August is our best month for harvesting silver (coho) salmon in the Mat-Su Valley. We may fish both the Susitna River drainage (including the Deshka River) and the Little Susitna River during August. Bait fishing is open at most Susitna River drainage locations for the entire month of August, while the Little Susitna River bait fishery should open on August 6. According to Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist, Sam Ivey, every year about half of the Little Susitna River coho salmon are harvested before the bait fishery opens. At this time our guest are primarily casting Flashtrap Spinners as we move from spot to spot along the river in our customized riverboats. Later when bait is allowed or when we are fishing the Susitna River drainage we often fish salmon roe cured with Pautzke’s Fire Cure and drifted under ESB Bobbers. We are expecting good silver salmon fishing in 2017, so refer to this page during the month of August for our latest August 2017 Alaska fishing reports.
Report Updates:
August 1, 2017
I guided a full day group of 6 guests — each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon, and 5 of whom also caught 1 or more chum salmon before harvesting their second silver salmon. All of the fish were caught on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
August 2, 2017
i guided a morning group of 3 guests — each of whom caught 2 silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw a moose and a beaver along the river.
August 3, 2017
I guided a moring group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 4, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 anglers (including 2 younger boys). The group caught 5 chum salmon and 2 coho salmon. Fish were caught on Flashtrap Spinners, a Kwikfish, and a Mag Lip Flatfish.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, who caught 4 coho salmon and 1 chum salmon. The chum salmon was caught on a Mag Lip Flatfish and the coho salmon were caught while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
August 5
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, 3 of whom caught a limit of silver (coho) salmon and 1 of whom caught a single silver salmon. All of the fish were caught while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
August 6
I guided a morning group of 4 guests each of whom caught a limit of coho salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
August 7, 2017
i took 3 people fishing a the Deshka River in the morning and they caught 3 silver salmon wile drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. I had difficulty finding many concentrations of salmon — and the only ones I did find already had other boaters fishing for them. Water was still high from the recent rains, but most of the silver salmon seemed to have moved up past the weir. New fish should be arriving at some point.
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guest who caught 6 coho salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 8, 2018
I guided a morning group of 3 guests who caught 5 silver salmon and a chum salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests, who caught 11 coho salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 9, 2017
I guided a group of 5 guests who caught 9 silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw 2 moose along the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 adults and 2 kids. Both adults caught a limit of coho salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. One of the kids was a good caster, but just could not seem to get any bites. He did reel in a chum salmon that his dad hooked.
August 10, 2017
I guided a morning group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw a moose along the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of coho salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 11, 2017
I guided a morning group of 3 guests, who caught 5 coho salmon and 1 chum salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught 7 coho salmon and 1 chum salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
August 12, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. We saw a moose in the morning .
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, who caught 4 silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. A moose crossed the river in front of our boat and the group was able to get some pictures.
August 13, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught 7 silver salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
August 14, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests,who caught 7 coho salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. We saw some bald eagles and a moose during the morning trip.
I guided an afternoon family of 5 anglers, including 3 youngsters. The caught 6 coho salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. Water is rising and I expect the weir passage to rise as well. We saw a bald eagle on the afternoon trip.
August 15, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. Water was high, but the fish were biting well for us. The highest coho salmon weir count of the season (so far) passed the Little Susitna River weir yesterday. Deshka River has already reached its escapement goal for coho salmon, with good fishing at that location.
August 16, 2017
I took family fishing in the morning and each guest caught a limit of two silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of 2 coho salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. It was a wet rainy day, but good fishing. We have spaces available throughout the upcoming week — give us a call at 907-746-2199 if you would like to set up a trip.
August 17, 2017
I fished with 2 guests in the morning and we all caught a limit of coho salmon. All 6 of the salmon were caught on the same #5 Pink Flashtrap Spinner. It was a beautiful dry morning on the river with some wildlife along the banks for us to watch.
Flashtrap Spinners restocked at 3 Rivers Fly and Tackle
I stopped by the tackle shop today and noticed they had a good supply of several different spinner sizes and patterns. The most popular ones will likely sell quickly.
August 18, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, and once again each of them caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. One member of the group also harvested a chrome chum salmon before harvesting his 2nd silver salmon.
August 19, 2017
My morning trip got off to a late start with one guest not feeling well and staying behind. I guided a group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners. It was very quick limits this morning. During the trip we saw a beaver along the banks of the river and swimming out in the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon on #5 Flashtrap Spinners. During the trip we saw a bald eagle perched low over the river and watching us boat past.
August 20, 2017
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests — each of whom caught a limit of coho salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners. The group started hooking salmon soon after we started fishing. During the trip we saw a mature bald eagle perched low over the river.
For only the second time this year over the 1,000 silver salmon migrated past the Little Susitna River salmon counting weir in one day.
August 21, 2017
I guided a morning group of 5 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting with #5 Flashtrap Spinners.
I be guiding a trip in the morning — and then attending the Mat-Su Borough Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting with Commissioner Sam Cotten and Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff from 5 pm — 7 pm at the Mat-Su Borough Assembly Chambers. Public is invited to attend and there should be a chance for public participation.
August 22, 2017
I guided a morning group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while casting #5 pink and #5 silver / black Flashtrap Spinners.
ADF&G issues Emergency Order Raising coho salmon daily bag limit to 4 fish per person for the Susitna Drainage Starting at 5 p.m. on Tuesday.
August 23, 2017
I did not have any guided trips scheduled for today, so I fished with my wife and Ben Allen on the Susitna River drainage. We each caught a limit go silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
Little Susitna River Opens to Bait Fishing by Emergency Order — ADF&G issued an emergency oder opening the Little Susitna River to bait fishing starting at 5 p.m. on August 23.
August 24, 2017
I fished with two friends and we each caught a limit of silver salmon by drifting Fired Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
August 25, 2017
I guided a group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a limit of nice-sized silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. The fish were biting and fighting well. During the trip we saw some king fishers, and a pair of bald eagles. Fishing is excellent now that we are using bait and fishing on good abundances of silver salmon. Give us a call if you would like to get in on the fun.
August 26, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we saw a large bald eagle along the river. All were nice-sized fish.
I guided an afternoon group of 2 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. All were nice-sized fish.
August 27, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon by drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we saw a beaver feeding along the edge of the river.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.
August 28, 2017
I guided a group of 5 guests in the afternoon and the caught 9 silver salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, with a pleasant group to fish with.
August 29, 2017
I guided a group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of coho salmon while drifting Fired Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. Although it rained today, somehow we timed the trip in such a fashion that we were able to miss nearly all the rain.
August 30, 2017
I guided a morning group of 4 guests, each of whom caught a limit of coho salmon while drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. During the trip we saw several groups of ducks, a flock of geese, and a bald eagle. 4 of the fish harvested were nice large males.
I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests each of whom caught a limit of coho (silver) salmon by drifting Fire Cured salmon roe under ESB Bobbers. On both trips the groups limited early today.
August 31, 2017
I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests, each of whom caught a limit of nice silver salmon by drifting Fire Cured salmon roe. We had to fish the whole trip for everyone to catch a limit of nice silvers. During the trip we saw a few flocks of mallards along the river.
We still have availability to guide more guests in this week. Fishing has been very good lately. Give us a call at 907-746-2199 if you would like to join us on one of our trip.
See our September 2017 Alaska Fishing Reports for the next update.