By Andy Couch
Stocked Lakes and Northern Pike
When I talked with Mike Hudson, owner of 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle in Wasilla this Wednesday, he stressed fishing the stocked lakes as one of the best fishing catching options in the Mat-Su Valley. The lakes have simply been providing good water conditions, while stream conditions have been consistently poor at many popular Mat-Su locations that are currently open to fishing. Mike also mentioned some large northern pike that were recently caught from Mat-Su Lakes. This year the shop has seen 5 northern pike over 46 inches in length. The largest two pike were 50 and 51 inches. The 50 inch fish came from Nancy Lake, while the remaining four pike over 46 inches in length were all caught at Big Lake.
Mike mentioned several regular customers who like to fish the Parks Highway tributary streams to the Susitna River, but said that news this week was similar to what it has been most of the season for the Parks Highway streams. They have been high and muddy and not fishing well. Marilyn Rouswell at Susitna Landing echoed that same message when she told me no one had been fishing the Kashwitna River at Susitna Landing in the past week, and that the water was high and dirty, but has started dropping a bit on Wednesday.
Little Susitna River King Salmon Harvest Closed.
On Wednesday June 13 the Alaska Department of FIsh and Game issued an emergency order closing the Little Susitna River to king salmon harvest for the remainder of the 2018 season, because of low numbers of king salmon migrating past Little Susitna River weir, combined with lower than normal harvest rates in the Little Susitna River, and lower than normal numbers of larger older age class king salmon. Presently the Little Susitna River will remain open to catch and release king salmon fishing, although the Department’s emergency order mentions that if king salmon escapement numbers do not improve the Little Susitna River could be entirely closed to king salmon fishing in the future. The Little Susitna River will now join the Deshka River and the Yentna River drainage as Mat-Su Valley king salmon fisheries restricted to catch and release fishing on a 7-day per week basis. All of these fisheries are also restricted to single hook artificial lures. Through June 12 only 70 king salmon had been counted passing the Little Susitna River weir, but the weir has also been partially submerged by high water for more than a week. I guided king salmon fishing trips on the Little Susitna River this past Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Each day as I left the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility after spending 12 hours on the water, the daily harvests recorded at the Alaska State Parks fee booth were in the single digits. To the best of my recollection the harvest figures I heard were 5 king salmon on Friday, 7 king salmon on Saturday, 5 king salmon on Sunday, and 5 king salmon on Monday. Granted, the river was high and muddy each of those days, but the most of the king salmon that were caught were also much smaller than normal. Most of the king salmon I know of harvested from Little Susitna River this year have been more in the size range of a silver salmon rather than the typical 20 – 30 pound Little Susitna River king salmon.
Deshka River Remains Open to Catch and Release King Salmon Fishing
With a weir count of 1177 king salmon through June 12, the Deshka River king salmon fishery remains open 7-days per week— although no harvest is allowed. I guided a king salmon fishing trip to the Deshka River on Wednesday June 13 and there was an abundance of king salmon surfacing near the Deshka’s confluence with the Susitna River. The water was about 10 feet deep with good fishing conditions at the mouth where it was backed up by the high Susitna River, while upriver the Deshka flow was low and there seemed to be hardly any king salmon present. Deshka River has provided the best king salmon catching opportunity of any Mat-Su locations I have fished or guided on this year.
Eklutna Tailrace / Knik River
According to both ADF&G and Mike Hudson anglers have finally started to catch king salmon on a regular basis a the tailrace . Hudson described the harvest as on a daily basis now, and also mentioned the tailrace as the best location for a bank angler to catch a king salmon in the Mat-Su Valley. Several groups of boat anglers are now fishing the Knik River side channel where king salmon fishing is allowed below the tailrace on a daily basis. There is no super abundance of fish, however this is the only location remaining open to king salmon harvest in the entire Mat-Su Valley.
With the low king salmon abundance and high dirty water conditions at several Mat-Su Valley stream locations, Mike Hudson mentioned the Russian River on the Kenai Peninsula for early run sockeye salmon sport fishing and the personal use dip net fishery on the Copper River near Chitna as two productive locations Mat-Su anglers may want to consider for salmon harvests over the coming week.
Good luck and Fish On!
Andy Couch is a Mat-Su Valley fishing guide and also a member of the Matanuska —Susitna Borough Fish and Wildlife Commision.
