Thoughts about ice fishing

With weather forecasts calling for a bit of cooler weather this week, but still relatively warm, this would normally be the type conditions I would like to go ice fishing — specifically warmer than normal for mid-January. My wife and I drove to Anchorage on Tuesday of this week, and saw an ice fishing tent out on Fire Lake, so the ice may be firm enough for some anglers. I can not ever recall being concerned about the ice quality on Mat-Su Valley lakes in mid-January, but especially in the warmer Palmer — Wasilla core area I would want to check the ice out carefully at this point before venturing too far from shore / shallow water. In late December I was somewhat surprised that lake ice in the core area was only about 8 inches on a couple different lakes. Since then we’ve had quite a spell of warm weather that melted significant amounts of snow. The resulting water from that melted snow, of course, wants to flow to lower elevation —- specifically like the depressions occupied by our Mat-Su Valley lakes. Even with snow on Monday night, when we drove past the Kepler - Bradley lakes and Echo Lake I could tell there was still some standing water on the lake ice. There were wet spots amongst the new snow on those lakes. For that reason I would suspect, even with our warm weather, the ice is likely solid in most sports. When ice starts deteriorating any standing water on the ice surface tends to sink into or through the ice, and that has not happened — or at least not happened everywhere on the lakes.

Still, with all the warm temperatures we have had recently, I also wonder about how thick the ice layer is now. For that reason I would plan to cut a test hole or two before venturing too far out on a lake. If there appeared to be water in the hole I was drilling, or if the ice thickness was less than 6 to 8 inches, I would likely not go any further. 6 inches of ice should be plenty, but with the long periods or warm temperatures we have experienced recently, there could be weaker sections of ice, or thinner ice in spots, especially where an upwelling within the lake may cause a small area of warmer water. As usual any other place with flowing water, like a lake inlet or outlet, should be avoided. As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more and more cautious about venturing out on ice that has any appearance of being punky or lacking thickness. I value life and vehicles too much, to even consider driving at this time on one of the core area lakes.

After checking out the ice, if it was solid and thick enough, I often find the fish to be more active during warmer temperature periods in the winter. I also suspect, because of the warm weather and melting, the oxygen level in the lakes may be a bit higher this year as well —- which is also good for keeping the fish underneath active during the winter. The other thing I like about fishing in warmer weather — it keeps me much warmer as well.

The further north one travels — for the most part temperatures tend to be a bit cooler and ice conditions are likely better. I normally start finding thicker ice in the Meadow Lakes area along the Parks Highway and further north. Since I have not fished as often up the Glenn Highway I do not know as accurately where I would start finding colder temperatures / thicker ice, but I suspect it might be linked with areas of more snow cover. Certainly when one gets as far north on the Glenn as far as Long Lake — the ice tends to be considerably thicker than in the Palmer - Wasilla core area.

As mentioned in last week’s column, many Mat-Su lakes have been producing some good catches of harvestable sized trout and landlocked salmon, and all of those locations should remain good locations as long as the ice conditions remain good — so be cautious, stay safe, and have fun.

Summer Salmon

In a conversation I had with Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) area sport fishery management biologist, Samantha Oslund, last week, she indicated the that preliminary outlook for Deshka River king salmon indicates 2025 could have an even lower king salmon return than 2024. The department uses their outlook for Deshka River king salmon and the spawning escapements from other Susitna River locations and the Little Susitna River from the previous year when developing emergency fishing regulations for the coming season. All indications, at this point, are that the 2025 fishing opportunity for ocean-run king salmon in the Mat-Su Valley freshwaters and Northern Cook Inlet saltwater will likely be limited to the Eklutna Tailrace and the 2-mile section of Knik River side-channel that the tailrace flows into.

After 3 years of slow / restricted / or inseason closures to Mat-Su coho salmon fisheries, Oslund suspects a similar low return of coho salmon may occur in Upper Cook Inlet / Northern Cook Inlet / Mat-Su Valley freshwaters. In addition, at the ADF&G / NOAA / Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission 2024 fishing season summary meeting in December, Oslund mentioned the Department would be monitoring the coho salmon return cautiously, which could result in earlier / more conservative spot fishery regulations for coho salmon in 2025.

Are Hatchery Pink Salmon Replacing Wild King Salmon and Wild Coho Salmon in a Large portion of Alaska? I’ve posed a similar question concerning competition form huge Alaska releases of hatchery pink salmon in the past, but with additional time, Alaska hatchery pink salmon releases continue to be permitted at the same extremely high levels, while wild Alaska king salmon and coho salmon populations continued to plummet in 2024 throughout much of Alaska west of the Copper River on the eastern side of Prince William Sound. This is an issue that many now have been negatively impacting wild Alaska king salmon and coho salmon stocks for more than 15 years, and if not addressed, could within a few years lead to the extirpation of some of Alaska’s most iconic wild king salmon and coho salmon stocks. Craig Medred News has published several well-researched articles concerning the history and science of competition between hatchery and wild salmon in Alaska. Craig’s latest article is one that should be read and considered by all salmon users and salmon management decision makers in Alaska.

Fish On!