October and November are months where we are primarily transitioning from summer salmon fishing trips on Mat-Su Valley rivers and streams to winter ice fishing trips — which we may have available in late November (dependent upon lake ice conditions). Below I will post some fishing information as we transition through October.
October 1, 2020 — King Salmon in 2021 — I recently had a conversation with Alaska Department of Fish and Game fisheries biologist Samantha Oslund in which I asked her if there was any timeline for when the Department might be updating the fishing public on how king salmon fishing regulations might start during the 2021 fishing season. Her reply was the Department was hoping to issue an outlook or possible regulations sometime right before Christmas. What we can expect at this point is the Eklutna Tailrace / Knik River king salmon fishery should be open to harvest on a daily basis throughout the 2021 season. Little Susitna River king salmon fishery and the Susitna River drainage king salmon fisheries (including Deshka River) will have regulations dependent upon the Department’s king salmon outlook. Stay tuned for more developments on king salmon regulations — but also realize it may be December before we get the official word.
At this time we are taking reservations for king salmon fishing trips for May 10 — July 13 during the 2020 season. I plan to guide king salmon trips at Knik River, Deshka River, and / or Little Susitna River –feel welcome to call for more information about 2020 king salmon fishing trips — 907-746-2199.
October 5, 2020 — I’ve been working at getting my boats ready to put away for the season — still more work to do — and I’ve got some changes I’m hoping to make with two of the boats before spring.
I also drove up to Deshka Landing and Susitna Landing today. The Susitna River is getting low and it won’t be long until the open water boating season is over for another year. A few people were out trapping beaver along the Susitna River today — I was told the trapping season opened Oct. 1.
October 9, 2020 — Two of my nephews and I boated down the Susitna River, and hiked along a couple trails they had been working on during the summer. We saw lots of bald eagles, a river otter, ducks, and of course some other boaters. We did not even take a rod along, so I do not know what fishing would have been like.
October 16, 2020 — My wife and I launched my boat from Deshka Landing for the last time this fall, and went for a boat ride out on the river. We were flagged down by some fellow boaters who had run out of gas before getting back to Deshka Landing and we gave them some of our spare gas. It was cold along the river with ice forming in spots — and we were boating in the afternoon the warmest part of the day. We saw several bald eagles and a beaver during our trip. I was wondering how difficult it was going to be getting my boat on the trailer and out of the boat launch, because the boat launch was partially covered in ice from when people would launch or pullout — the water would run off the boat trailers and onto the ramp, then freeze before making it back to the river. We picked the least icy spot on the ramp, and I still spun my tires getting the boat up the ramp. My truck is only 2-wheel drive, however, I believe some of the 4-wheel drive vehicles might find it challenging pulling out of the launch. Cold weather is here. The weather report is calling for snow on Sunday October 18!
For the next fishing report update see our November 2020 Alaska Fishing Reports page.