Alaska Fishing Reports
02-16-2008
WATER: Spirit, Hidden, Rainbow Trout, Dolly Varden lakes
SPECIES: Coho, lakers, kokanee, bows, dollies
REPORT: Took advantage of the brief warm spell to hit the hardwater with a friend. Spirit Lake is producing a little better now. At least we caught our limits of stocked coho, no real size, biggest was short of a pound. Tried Hidden Lake the other day for lakers. Plenty of kokanee to be had. Both of us limited on them but never had a hit on the lake trout rigs. Ice as good, snow thin enough to truck around OK in 4x4 mode. Thursday headed out to Swanson River Rd area. Tried Sucker Lake, only very small rainbows. Hit Rainbow Trout lake and picked up a fish or two, then on to Dolly Varden lake for a bust. More warm weather is on the way, good time to get out for some enjoyable ice fishing whether you catch anything or not. Tight lines.
WATER: Big Lake
SPECIES: Char, burbot, etc.
REPORT: Fished a few spots with no success. Have never fished this lake and am planning on heading out again this weekend. Any suggestions on the bottom, way off the bottom?
WATER: no name secret hole
SPECIES: lake Trout
REPORT: Spent the night on the lake and caught 3 burbot. No real size to them so we released them. I catch so many fish normally that I just catch and release which I found is frowned upon especially when you catch a 31' inch lake trout. I caught about a half dozen lakers before I caught the big one. They all ranged in size from 15 to 20 inches, not bad. Throw in a few dozen dollies and I had a pretty successful morning. I would give the name of the lake but I would be scared that people would catch and keep, and for such a valuable resource as lake trout, this would destroy the lake. If there are any die hard lake trout fishermen out there my email address is jasonclimbs@hotmail.com if you would like to go fishing.
WATER: Island Lake
SPECIES: Rainbows and Dollies (char)
REPORT: Had an awesome day, despite the weather being -20 at 7 a.m.. It warmed up into the black around 12:30 that day and the bite never really started until about 9:30 then slowed, but picked up once more around 1, which is pretty typical for that lake. My buddy got the local derby leader for the Char division on eggs and in about 12 feet of water, with hundreds of stocked rainbows tearing up the bait. We came out with about 7 good keepers for the frying pan, ranging from 17 - 23 inches, and only one decent little bow of about a pound and a half. Ice was about 2 feet thick, yet there was some overflow on the north end of the lake and the NW side of the island. Overall a beautiful, yet cold day, but our persistence paid off.
On another note, I'm trying to check out some other areas and brave the damnable cold on the weekends (my only days available to fish) and am considering Kenai Lake, and maybe Crescent on Saturday. Is the trail up to Crescent still open to snow machines? I heard they typically close it down to x-country skiers after the 15th. Also, what would one find effective for those lil' Grayling up there?
WATER: Flathorn Lake
SPECIES: Pike
REPORT: Finally made out to the lake after three years and it did not disappoint. Made it back on ATVs. The trail was a little rough but very passable. Set up quick and had flags right away. Largest was around 30 in. with the average at 25-26. Great fishing all day.
WATER: Lynx Lake
SPECIES: Pike
REPORT: Found a way into Lynx so went in and fished three hours with one little hammer handle to show. Definetly going to try a different spot next time, as I have heard some great things about this lake. tight lines.
12-16-2007
2007 Alaska Salmon Fishing Forecasts
King Salmon - Expect Big Deshka River Return
The Deshka River king salmon spawning escapement has exceeded 30,000 fish each of the past 7 years, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) data collected at Deshka River Weir indicates another excellent run, over 30,000 fish, should return in 2007. Fishermen will be allowed to use bait starting on May 15, this year, and (like the past 2 years) we expect the Department of Fish and Game will once again issue an emergency order doubling the daily bag limit for king salmon and opening the river to 24 hours a day fishing starting approximately May 25. We encourage all anglers to make sure an emergency order has been issued before keeping a double king salmon limit or fishing outside of normal king salmon season hours of 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Little Susitna River King Salmon - Expect Better Fishing
A higher than average spawning escapement count for the primary parent year of the 2007 return indicates Little Susitna River may have better than average king salmon fishing for king salmon that average about 10 pounds larger than on the Deshka River.
Silver Salmon Forecast - Expect Solid Fishing
Parent year spawing escapements were good for both 2007 Deshka and Little Susitna River silver salmon returns, although lower than the parent spawing escapement for 2006, so I expect average, but lower overall numbers of silver salmon returning than what we experienced in 2006 -- There may be a silver lining in that smaller numbers of returning salmon can some times mean larger average fish weight.