I sometimes guide Mat-Su Valley silver salmon trips through September 10. Depending upon salmon abundances and trip reservations I’ve shut down salmon fishing trips earlier or run them even a bit later into September.
September 1, 2016 — I guided a group of 2 guests, 1 of whom harvested a limit of silver (coho) salmon that he caught while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. My second guest fought 1 coho salmon right to the boat before loosing it, and also caught 2 foul – hooked coho salmon that we immediately released. During the trip we saw one adult bald eagle as we fished. We did not see any other people fishing on this trip.
September 2, 3, 4 — We had several groups call about salmon fishing, but when I explained what fishing conditions were like or started talking specifics we did not book any trips. We should know more on Tuesday, but it looks like the Little Susitna River coho salmon weir count will either just meet the minimum spawning escapement goal — or it may come a bit short of meeting the minimum number of 10,100 coho.
September 5 — After several days with no trips booked I plan to pull my boat off the river today. Water conditions are about the lowest of the season at this time, but we are getting a bit of rain so the river may go up a bit over the next few days. I’ll try to post one last report this evening.
September 7 — we’ve had some rain slightly raising the Little Susitna River, and a few more coho salmon are passing the weir, however, I’ve pulled my boat for the season and do not plan on guiding any more 2016 salmon fishing trips.
It is not too early to start talking about or planning 2017 salmon fishing trips!! Nearly all of our 2017 dates both morning and afternoon are available at this time. Call us at 907-746-2199 if you would like to talk about possibilities.
Alaska Board of Fisheries Meeting for Upper Cook Inlet will be in February 2017. This is the meeting that establishes sport fishing , commercial fishing, subsistence fishing, and personal use fishing regulation for 2017, 2018, and 2019. Let us know if you would like to know more about this meeting — or might like to participate in the process.