Pro Staff for:

HLOutdoors

 

Fish with Quantum Performance Tuned rods & reels on Andy Couch's boat.

Alaska Fishing Reports 2005

2005 Alaska fishing reports and forecasts cover Deshka River and Little Susitna River king salmon and silver salmon fishing trips in Alaska summer seasons and winter ice fishing in Mat-Su Valley lakes road accessible from Anchorage, Palmer, and Wasilla. Our season fishing forecast is posted first, however, you may skip the forecast by scrolling down, or clicking fishing report.

2005 Alaska Salmon Fishing Forecast - Excellent for Deshka River King Salmon
The Deshka River king salmon run has exceeded 30,000 fish each of the past 6 years, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game data collected at Deshka River Weir indicates another excellent run, over 30,000 fish, should return in 2005. Deshka River produces king salmon by May 15, and in 2005 we plan to guide considerably more May trips to the Deshka. Our availability for Deshka River and other Susitna River tributary trips is limited, so please make reservations well in advance if you would like to fish Susitna River tributaries with us in 2005.

Big Salmon Alert: In 2004, guests on Fishtale trips caught the 2nd place, 7th place, and 17th place adult division king salmon in the Mat-Su King Salmon Derby. Focusing effort based on daily fishing conditions, and providing guests an opportunity to participate in the Derby (through ticket sales) contributed to our success. In 2005 we're hoping to guide guests to at least 3 kings in the top 20 of the adult division and add at least 1 king salmon in the top 20 of the youth division of the derby. Consider joining us for some derby fun.

Little Susitna Produces Larger Average King Salmon
We have limited availability for Deshka River trips, because we guide most of our salmon fishing trips on Little Su. The number of king salmon in this river is considerably less than the Deshka, however, Little Su kings average about 10 pounds heavier. Recent Alaska Department of Fish and Game spawning index counts for Little Susitna River indicate the 2005 Little Su king salmon run should provide consistent fishing with past years.

Silver Salmon Forecasts - Expect Strong Little Susitna and Deshka Runs
Alaska Department of Fish and Game silver salmon weir counts for Deshka and Little Susitna Rivers from the past 4 years indicate above average runs of silver salmon should return to both rivers in 2005. In addition, Alaska silver salmon seem to grow larger and enjoy better survival rates following warmer El Nino type winters, and the National Weather Service has predicted the 2004 - 2005 winter as warmer than normal, so with the El Nino winter, we're hoping for strong runs of large silver salmon in 2005.

Our goal is to post a report for each trip we run, but if time constraints delay us from updating for a few days, you can click on links for other  year's reports to see what has happened in previous seasons.   Enjoy the reports, and you may want to bookmark this page for easy future reference.

Viewing: August 2005

August 01, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 5 silver salmon and about 25 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.

August 02, 2005

Deshka River and Susitna River trinutaries -- I fished with 4 guests and we caught 8 silver salmon and a couple pink salmon. 2 of the silver salmon were caught on salmon eggs and the rest were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. At the Deshka River we fished near the mouth where large schools of silver salmon could be seen swimming near the banks and leaping out of the water.

August 03, 2005

David Dickson guided a morning group of 3 guests who caught 5 silver salmon and several chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.

August 04, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I fished with one guest and we caught 3 silver salmon and perhaps 20 chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. #4 silver and black, #4 orange, and #4 pink all produced multiple salmon.

August 05, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I fished with a group of 4 guests and we caught 5 silver salmon, 2 sockeye salmon, and perhaps 15 chum salmon. All of the salmon were caught on Flashtrap Spinners.

David Dickson guided a morning group of 4 guests who caught 7 silver salmon and several chum salmon on Flashtrap Spinners.

David Dickson guided an afternoon group of 2 guests who caught 3 silver salmon on K-13 Kwickfish.

David Osgood guided a morning group of 5 guests who primarily caught and released sivler salmon. Dave said they caught about 30 fish total.

Saturday August 6 will be the first day anglers are allowed to fish with bait on the Little Susitna River this year, so we`re expecting good catches of silver salmon. Check back in the evening to see what we caught.

August 06, 2005

Little Susitna River -- today was the first day bait fishing was allowed on the river this year. I fished with a morning group of 4 guests all of who caught a limit of silver salmon by drifting salmon roe under ESB Bobbers.

