FINAL RESULTS 2010
Congratulations MSA Members!

Overall Winner!
Adrian Barbosa 10.4lb 28.5 in.

Mens
1st Place – Adrian Barbosa 10.4 lb and 28 1/2 in
2nd Place – Greg Busch 9.6 lb and 27 1/2 in
3rd Place – Bob Witz 8.7 lb and 26 1/2 in

Womens
1st Place – Amy Hall 8.9 lb and 29 1/8 in

Youth
1st Place – Kevin Hall 9.7 lb and 29 1/2 in
2nd Place – Joey LeGendre 8.6 lb and 28 in

Check out the prizes at http://visitwasilla.org/events/silverDerby/index.htm for each class to find out what you won!

Mat-Su Silvers Still Providing Good Action

Although silver salmon numbers have dropped off over the past week in the lower Little Susitna and Deshka Rivers, locations further upstream are producing good fishing on a regular basis.  I’ve started coaching the Wasilla High School girls’ volleyball C team, and with practice in the early afternoon, I’ve been limited to one morning fishing trip per day.  On those trips I’ve been fortunate to have guests mostly limiting out for silver salmon on the lower Little Su, but we’ve been starting early around first light and boating to several different holes most days to get them.  At this time there are only a few guides left operating on the lower Little Susitna, and even though the fishing pressure has slowed significantly, I suspect that Little Su likely remains as the busiest Mat-Su silver salmon boat fishery on a daily basis.

On Tuesday morning one of my volleyball team members went fishing with her family on a mid-morning silver salmon charter out of Talkeetna, and everyone caught a limit of silver salmon — even better, she made it back in time to participate in our 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. practice session.  The Talkeetna River and Clear Creek have been a hot spot lately, as my friend Bob Meals, owner of Tri River Charters, reports guests are limiting on silver salmon with salmon roe being the hot bait.  While Bob says he is used to even faster fishing than what is occurring this year — limiting out a boat full of guests in a few hours sounds good enough to me!  Beware that construction along the Parks Highway is slowing down traffic North of Willow, so it may take an extra half hour or 45 minutes travel time up that direction when searching for silver salmon.  In addition to Talkeetna River, I’ve heard of good silver salmon fishing reported at Sheep, Montana, and Sunshine Creeks — all tributaries to the Susitna RIver between Willow and Talkeetna.

Jim Creek near Bodenburg Butte has consistently been a stream that produces some good silver salmon fishing well into August and sometimes even into early September.  I’ve been reading numerous fishing reports from the Alaska Outdoor Journal (AOJ) website of people catching chrome silver salmon from this location.  Years ago, when I lived in my parents home near the Butte, I caught many limits of silver salmon at this location, but anymore I take most of my charters and personal trips to larger waters where I can use my 22 foot guide boat comfortably.  If you fish Jim Creek, remember that the silver salmon limit remains at two per day in this Knik Arm drainage location.

For anglers fishing Saturday, Sunday, and Mondays, Fish Creek remains a popular location for silver salmon, and Cottonwood Creek and Rabbit Slough (lower Wasilla Creek) will also continue to produce late August silver salmon action.  At these locations anglers may keep 3 silver salmon per day, but fishing is only allowed during these 3 days per week and only between the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. 

As the summer salmon fishing season starts to wind down, salmon anglers may want to participate in Mat-Su Anglers Club’s smoked salmon night.  Mark your calendar for 7 p.m. Thursday September 9th at the Menard Sports Complex in Wasilla.  For more information about this fun and flavor packed event contact club President, Julie Busch at  892-7543.  

E-mail this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member www.matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska – Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.

The Mat-Su Resort has closed their doors and the building is for sale. We are moving to the Curtis Menard Sports Center room 1 same time 7-9pm.

We are in need of an instructor to teach an August casting class for kids. The date hasn’t been picked yet. Take a look at your calendars and let us know if you can help!

It’s All About Mat-Su Silver Salmon

Early August has arrived, and with it should follow the peak of Mat-Su Valley silver salmon fishing.  Friday August 6 is the first day bait fishing is allowed on the Little Susitna River, and consequently, like most years, August 6 should be the single largest salmon harvest day of the entire year on one of the Mat-Su Valley’s most popular salmon streams.  August 6 along with Saturday August 7, and Sunday August 8 will  likely be the busiest days of the entire season for fishing pressure on the Little Susitna River, as well.  If solitude is what you crave, then consider fishing the Little Susitna River later in the month, or choose one of the Mat-Su Valley’s other fine silver salmon fisheries during these 3 days. 

