What a difference a week makes

I am constantly amazed at how fast things can change in the world of Alaska fisheries, both politically and biologically. When I wrote last week’s column, the Northern District weir counts for coho salmon did not look very encouraging. See the difference a week makes.

The Deshka River coho count on Aug. 6 was 711 fish total. On Aug. 12, the coho count had reached 10,728, more than 10,000 fish in a six-day period! The high daily count occurred on Aug. 12 at 8,119 silvers. Apparently, the fish were holding in the main stem of the Susitna River and with the recent rains cooling the water temperatures and raising levels, the silvers decided to make their move.

On Aug. 6, the Little Susitna coho count was 4,072 fish. The minimum escapement number is 10,100 coho. I said the river would fail to make escapement. On Aug. 12, the Little Susitna River coho escapement number sat at 7,948 fish. With two more weeks left in August and with at least one of those weeks expected to continue showing strong coho returns, the Little Susitna River will probably break its four-consecutive-year streak of failing to make its minimum coho escapement. That’s a very good thing.

Because the coho returns are so strong in certain Knik Arm streams, the Sport Fish Division issued an emergency order this past Tuesday increasing the daily bag limit for silvers and adding a day of legal fishing per week for Fish Creek, Cottonwood Creek and Wasilla Creek. Effective at 12:01 a.m., Saturday, the daily bag limit of coho salmon 16 inches or greater in length is increased from two coho to three per day in the waters open to salmon fishing of Fish, Cottonwood and Wasilla Creeks.

These three creeks are all normally weekend-only salmon fisheries, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. The emergency order states that after Aug. 17, Mondays will be added as legal fishing days, giving anglers three days a week of harvest opportunity.

Fish and Game found the Fish Creek weir was a good indicator of the strength of returning coho for both Wasilla and Cottonwood creeks in previous studies of the three systems. On Aug. 6, the coho count past the Fish Creek weir numbered 1,081 fish. On Aug. 12, a total of 2,908 coho had been counted. The department projects a total escapement for Fish Creek of about 9,900 coho. The escapement goal range runs from 1,200 to 4,400 silvers, so you can see why the daily bag limits are being liberalized and an extra day of fishing is being added for these creeks.

These emergency order liberalizations only apply to the three creeks specified. Jim Creek and the Little Susitna are not included in this emergency order. All other salmon fishing waters of Knik Arm, including the Eklutna Tailrace, are unchanged and fishing rules remain as written in regulation.

My wife and I finally got in some fishing time at our usual Kashwitna “secret spot.” The fishing was what I would call slow but steady. I landed a nine-pound coho maybe 30 minutes after we started fishing and she landed a smaller fish maybe an hour later. We were bank fishing. Next time we go, I plan to bring the riverboat because folks with boats were able to fish the better spots and were landing fish fairly steadily.

The Susitna Landing facility is still recovering from last year’s fall flooding. Jeff Boatright, the facility concessionaire, told me that after Labor Day, the state planned to do some building repair on the shower building and the vault toilet and relocate the dredging materials removed earlier from both the boat launch and the boat parking lagoon. Other grounds improvements are also expected to be done, including reseeding of some lawn areas.

I walked over near the boat launch and noticed a very nicely done storage cabinet labeled for the Kids Don’t Float program. It was full of life vests, which are available as loaners for any boaters with children on board who forgot the kids’ life vests. State law requires that any child age 13 and younger must wear a properly fitted life vest while on board a boat. I was happy to see this improvement to the site.

In the very near future, propane refills will also be available at Susitna Landing. That will be a very welcome convenience for the numerous motor homes that frequent the facility.

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.