I also guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who limited on silver salmon also caught fishing salmon roe under ESB bobbers.

David Dickson guided a morning group of 4 guests who limited on silver salmon caught using ESB bobbers and salmon eggs.

Greg Acord guided a moring group of 6 guests who caught 6 silver salmon while fishing bobbers and eggs.

Greg Acord guided an afternoon group of 5 guests who caught a couple silver salmon with salmon eggs and bobbers.

August 08, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided a morning group of 5 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon on salmon eggs fished under ESB bobbers, and also targeted and caught 1 chum salmon on a silver and black Flashtrap Spinner.

I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught 5 silver salmon. 3 silver salmon were caught on salmon eggs fished under ESB bobbers, and one silver salmon was caught on a #3 black Flashtrap Spinner and one silver salmon was caught on a orange #4 Flashtrap Spinner. The group also saw several schools of silver salmon in the water that were reluctant to strike during the bright sunny afternoon.

David Dickson guided an morning group of 2 guests who caught 4 silver salmon.

Dave Osgood guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 9 silver salmon and all the fish were caught on Flashtrap
Spinners.

Silver salmon fishing has picked up considerable for us since the used of bait openned on August 6, and I expect the fishing to remain good through the next two or three weeks.

August 09, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided a group of 4 guests each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon. Two silver salmon were caught on #3 black Flashtrap Spinners, and the rest were caught drifting salmon eggs under ESB Bobbers. The weather has been warm and sunny, and the water level is starting to drop while visibility is increase to where sight fishing is now possible in some places.

David Dickson guided an afternoon group of 2 guests who caught 1 king salmon on a K-13 Kwickfish.

August 10, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I fished with a group of 4 guests and we kept 9 silver salmon which were caught both casting with Flashtrap Spinners and drifting along the bottom with salmon eggs.

August 11, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I fished with a group of 5 guests and everyone caught and kept a limit of silver salmon. About half of the fish were caught drifting along the bottom with salmon eggs and the remainder were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. #3 black, #4 silver and black, and #4 orange were the spinners catching the fish.

August 12, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I boated a group of 5 anglers to a good fishing spot and dropped them off for a few hours with each catching caught a limit of silver salmon using Flashtrap Spinners and/ or fly fishing.

I guided a morning group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon fishing both Flashtrap Spinners and drifting salmon eggs along the bottom.

I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests who caught 7 silver salmon while fishing with Flashtrap Spinners and also drifting salmon eggs along the bottom.

August 13, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided an afternoon group of 6 guests who caught at least 15 silver salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinnners and drifting salmon eggs along the bottom.

August 14, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 6 silver salmon. 5 of the silvers were caught casting with Flashtrap Spinners and the remaining fish was caught drifting along the bottom with salmon eggs.

August 15, 2005

I guided a group of 4 guests each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon. 1 silver salmon was caught drifting bait along the bottom, and the others were all caught on Flashtrap Spinners.

Nathan Drake guided a morning group of 3 fly fisherman who caught 5 silver salmon.

August 16, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided a group of 5 guests, 3 of whom caught and released several silver salmon and also each kept a limit, and 2 of whom did not catch a fish. 2 silver salmon were caught on salmon eggs drifted along the bottom and the rest were caught casting with Flashtrap Spinners. #3 silver and black, and #3 black were the hot spinner patterns.

Greg Acord guided a morning group of 5 guests who caught 5 silver salmon casting with Flashtrap Spinners.

David Dickson fished with a morning group of 2 guests who caught 9 silver salmon while casting Flashtrap Spinners.

August 17, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I gudied a morning group of 5 people who caught 7 silver salmon. 2 of the salmon were caught drifting salmon eggs along the bottom and the other 5 salmon were caught casting with Flashtrap Spinners. The water level has been dropping quite low, but it started raining a bit this afternoon, so it may start going up again before long.

August 18, 2005

Little Sustina River -- David Dickson guided a morning group of 3 people each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon casting Flashtrap Spinners. Water level remains low even after yesterday`s rain.

Deshka River -- Pat Donnelson has been experiencing excellent fishing while guiding on the Deshka -- especially for the past 3 days when he`s been able to place guests on tremendous schools of silver salmon that have been biting well.

