIver, Fish Creek, and Little Susitna River have all been exceeded. McRoberts Creek coho remain to be counted, but in season counts downstream at the Jim Creek weir indicate the McRoberts Creek coho goal should likely be met or exceeded as well.

Most of the Mat-Su’s salmon have finished running for the season, and of the remaining salmon, most are preparing to spawn soon or already spawning. As much as I love salmon fishing in the Mat-Su Valley, it is simply time for me to call it a season, and let the fish spawn. While fall stream fishing for trout and grayling is just getting started, the vast majority of Mat-Su anglers have already moved on to other activities, and so must I.

Thank you for another season of sharing thoughts and perspectives on the Mat-Su’s tremendous sport fisheries.

Andy Couch is a Mat-Su Valley salmon fishing guide, and is also a member of the Matanuska Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee.