Alaska.com: Alaska's Travel Website

Fishing in the valleys gets a silver lining

Coho run redeems ho-hum salmon year

By S.J. KOMARNITSKY
skomarnitsky@adn.com

Published: July 23rd, 2008
Last Modified: July 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 AM

PALMER -- The weather's been lousy, and the king salmon took a pass on many Mat-Su streams this year. But Valley fishaholics can hold out hope for tight lines without making the long drive to Glennallen or the Kenai.

The silver, or coho, salmon run is off to one of its best starts ever. It's still early and biologists are wary of making grandiose predictions, but they're crossing their fingers.

"You can't get too excited ... but it's definitely looking good across our area right now," Palmer-based state fisheries biologist Sam Ivey said Monday.

Among the signs for excitement in what has otherwise been a ho-hum salmon fishing year are:

• On the Deshka River, where the king salmon return was one of the worst ever, nearly 900 silvers had swum past the weir as of Monday. That's not a swarm, but it is the third best count by that date in 13 years.

• On the Little Susitna River, anglers this past weekend reported an average catch of more than a silver per person. Given a certain number of people who couldn't catch a fish on dry land, that's not just good, that's "red hot," said Dave Rutz, the state biologist responsible for overseeing sport fisheries in Mat-Su.

Anglers have also reported catching chum salmon, which, while not as tasty as silvers, still offer up a good fight.

• At Jim Creek, a popular fishing spot off the Knik River east of Palmer, the bite has also been on, with the constant buzzing of four-wheelers and dirt bikes frequently interrupted this weekend by shouts of "Fish on!"

Chuck Brazil, a sportfisheries biologist from Anchorage, was among those who ventured down the twisting, bumpy muddy path that passes for a road to the creek.

While the drone of four-by-fours churning through mud puddles and up and down sand dunes can be distracting, Brazil had no complaints about the frequent bend in his rod and helping his 3-year-old daughter catch her first salmon.

"She was so excited," he said.

Watching through polarized glasses, Brazil said he saw silvers in one hole stacked five to 10 fish across and two deep.

"There was a lot of fish," he said.

To add to the good news in the Valley, this year's sockeye, or red salmon, return to Mat-Su is also off to a good start. Valley sockeyes are not targeted much by anglers, but low returns in the Susitna River drainage in recent years have been a concern.

Sockeye fishing in Mat-Su runs a distant third to kings and silvers, with on average about two kings and five silvers caught for every one sockeye.

NO GOOD EXPLANATION

The good fishing is welcome news for guides and lodge owners who depend on the salmon for business and for frustrated anglers tired of catching only fish sticks (snagged twigs) and river halibut (underwater logs and rocks). But it poses a bit of a mystery: Why would silvers thrive this year while the king return was dismal?

Rutz, who regularly fields calls from curious anglers, said he doesn't have a good explanation. He also doesn't know yet whether the silver run is really good this year or just early, although there are signs it might be both.

Some might attribute the early run to restrictions placed on Kenai area commercial fishermen who intercept fish headed for Mat-Su. Rutz is skeptical of that. Because of past low sockeye returns, driftnetters were restricted this year in their fishing. But the restriction was just for one day and that doesn't seem enough to explain this year's numbers, Rutz said.

Instead the answer may simply be the silvers did well in their time at sea, avoiding predators and finding plenty of food to eat, said Dan Bosch, a state sportfisheries biologist based in Anchorage.

Some evidence along those lines is that coho runs throughout Cook Inlet appear to be returning in good numbers, charging into bays and streams from Seward to Valdez to Anchorage, he said.

In Ship Creek, about a dozen cohos have already nosed their way up the state fish hatchery ladder next to Elmendorf Air Force Base, said hatchery manager Bob McFadden. Usually the first ones don't show up until the first week in August, he said. The silvers also appear to be fatter, in the nine- to 10-pound range instead of seven to eight pounds, which can be a sign of good ocean survival, he said.

Still while questions may abound, no one is complaining.

Among those at Jim Creek Sunday with smiles on their faces was Jim Gonzales of Eagle River, who landed a nickel-bright hen after less than an hour of casting. Standing next to his truck packing up his gear, the 42-year-old civilian worker on Fort Richardson said he goes fishing every chance he gets and regularly comes to Jim Creek.

He said he planned to grill the fish on his barbecue that night. His only trick would be getting it home, as he'd forgotten to bring a cooler or a bag. Not missing a beat, though, he simply laid his windbreaker in the back of his truck and put the fish on top.

"The jacket can go in the wash," he said.

Find S.J. Komarnitsky at www.adn.com/contacts/skomarnitsky or call her in Wasilla at 907-352-6714.