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Alaska Fishing Reports 2004

Our 2004 Alaska fishing reports and forecasts cover Deshka River and Little Susitna River coho salmon and king salmon fishing trips in Alaska summer seasons and Mat-Su Valley winter ice fishing in lakes road accessible from Anchorage and near Palmer and Wasilla. Our season fishing forecast is posted first, however, you may skip the forecast by scrolling down, or clicking fishing report.

2004 Alaska Salmon Fishing Forecast -- Good for King Salmon
Last year we experienced our best king salmon success rates while fishing tributaries of the Susitna River, but after adequate snowfall this winter we expect increasing catch rates for Little Su king salmon in 2004.   Alaska Department of Fish & Game data from Deshka River Weir also indicates tributaries of the Susitna River should have strong king salmon returns and good fishing in 2004.

Expect Better Coho or Silver Salmon Fishing in 2004.  For any given year we've always experienced good silver salmon fishing on Alaska rivers we fish, but on strong years periods of good fishing can last significantly longer.  For example, on a strong coho year, every guest I've guided for more than a month straight has caught a limit of coho salmon.  2003 Little Su silver salmon fishing lacked that consistency, however, the 2004 silver or coho salmon return will be offspring from a parent spawning escapement over 5 times larger than what produced the 2003 return, so naturally we are hopeful for banner silver salmon fishing for 2004.  

Besides strong projected king and silver salmon fishing, chum and pink salmon data indicates 2004 should be a solid year for numbers and variety of salmon species in Little Susitna River -- but enough about preseason forecasts, below you'll find 2004 Alaska fishing reports.  

Our goal is to post a report for each trip we run, but if time constraints delay us from updating for a few days, you can click on links for other  year's reports to see what has happened in previous seasons. Enjoy the reports, and you may want to bookmark this page for easy future reference.

Viewing: September 2004

September 01, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided 4 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. 5 silver salmon were caught on #4 silver and black Flashtrap Spinners and 3 silver salmon were caught drifting salmon eggs along the bottom.

Greg Acord guided a morning group of 4 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.

The water level is once again getting low, and we could see salmon in several of the holes we boated over and fished today.

September 03, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided a group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. #3 and #4 silver and black Flashtrap Spinners produced for us, although it sometimes took a persistent effort to coax the salmon into striking. Today the river had finally cleared up enough from our previous heavy rains of last week to where I could easily see bottom once again in all but the deepest holes.

September 04, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided a morning group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon on #3 and #4 silver and black Flashtrap Spinners and salmon eggs drifted along the bottom.

I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests who limited on silver salmon caught on #3 and #4 silver and black, and #3 black Flashtrap Spinners. The river looks like it rose a bit with yesterday`s rain and is a bit murkier, although it was still possible for us to see salmon in several of the shallower holes.

September 05, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. The guests caught sivler salmon by drifting salmon eggs almong the bottom and casting with #3 and #4 sivler and black Flashtrap Spinners and also casting with a #3 black Flashtrap Spinner. The fish are schooled in specific holes and sometimes it takes several casts to coax them into striking. The number of fish is declining in the lower Little Susitna River now, but there are still plenty of fish to provide decent fishing, especially since there are relatively few other people out fishing now.

September 06, 2004

Little Sustina River -- I guided 3 guests who each caught limits of silver salmon. Most of the salmon were caught drifting salmon eggs along the bottom or casting a #3 black Flashtrap Spinner, and a few were hooked with #4 silver and black Flashtrap Spinners. The river is dropping and clearing up once again so it could be quite low before long. The mornings have been starting out quite nippy lately, but since we started after 9 a.m. this morning we were able to enjoy some warm Labor Day sunshine while fishing.

Greg Acord guided a morning group of 3 guests who each caught their limit of silver salmon.

September 07, 2004

Little Susitna River -- Greg Acord guided 2 people who each caught a limit of silver salmon caught casting with Flashtrap Spinners.

September 08, 2004

Little Susitna River -- Greg Acord guided a morning group of 2 people who caught limits of silver salmon on a #4 silver and black and a #3 black Flashtrap Spinner.

September 09, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided 4 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon and one guest also caught a fresh run pink salmon. #3 silver and black, #4 silver and black, and #3 black Flashtrap Spinners all caught fish and a few silvers were also caught drifting salmon eggs along the bottom. The water level continues to drop although it is not yet as low as it was earlier in the season. Today at least 4 of the silver salmon they group caught were nice and shiny with sea lice still clinging to their sides, so there is still some good fish available if people are sellective.

September 10, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided a group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon caught on #3 silver and black, #4 silver and black, and #3 black Flashtrap Spinners and also caught some fish on salmon eggs drifted along the bottom. By being sellective the group was able to keep bright silver salmon some of which still had sea lice clinging to them.

Greg Acord guided a group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. Greg`s group also caught some super fresh sea lice fish.

We`re still catching some very nice fresh silver salmon and so we`re planning to guide trips for another week and have plenty of available space, so give us a call at (907) 376-3687 if you`d like to catch some silvers with us at a time when there is very little fishing pressure on the river.

September 11, 2004

I guided 1 guest who fly fished for silver salmon and caught silvers on an Alaska Popsicle, a black egg sucking leach, and a purple egg sucking leach. In addition, I also fished a bit and caught an ocean fresh silver salmon I kept for dinner on a #3 silver and black Flashtrap Spinner. There are still plenty of salmon around to catch, and if a person is sellective there are still some ocean fresh silvers available as well. Give us a call at 907-376-3687 if you`d like to catch some silver salmon with us this week.

September 13, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided 4 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. #3 black, #3 silver and black, and #4 silver and black were the patterns we used and at least one limit was caught on each pattern. The thundershowers we had in the Mat-Su Valley yesterday have not seemed to raise the river at all, but perhaps just a little extra water brought in a batch of fresh salmon, as all the fish the group kept today were in excellent shape.

September 17, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided and fished with two guests and each of us caught a limit of silvers in fairly good shape, but one of the guests let one of her better fish go and never caught another one that bright to replace it. We did catch several dark fish, but we were sellective and released dark fish until we caught ones we wanted to keep. Only one of the fish we caught today had sea lice still clinging to it. We caught fish on #3 black and #4 silver and black Flashtrap Spinners and also by drifting salmon eggs along the bottom.

There are still a few decent silver in the river, if a person is willing to let dark ones go until good fish are caught.

The water level is currently lower than it has been at any other time during this year`s silver salmon season, so I operated our shallowest running boat and it was fairly easy to see most salmon present as we motored up to the holes.

September 19, 2004

Little Susitna River -- I guided two people who caught several silver salmon on black #3 and sivler and black #3 Flashtrap Spinners. The were sellective and each ended up keeping a limit of silver salmon. All the silvers they kept still had sea lice clinging to them, but it is now late enough in the season that even most of the fresh run fish with sea lice are getting a bit dark. However, there are still plenty of silver salmon available and some are usually eager to strike soon after people start fishing each hole. After a few fish are caught the bites can slow down considerably as the fish get spooked in the low clear water, but more can usually be caught by simply moving up to the next group of fish.

The river was extremely low today, but perhaps it will come up a bit with the rain we had today.

September 30, 2004

Open Water Season Wrap Up -- I`m planning to drive to Little Susitna River one more time today and may fish for a while depending on how nasty the weather is.

The final silver salmon spawning escapement count through Little Susitna River Weir has topped 40,000 fish making it one of the larger counts every recorded. I hope to post some preseason forecasts for the 2005 king and silver salmon seasons in early October, so check back shortly to learn more. Early indicators are pointing toward good king salmon and silver salmon fishing in 2005.

After winterizing the boats in the next few days I`ll be hoping to start guiding some ice fishing trips on Mat-Su Valley Lakes starting in mid or late November depending on how soon the ice forms. Feel Welcome to call at 907-376-3687 if you`d like to discuss salmon fishing plans for the summer of 2005 or if you`d like to make a reservation for ice fishing this winter.