This past Wednesday, August 4, the Alaska Department of FIsh and Game (ADF&G) issued an emergency order opening the weekend only salmon sport fishery on Fish Creek near Knik – Goose Bay Road a week earlier than normal.  Expect Fish Creek to provide good numbers of both late sockeye and early silver salmon when it opens at 6 a.m. on August 7.  In addition, fishing has been expanded for the remainder of the 2010 season on 3 normally weekend only fisheries to also include fishing on Mondays.  These 3 locations include Fish, Cottonwood, and Wasilla Creeks.  Finally, bag limits have also been expanded on all Knik Arm Drainage streams except for Jim Creek and Little Susitna River to allow harvest of 3 silver salmon per day.  For more information you may call the Palmer ADF&G office at 746-6300.   

On both Little Susitna and Deshka Rivers silver salmon fishing has slowed recently.  On my last two charters to Deshka River the large schools of silver salmon that had been present at the river mouth seemed to have moved upriver as the high water from several days of rain started to drop.  In the lower Little Susitna River the number of salmon jumping as they moved in with the high tides has dropped significantly, although in both cases one has to hope normal peak silver salmon run timing which occurs during August may bring large numbers of silver salmon into the streams once again.  Expect these two location to remain some of the most popular for boaters and anglers fishing on guided trips.  While the daily silver salmon bag limit remains at 2 fish on Little Susitna River, the silver salmon from this stream average so much larger in size than the silvers from most other Mat-Su streams, that a two fish Little Su silver limit may weigh as much or more than 3 silvers harvested elsewhere. 

ADF&G Area Fisheries Biologist Dave Rutz told me on Wednesday that silver salmon fishing on Yentna River sloughs and tributary streams has been excellent the entire season.  Catchable numbers of silvers are present now in Susitna River tributary streams from Willow Creek to the Talkeetna River.  Expect these destinations to provide some of the better less pressured salmon fishing experiences over the coming weekend.   

E-mail this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member www.matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska – Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.

There’s lots going on in the world of Women’s Flyfishing – catch up with News & Events from Pudge here!

Mat-Su Anglers Fishing Corner by Andy Couch

Mat-Su Salmon Dip Net FIshery Ends Saturday

Plenty of people have participated and harvested salmon from the Fish Creek dip net fishery out near Knik -Goose Bay Road, but for those still hoping to dip some Fish Creek salmon there are only a couple days of dip netting left, as the dip net fishery will close for the season at 11 p.m. on Saturday July 31.  This is the only dip net fishery available in the Mat-Su Area.

SIlver Salmon Provide Robust July FIshing — Expect Even Better during August

Thanks partly to our long spell of wet weather, July 2010 has provided better than average silver salmon fishing opportunities on the Deshka and Little Susitna River since mid -July.  High early season harvest levels indicate that sport fishing for silver (coho) salmon throughout the Mat-Su Valley may provide exceptional catch and harvest opportunities during the normal peak of the season that usually occurs during the month of August.  Silver salmon can be caught on many different flies, lures, and bait, however, a selection of spinners or, where regulations allow, a gob of salmon eggs, hook, sinker, and perhaps a bobber are all the terminal tackle most anglers need to have a good chance at harvesting these prized Mat-Su Valley fish.

Preventing Kill and Release of Ocean Fresh Silver Salmon

A study done by the Alaska Department of FIsh and Game (ADF&G) on the Lower Little Susitna River documented a mortality rate of nearly 70% for silver salmon caught with salmon eggs and released.  Similar studies have demonstrated similar results on fresh silver salmon, and in particular those caught low in different streams.  Think of it this way — a person catching and releasing just 3 silver salmon could have the same mortality impact as an angler who catches a daily bag limit of  silvers and quits for the day.  Catching and releasing higher numbers of fish could have a significantly higher negative impact to fresh-run Mat-Su coho.  Personally I think it better to simply limit myself to catching the harvest limit, at which point I quit for the day in order to better conserve our precious  silver salmon fishery, and to provide opportunity for other Mat-Su anglers to share in the bounty of fish or cast into one of the prime holes I have just vacated.

According to ADF&G figures, silver salmon are both the most caught and most harvested fish available in the Mat-Su Valley.  As mentioned previously, the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce will be celebrating this fishery with the Mat-Su Silver Salmon Derby scheduled to start on August 1.  Mat-Su Anglers’ Club President, Julie Busch, has been busy gathering sponsors for this event, so it should be even better than last year’s.

The Mat-Su Anglers‘  meeting on Thursday August 12 will feature ADF&G biologist, Samantha Oslund’s presentation on Fishing 101, while the September 9 meeting will provide a smoked salmon contest (and tasting by those in attendance).  Contact Julie Busch at 892-7543 for information.

E-mail this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member www.matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska – Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.

Fish the Mat-Su Sliver Salmon Derby, August 1 – 15, 2010. Brought to you by your very own Mat-Su Anglers in conjunction with the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce. Learn more here!

Mat-Su Anglers Fishing Corner by Andy Couch

Mat-Su Salmon Dip Net Fishery Opens

On Wednesday July 21 the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) issued an emergency order opening the Fish Creek Personal Use Dip Net Fishery, because of the projection that Fish Creek sockeye salmon escapement will exceed the top end of the Fish Creek sockeye salmon escapement goal range. The fishery is open to Alaska residents only, and single family households will be allowed to harvest up to 25 salmon (no kings). Families with more than one household member may keep an additional 10 salmon per additional household member. Before fishing a household participant must obtain a Personal Use FIshery Permit that says 2010 Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon FIshery Permit at the top of the permit. Permits may be obtained free of charge to resident Alaska Sportfishing license holders at the ADF&G office in Palmer. The fishery will be open for 8 days only, from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily from Saturday July 24 through Saturday July 31. The fishing area is located near the mouth of FIsh Creek where the creek crosses Knik – Goose Bay Road. The fishing area is quite small and bordered by private property that should be respected by all participants. No ATVs are allowed to operate in the area of this fishery. This should be a prime opportunity for Alaskans to harvest personal use salmon in the Mat-Su area — something that has only occurred very infrequently in the past decade. For additional information call the Palmer ADF&G office at 746-6300 or you can read ADF&G’s emergency order online at http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/Static/EONR/PDFs/2010/R2/EO%202-RS-2-38-10%20Fish%20Creek%20dipnet.pdf

Kenai and Kasilof River Dip Net Fisheries

Additional personal use dip net fishing opportunities are available on these two large Kenai Peninsula Rivers. As those who read this column last week know, I travelled to the peninsula last weekend — and we easily netted our entire household limit of 35 sockeye salmon in about 2 hours of dipping from a boat on the lower Kenai River. Dip netting was some of the best I’d experienced, even though there were lots of participants. In spite of all the Alaska residents dip netting on the Kenai River over 60,000 sockeye salmon swam past ADF&G’s Kenai River sonar counter on both days of the weekend, and on Monday July 19 over 80,000 sockeye swam past the counter. This is a tremendous opportunity to harvest plenty of salmon in a short amount of time — and as mentioned in last week’s column, harvesting enough personal use sockeye salmon from the Kenai River could help ADF&G managers allow additional salmon of all species to reach Mat-Su and Anchorage area streams. Information about these personal use fisheries is available at the Palmer, Anchorage, and Soldotna ADF&G offices. If you want to participate I would suggest picking up your permit at either the Palmer or Anchorage ADF&G office before traveling to the Peninsula — since in the past the Peninsula office has run out of permits during the season. The Kenai River personal use opportunity ends on the last day of July, so Alaskans need to get with the program if they want to participate in the personal use sockeye harvest at this location.

Mat-Su Sport Salmon Fishing

Our recent rainy weather has lured increasing numbers of silver salmon into both Deshka and lower Little Susitna RIver, as well as some of the Parks Highway tributaries of the Susitna River. Some guests fishing with my guide service at both Deshka and Little Susinta have limited on silver salmon in the past week. In addition, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, and a few pink salmon are also showing up. The Mat-Su pink salmon opportunities look like they should be quite poor this year, as few of the smallest salmon are being harvested in the Upper Cook inlet commercial fishery, and I’ve seen extremely few pink salmon during my recent salmon charters — where as on a normal even numbered year the pinks should have already arrived in mass. Look for sockeye salmon sport fishing opportunities at Talkeetna River, Lake Creek, Cottonwood Creek (weekends only) and Jim Creek. Some of the best Mat-Su salmon harvesting opportunities are happening now — and I hope you can get in on the fun. The Mat-Su Valley’s abundant sport fishing resources provide another fun option for residents and visitors to harvest plenty of prime eating salmon. Also remember that the Wasilla Chamber of Commerce’s silver salmon derby is quickly approaching and scheduled to start in a little over a week, running from August 1 – 16. Call the Greater Wasilla Chamber of Commerce at 376-1299 or Mat-Su Angler’s Club president Julie Busch at 892- 7543 for additional information.

