06/01/2011
June is our best month for king salmon fishing in rivers of the Mat – Su Valley. Early in the month Deshka River and Little Susitna River provide higher numbers of available king salmon, but as the month progresses king salmon become available in greater numbers in tributary streams further up the Susitna River system as well. Peak catch rates can occur from early June through the end of the month depending upon which streams are fished.
Deshka River, in particular, seems to have long run timing, with some of the best numbers of king salmon available in the entire Susinta River system throughout the entire month of June. Because of the large number of king salmon available, Deshka River is the only Susitna River tributary where bait fishing is allowed for king salmon on a regular basis.
I guided a group of 4 people in the morning on Little Susinta River today. Water had risen and muddied from yesterday, and only one member of the group got a bite, but did not manage to hook it. That was all the action we had for the entire morning even though we back trolled through many prime spots. Because of the water color we fished the entire trip with K-15 Kwikfish. We did see some moose along the river, and several other groups of anglers that all seemed to be having similar luck to ours.
I`ll be guiding and reporting again tomorrow.
06/02/2011
I guided a morning group of 5 guests, one of whom caught a king salmon of about 20 pounds on a K-15 Kwikfish. Water was still high and dark colored. Other guides seemed to have similar success to what we did.
06/03/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon. One fish was caught on a Spinning Cheater and one fish was caught on a K-15 Kwikfish.
06/04/2011
i guided 3 people, 2 of whom caught king salmon. One fish weighed 24 and the second fish weighted 32 pounds. Both kings were caught on K-15 Kwikfish. Water level remains high although visibility has come up to about 18 inches. During our trip we saw a cow and calf moose and some bald eagles.
On the Little Susina River, unless we get lots of rain in the next day or two, I expect the water to drop and clear up even more. Water on the Little Susitna is cold to the touch at this time. On Deshka River I expect the outflow from the Deshka itself to continue to drop unless we get a significant rain. Cool cloudy weather often makes for better fishing on the Deshka as water on this river can get quite warm for the salmon.. Numbers of king salmon swimming through the Deshka River Weir should start rising sharply now, as king salmon fishing has picked up significantly near the river mouth the past couple mornings.
06/05/2011
I guided 3 anglers, each of whom caught a king salmon, the largest of which weighed 37 pounds. The first fish was caught on a K-15 Kwikfish and the next two fish were caught on an M-2 Mag Lip Flatfish. During the trip we saw a moose and calf and a few bald eagles along the river. A friend named Howie did not even get a bite, but that is what happens when you stay home.
06/06/2011
I guided 4 guests, one of whom caught a 32 pound king salmon on our first drift of the day. The fish was caught on a K-15 Kwikfish. Two other people in the boat had good bites, but did not manage to hook the fish. We covered lots of good water, and saw plenty of bald eagles during the trip. Weather was clear and sunny — cool at the start, but warming up during the trip. Water conditions seemed very good and should be just as good or maybe even better tomorrow.
Check back tomorrow, I`ll for our next Alaska fishing report.
06/07/2011
I guided a group of 5 guests, one of whom caught a small king salmon, and one of whom caught a jack king salmon. Everyone in the boat had at least one bite, but it appeared they may have been mostly small salmon, as we only hooked the two fish. One fish was caught on a K-15 Kwikfish, and the jack salmon was caught on a Spinning Cheater.
06/08/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon. One fish was caught on a Spinning Cheater, and the other fish was caught on a K-14X Kwikfish
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, one of whom caught a jack king salmon, two other people in the group set the hook on what they thought were bites, but like yesterday, perhaps, they were small fish, as we did not hook any other fish. We did see some small salmon rolling in a few spots along the river.
06/09/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught and kept a king salmon by drifting Pautzke`s Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. Some of the fish were chrome with sea lice.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 anglers, each of whom caught and kept a king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
During the trip we also saw several eagles, and many other anglers.
06/10/2011
I guided a morning group of 6 guests, 5 of whom caught and kept king salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 anglers, 2 of whom caught and kept king salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. There were lots of boat on the river today, and very few open holes to fish both in the morning and afternoon for my groups. I feel fortunate that both groups were able to come up with some nice kings.
06/11/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon. One fish was caught on an M-2 Maglip Flatfsih, and the othe fish was caught on a K-15X Kwikfish. One of our guests also spotted and pointed out to everyone on the trip a red fox crossing the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 1 of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
Time to go to sleep, but I will have another fishing report tomorroow.
06/12/2011
I guided a group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon. All 4 king salmon were caught on K-15X Kwikfish. 1 king was caught on the UV blue/chartreuse, 2 fish were caught on silver/ chartreuse bill, and 1 king salmon was caught on silver / fire tail.
Frede had me scheduled to fish with family and a friend in the afternoon, so I did not have an afternoon charter.
06/13/2011
I guided a group of 4 anglers, each of whom caught a king salmon. All the fish were caught on K-15X Kwikfish. My group saw a bull moose along the road on their way to the landing in the morning. I`ll be fishing with the same group and one extra guest an additional day. Frede had me scheduled to fish with family and friends in the afternoon, so I only ran the one charter.
We`ve been very busy running charters, and having trouble keeping up with phone calls, e-mails, and I also have my weekly newspaper column to write. We are currently nearly fully booked through June the morning of June 27 — but have king salmon availability on starting the afternoon of the 27th and from there into July. We also have good availability for silver salmon charters from July 14th through August and into early September. 907-746-2199 If you`d like to call us about a reservation.
06/14/2011
I guided a morning group of 5 guests, 4 of whom caught king salmon, but one member of the group released a small fish and did not get another bite, while the remaining angler also did not get a bite.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guess, 2 of whom caught king salmon. One fish weighed 27 pounds and the other weighed 11 pounds. Those were the only two bites the group had, and the water was rising from the rain with debris floating down.
06/15/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe fished under ESB Bobbers.
06/16/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
06/17/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
Our afternoon charter was cancelled.
06/18/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided 2 guests in the afternoon, one of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
06/19/2011
I guided 4 people in the morning, each of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 people, 2 of whom caught king salmon on K-15X Kwikfish.
06/20/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon on K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 1 of whom caught a 43 pound king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
Water was higher and off color today, although each group had a few additional bites which they were unable to hook and bring to the boat.
06/21/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
We also saw plenty of bald eagles on both trips.
06/22/2011
I guided a morning group of 3 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests — one of whom had one bite on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. We also tried Flashtrap Spinners in the afternoon with no bites.
Deshka River is getting lots of pressure, and getting afternoon bites is difficult to say the least. We are seeing plenty of eagles nearly every trip.
06/23/2011
I guided a morning group of 5 guests, 3 of whom caught king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers.
i guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 2 of whom each had one bite on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. One guest managed to briefly hook the fish he had biting, but lost it shortly afterward.
There are more groups of people fishing the Deshka River than holes available to fish, so getting bites was difficult both in the morning and afternoon, even though we were fishing over some active (rolling) king salmon.
06/24/2011
I guided a group of 4 people in the morning, two of whom caught king salmon. One angler caught his fish on a #5 silver and black Flashtrap Spinner and the other angler had his luck on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, one of whom caught a whitefish on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber. We fished over salmon in several spots, but could not get any to bite in the hot afternoon sunshine.
Deshka River weir has already passed over 13,000 king salmon upriver, so the king salmon fishery should proceed through the end of the season with no inseason restrictions, however, the water is low and warm and getting the salmon to bite is difficult, even early in the morning.
06/25/2011
I guided a group of 4 people in the morning, each of whom caught a king salmon on K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a king salmon on K-15X Kwikfish.
06/26/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, one of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon on K-15X Kwikfish.
06/27/2011
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, 2 of whom caught king salmon on K-15X Kwikfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 people, one of whom caught a king salmon on a K-15 X Kwikfish, and one of whom caught a rainbow trout on a magnum Wiggle Wart.
06/28/2011
I guided 6 people in the morning, one of whom caught a king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber. A second guest caught a rainbow trout and a jack king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber, and a third guest caught a jack king salmon on salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber We found good numbers of king salmon to fish on, but in the warm shallow water the salmon were extremely reluctant to strike. One of my guests also cast a Flashtrap Spinner of a considerable amount of time, but failed to get a hook up on the lure.
06/29/2011
I guided a group of 5 guests, 3 of whom caught king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under ESB Bobbers. We fished for over 4 hours before landing the first fish. It was easy enough to find fish, however, it was much more difficult enticing the salmon to bite and then hooking them.
06/30/2011
I guided a morning of 3 guests, 1 of whom caught a king salmon on Fire Cured salmon roe drifted under an ESB Bobber. We fished over many other salmon that were rolling in the holes, but my guests were only able to hook the one king salmon.
For the second day in a row, the Deshka River king salmon weir count was only slightly over 200 fish, and the water level continues to drop.