The Mat -Su silver salmon bonanza

Silver salmon are now available at most locations throughout the Mat-Su Valley. When I talked with Margo Nealis of Phantom Tri River Charters in Talkeetna on Wednesday of this week, she reported fishing good silver salmon fishing in the Talkeetna Drainage. The normal bag limit for salmon in the Talkeetna River Drainage is three per day (all of which may be silver salmon). I would expect that even more silvers will be arriving at this location through the remainder of August.

Lower along the Parks Highway I took a group of four people fishing on the same day, and each guest caught and kept a limit of silver salmon. A nice bonus to fishing along the Parks Highway on a weekday was that we experienced little competition from other anglers. During that trip, Linda Cline of Gigglewoood Lakeside Inn (near Sheep Creek) reported that their guests had been having good success catching silver salmon at Caswell Creek and Montana Creek. The bag limit for salmon at Parks Highway streams between Willow and Talkeetna is three per day (only two of which may be silver salmon). It is that time in August when silver salmon are available throughout most Mat-Su Locations.

Deshka River silvers

With water levels rising from rain, the Deshka River weir count took a large jump when 3,218 silver salmon passing the weir on Aug 11. With the water now higher and cooler I would expect that push of fish to continue on the Deshka. Look for easier boating and fish catching on the upriver portions of his silver salmon hotspot as long as higher stream flows continue. The standard bag limit allows the harvest of three silver salmon per day on the Deshka River.

Coho Limit expanded to three fish at Fish, Cottonwood, and Wasilla Creek

Last Friday the Alaska Department of Fish and Game issued an emergency order allowing the harvest of three silver (coho) salmon per day at each of these location. In addition Cottonwood Creek and Wasilla Creek (Rabbit Slough) are now open Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Fish Creek is now open seven days per week from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Abundant silver salmon escapement as measured by ADF&G’s Fish Creek weir triggered an expanded silver salmon fishery at each of these locations.

As of Aug. 11 more than 91,000 sockeye salmon had already swum past the Fish Creek Weir — one of the highest sockeye salmon escapement counts to the Fish Creek/Big Lake system in years. Most of these fish are blushed in color as they enter Fish Creek at this time, but even so sockeye salmon may continue to provide significant sport fishing opportunity at Fish Creek.

Eklutna Tailrace youth fishery

The Eklutha Tailrace has a significant fishery for hatchery silver salmon going on at this time. A nextdoor neighbor told me about recently catching silver salmon at this location two time in the past week. I would expect an above average silver return to this location since ADF&G has been able to raise larger silver salmon smolt to release a this location for the past couple years. This is a quick and easily accessible fishery from Palmer, Wasilla, and Eagle River, so there is usually a good number of bank anglers participating. It often pays to fish early in the morning or during the week at times when fewer anglers may be competing for the fish.

On Saturday the area downstream of the pedestrian bridge to the tailrace confluence with the Knik River is designated as a youth-only fishery from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. This provides an opportunity to introduce youth under 16 years of age to salmon fishing at a location where a significant number of silver salmon should be available for harvest. The fishery remains open to anglers of all ages above the pedestrian bridge and downstream of the tailrace confluence on this date. The standard bag limit at his location is three salmon — all of which may be silver salmon.

Little Susitna River silvers

With the opening of bait on Aug. 6, and expansion of the daily bag limit to allow the harvest of three silver salmon per person per day this location has hosted the busiest boat fishery in the Mat-Su Valley over the past week. Expect that trend to continue as lots of Mat-Su anglers favor this location for catching their summer’s supply of silver salmon.

Good Luck and fish on!

Andy Couch has guided Mat-Su Valley salmon fishing trips for over 30 years and is a member of the Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee and Matanuska -Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission.