August is our best month for silver salmon fishing in the rivers of the Mat-Su Valley — and ocean-fresh silver or coho salmon are usually available throughout the entire month. Check back on this page for daily updates from my guided trips — Andy Couch / Fishtale River Guides
August 1, 2016 — I guided a morning group of 6 guests, who caught 7 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip the guests also spotted an otter along the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests whom caught 4 silver salmon including a fat 13 -ponder (the largest one). In addition the group also caught 1 pink salmon, and snagged a couple chum salmon that we released. They also managed to hook several other salmon that pulled loose before we could bring them to the net.
August 2, 2016 — Flashtrap Spinners Delivered — my wife dropped off over 300 Flashtrap Spinners today at 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle in Wasilla. They sold quickly last time we made a delivery — don’t know how long the more popular patterns will last this time.
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who harvested 4 silver salmon and caught and released several chum salmon. The group did not want to keep too many salmon, so we focused on silver salmon at the start of the trip, then went and caught and released some chum salmon later in the trip. All of the salmon were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests, 3 of whom limited with one chum salmon and two silver salmon, 2 of whom kept one chum salmon and one silver salmon, and 1 who kept one silver salmon. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. On the trip home from the river I saw a nice looking bull moose cross the road a short distance ahead of me.
August 3, 2016 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, one of whom caught a limit of coho salmon. Two other guests each caught a coho salmon and chum salmon. The final guest hooked a couple salmon — catching a chum salmon. River was very busy with boater searching form silver salmon. All fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners.
August 4 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, who harvested 4 silver salmon and released a chum salmon, and a pink salmon. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, who caught 3 silver salmon, 2 chum salmon, and 1 pink salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
BY ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF FISH And GAME EMERGENCY ORDER –issued today — the Little Susitna River fishery will remain open to artificial lures only from August 6 — September 30.
August 5 — I guided a morning group of 2 guests, one of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. We saw quite a few jumpers, but did not hook many fish.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, one one of whom caught a limit of silver salmon, and another of whom caught a chum salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. We saw additional jumpers again, but caught no other fish.
August 6 — I was headed to the river to guide my morning charter when I learned that my morning group had taken sick and would not be coming. I turned around and went home.
My afternoon trip had also canceled earlier due to a time conflict.
August 7 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests, and one of them managed to hook, but lose a single silver on a #5 Flashtrap Spinner. We also saw a very few salmon roll, but did not have any more action. It was a very wet and cool morning and the group decided to call it a trip early.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests and they spent the entire time casting Flashtrap Spinners, but the only fish my guests managed to catch were foul – hooked chum salmon. The river was quite busy in the afternoon, and most of the holes had likely already been fished — perhaps multiple times. I know some other people caught a few silver salmon this afternoon, and also a few chum and pink salmon. I’m expecting fishing pressure should drop off after the weekend and our success may pick up as well.
August 8, 2016 –I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught chum and pink salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip I saw one bald eagle along the river. We also saw several large red king salmon in the murky water. Water level in the river is coming up with the last few days of rain.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests, each of whom caught and released a chum salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
August 9 — I guided a morning group of 6 guests, who caught 4 chum salmon and 1 silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. One angler also landed a foul hooked silver salmon which we released. We fished over several groups of surfacing salmon, and had a fair number of bites.
August 10 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 1 silver salmon, 1 chum salmon, and 2 pink salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, who hauled in 1 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.
August 11 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 1 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests who caught 1 silver salmon and a foul hooked chum salmon, and reeled in a chum salmon which I hooked. The silver salmon was caught on a Kwikfish and the other fish were hooked while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 12 — I guided a group of 4 guest who caught 3 silver salmon, 2 king salmon (which were released), 2 pink salmon which were released as well. All of the fish were caught while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
August 13 — I guided a morning group of 3 guests and although we had a few bites, the only fish we managed to land was a sucker.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests, each of whom caught 2 silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
August 14 — I guided a group of 3 guests, who caught 5 silver salmon by drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
August 15 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 7 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon by drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we saw a large mature bald eagle flying by quite close a couple different times.
I guided an afternoon group of 5 guests, and we fished lots of prime water, but did not catch a fish.
August 16 — I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 6 silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests who harvested 5 silver salmon and 3 chum salmon caught while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. We saw an adult bald eagle perched near us at our last fishing spot.
August 17 — I guided a morning group of 2 guests who caught 3 silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
I guided an afternoon group of 5 good anglers who only managed to catch 1 silver salmon and 2 rainbow trout while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
August 18 — I guided a morning group of 3 guests, 2 of whom caught limits of silver salmon, and 1 of whom caught a chum salmon. All of the fish were caught while casting with Flashtrap Spinners, but the guests had to work for every bite.
August 19 — my trip cancelled so I had a day off — caught up on sleep and did some chores around the house.
August 20 — I guided a morning group of 5 guests, who caught 2 silver salmon, 1 chum salmon, 1 silver salmon jack, and 1 whitefish. All of the fish were caught while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, and one member of the group landed 2 foul – hooked salmon that were released. In addition the group hooked 3 more salmon, but failed to land any of them. All of the fish were hooked while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 21 — I guided a morning group of 2 guests, one of whom caught a chrome silver salmon while casting a Flashtrap Spinner. The group also lost a few other salmon during the trip also while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. Most trips now are plenty of casting for every bite.
I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests, 1 of whom caught a nice silver salmon. The group spent the entire trip casting Flashtrap Spinners, but only managed to hook 2 fish — and the first fish was foul – hooked. Fishing pressure is dropping off considerably now.
August 22 — I guided a group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught 2 coho salmon each, and 1 of whom caught a single coho salmon. All of the fish were caught while casting #5 Flashtrap Spinners. I expect the river to start rising a bit form our recent rain. This may draw a few more ocean-fresh coho up the river.
Fishing trips at this time are to uncrowded rivers, with a few silver salmon still showing up, but plenty of fishing for each fish caught. Read previous reports for a run down of how much action we’ve been getting — and what to expect from a trip in late August.
August 23 — Fishing trip cancelled so a I had an opportunity to sleep in — and then start work on getting some of my summer gear put away.
August 24 — I went on a tour with the Mat-Su salmon partnership to look at work that had been done by various members of the group in the Knik River Public Use Area. We also stopped by the gun range in the area. Later in the day I wrote my weekly newspaper fishing column for the Frontiersman, then built some #5 Silver/ Black Flashtrap Spinners. That is my most used spinner pattern and the only ones I had left were tied to the rods I was using on my trips.
August 25 — I guided a group of 3 guests, who caught 4 silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. It was lots of casting for each bite.
August 26 — I guided a group of 2 guests, and one of them caught a chum salmon. In addition one silver salmon was hooked, but lost, and a smaller jack silver salmon or rainbow trout was also hooked but lost before it could be brought to the boat. We only saw a few salmon surfacing along the river today.
August 27 — I guided a group of 4 guests, who caught 2 silver salmon and 1 chum salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. Water is high and fish were quite spread out, we moved all over the place looking for fish. Before starting the trip I saw a cow and two calf moose on the trip to the river.
August 28 — I guided a group of 6 guests, who caught 4 silver salmon and 1 jack silver salmon, while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we also saw some bald eagles close to our boat as we fished at a couple spots along the river. Water is still high, but starting to drop from the rain we had earlier in the week.
August 29 — I guided a morning group pf 3 guests, each of whom caught one silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw several bald eagles along the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, and we were unable to catch any salmon. We saw a few fish and briefly hooked a couple fish. During the trip we saw one moose along the river.
August 30 — I guided a group of 2 guest who kept 2 silver salmon they caught while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. In addition they also released a dark female salmon. During the trip we saw one bald eagle while we were fishing.
August 31 — Last Day of Bait Fishing in 2016 on Susitna River Drainage — Since I did not have a charter I drove to Susitna Landing to pull my guide boat for the season. While there in the afternoon I fished Fired Cured salmon roe under an ESB Bobber for a few hours, but did not hook or catch any fish. I was hoping to catch a coho salmon or two, and saw one other angler who had caught one coho salmon.
At this point I am hoping to guide for silver salmon through Labor Day Weekend (Sept.5), but currently have no trips booked after Sept. 1.
For the next fishing report update Look for our September 2016 Alaska Fishing Reports page.