E-mail this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member www.matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska – Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.

Mat-Su Valley Silver Salmon

On Friday of last week, one of my charter guests caught the first silver salmon on my guide boat.  Since that time, my guests have been catching a few silver salmon on most trips.  Yesterday I guided two trips to the Deshka River, and the morning group caught three silver salmon, while the afternoon group caught one silver salmon.  At one hole in particular during the later trip we saw several silver salmon rolling, however, by that time it was a warm and sunny afternoon, and my guests could only convince one of the silvers to bite hard and long enough to where a guest managed to hook and then land it.  The rest of the time my guests were simply practicing their best salmon roe drifting presentations or retrieving spinners with no silver reward.

To me that definitely qualifies as slow silver salmon fishing as measured by past Mat-Su Valley success, however, it is early in the season, and the fish are just starting to run, so from that point it is encouraging.  For those wondering, I also boated up to the various mouths of Willow Creek and Little Willow Creek during my Thursday afternoon trip.  At these locations we saw so few fish in the clear water just upstream from the Susitna River, that we did not even bother to fish.  At the second mouth of Willow Creek I saw only a couple king salmon, and four smaller salmon.  Of the smaller salmon two looked to possibly be pink salmon, and the other two may, by their size and lack of red color, may have been either silvers or chums.  At the third and fourth mouth of Willow Creek, at the slough month of Little Willow, mouth of Little Willow, and upper slough of Little Willow I saw absolutely no salmon of any type.  There were bank anglers fishing at the first mouth of Willow so I avoided driving over and did not look for fish in that spot.  My thought is I’d likely wait a few days at the very least before realistically hoping to catch many salmon at these locations, although decent sized schools of various salmon species could arrive at any time. 

Of the three silver salmon my guest caught on Thursday morning’s charter to the Deshka River two were net marked and the third was so small it could have likely swam through a commercial gill net unscathed.  I’ve been noticing good commercial catches of silver salmon in Cook Inlet, so we should have a good silver season this year — if ADF&G’s commercial managers allow enough silver salmon to swim through that fishery and into the Northern  streams.

Increasing Mat-Su Salmon Numbers By Dipping Kenai Sockeye

For my part I’m planning to travel to the Kenai Peninsula over the weekend and dip net as many Kenai sockeye as the personal use fishery will allow.  This will provide some recreation, while at the same time reduce the number of Kenai River sockeye salmon swimming past the sonar counter.  This is about the only way I know of where the average public person can enjoy catching excellent eating salmon, while at the same time helping reducing ADF&G’s “Need,” to harvest as many salmon as possible from the center of Cook Inlet with the commercial fleet, before many salmon have an opportunity to reach the streams of the Mat-Su Valley.  The Kenai River may become a bit crowded, but I hope you take the opportunity to do this same, “Public Service,” before the end of July.  The personal use dip net fishery is open to all Alaskan residents. 

Fishing Educational Opportunities

There is still space for more participants in the Mat-Su Anglers Club’s Kids Casting Clinic to be held  on Monday July 19 at 1-4 p.m. at the Menard Sports Center — contact Julie Busch to sign up at 892-7543.   For those who can not attend the clinic, but would like some of the information provided check out the website, www.takemefishing.org 

In addition, ADF&G biologist Samantha  Oslund will be giving her presentation on Fishing 101 at the Mat-Su Anglers Club monthly meeting on August 12 at 7 p.m. at the Mat-Su Resort.  The public is invited.  Call Julie Busch at the number above for more information.

E-mail this column at sports@frontiersman.com if you have Mat-Su fishing questions or information readers may find useful.

Andy Couch owns and operates Fishtale River Guides www.fish4salmon.com is a Mat-Su Anglers Club member www.matsuanglers.org and member of the Matanuska – Susitna Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Sportsmen’s Committee.