August 19, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I fished with a group of 2 guests and we caught a total of 9 silver salmon salmon. 3 of the fish were caught on salmon eggs and the remaining 6 were caught on spinners. We spent the entire morning fishing over good schools of silver salmon, but had to fish hard for most of the bites. The water had dropped and cleared, but according to the USGS water chart it may bump up a bit either Saturday or Sunday.

August 20, 2005

Little Susitna River -- David Dickson guided an afternoon group of 2 guests who caught 2 silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. David said they fished over large schools of silvers but could not coax many into biting.

August 21, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I dropped of a group of 2 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. 1 silver was caught on a spinner, 1 silver was caught drifting salmon eggs along the bottom, and 2 silvers were caught drifting salmon eggs under an ESB bobber.

I guided a morning group of 4 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. All of the salmon were caught by fishing salmon eggs behind a jet planer from our anchored boat.

I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. 4 silver salmon were caught fishing salmon eggs behind jet planers, and 2 silver salmon were caught drifting salmon eggs under an ESB Bobber.

It rained quite a bit today, and the river charts shows the water is coming up sharply, but I believe fishing should be good in the right spots. There were definitly plenty of fresh silver salmon swarming upriver today, and my groups caught primarily female salmon which is indicative of condsiderable more salmon on the way upriver.

August 22, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon. All of the silvers were caught on salmon eggs. We used to methods of presentation -- drifting the salmon eggs below an ESB Bobber and also backing the roe through the holes behind a jet planer. The water had come up considerably since yesterday,and was continuing to rise when I left the river.

David Dickson guided a group of 2 guests who limited on silver salmon casting Flashtrap Spinners.

Dave Osgood guided a morning group of 4 guests,and I think he said they caught 6 silver salmon casting Flashtrap Spinners.

Dave Osgood also ran a drop off group and I have not heard how they did.

August 23, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided an afternoon group of 4 guests each of whom limited on silver salmon. We caught all of the salmon on salmon eggs. Most of them were caught drifting salmon eggs below ESB Bobbers, but we also caught some silvers backing bait downriver behind jet planers. The water had risen and muddied since I was out yesterday, but was dropping during our fishing trip. I expect fishing will remain good for the next two or three weeks for silver salmon on the Little Su.

August 25, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided an afternoon group of 3 guests who each caught a limit of silver salmon on salmon eggs drifted downriver below ESB Bobbers.

Dave Osgood guided a morning group of 4 guests who I believe caught limits of silver salmon on salmon eggs fished below ESB Bobbers.

David Dickson guided a morning group of 2 guests who caught and released several silver salmon on #5 orange Flashtrap Spinners.

David Dickson guided an afternoon group of 4 guests who caught 8 silver salmon while casting with #5 orange Flashtrap Spinners.

August 26, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I fished with a group of 4 people and each of us caught a limit of silver salmon. We caught good numbers of salmon while casting with Flashtrap Spinners in sizes 3, 4, and 5, and also while drifting salmon eggs under ESB Bobbers. The water level had dropped somewhat, but remained fairly high and muddy.

August 28, 2005

I fished with 2 guests and we each kept a limit of silver salmon all of which were caught on Flashtrap Spinners. The water is a bit dark colored, but continues to drop.

August 29, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided a group of 4 guests who each caught their limit of silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners. The Spinner patterns we used were #4 sivler, #4 silver and black, and #4 orange and all caught silver salmon. In addition, one of the guests caught a fresh run chum salmon on a spinner as well. I expect to continue guiding trips for at least another 10 days, so give us a call at 907-746-2199 (evenings are best since I`m guiding during the day) if you would like to make reservations to catch some silver salmon.

August 30, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided 2 guests who caught several silvers each while casting Flashtrap Spinners. #4 silver bladed and #4 orange bladed spinners produced all of our fish today.

August 31, 2005

Little Susitna River -- I guided 2 guests who caught and released some silver and also kept limits before we quit. They caught all of their silver salmon on Flashtrap Spinners except one fish was caught by casting and drifting salmon eggs along the bottom. Some of the fish they caught were still in exceptional shape -- nice and silver with loose scales and sea lice still clinging to the fish.