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

Alaska Fishing Reports 2007

2007 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.

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.

My goal is to post a daily fishing report for each trip I run (when I have time I may post reports form other guides as well) but if time constraints delay us from updating for a few days, you can also visit previous year's reports to see what happened then.  Salmon run timing is relatively consistent from year to year, so that should give you a rough idea of what to expect. Enjoy our 2007 reports.

Viewing: September 2007

September 01, 2007

Little Susitna River -- I guided 3 fishermen, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon by drifting Fire Cured salmon eggs under ESB Bobbers. Although it rained slightly, the river remains extremely low. The river was also busy with duck hunters today, as it was the openning day of duck season.

September 02, 2007

Little Susitna River -- I guided 3 people, each of whom caught a limit of silver salmon. 2 silver salmon were caught on a #3 silver and black Flashtrap Spinner and 4 silver salmon were caught on Fire Cured salmon eggs drifted below ESB Bobbers.

As mentioned earlier, because of lower than expected numbers of silver salmon swimming past the Little Susitna River weir, regulations will go to catch and release fishing only for silver salmon starting Tuesday September 4, 2007. While we have some trips currently booked to fish through September 10 on Little Susitna River, we have decided not to book additional Little Susitna River silver salmon fishing trips for the 2007 season.

September 04, 2007

No fishing trips scheduled, however, we have a group that will be fishing catch & release for silver salmon on the Little Susitna River tomorrow, so we should have another report posted Wednesday evening sometime.

September 05, 2007

Little Susitna River -- I guided 2 fishermen on a catch and release trip this morning. While we fished on good sized schools of silver salmon during the entire trip, it took quite a bit of coaxing to get the salmon to strike. 1 angler caught and released 4 silver salmon, and 1 angler fished the entire trip without catching a salmon. I watched and gave some fishing suggestions, however, why one angler seemed to get nearly all the strikes I do not know. Both fishermen were presenting both lures and salmon eggs directly to schools of fish. It seemed that most of the fish caught were taken within minutes of arriving at a new location or within minutes of switching from bait to lures. The water level on the river continues to drop daily, and the fish are quite spooky in the shallow clear water. Even a little bit of rain to raise the river and give the water some color could like increase the amount of bites a fishermen could get.

We did not see anyone else out on the river this morning, however, when we returned to the landing there were a few more vehicles than when we departed in the morning.

September 07, 2007

Little Susitna River -- I guided a group of 2 anglers who caught 7 silver salmon on #3 Flashtrap Spinners and salmon eggs drifted under ESB Bobbers. Water remained extremely low and clear, and similar to other recent trips we could see large schools of salmon, but usually only get a few to bite. Wising up to the pattern of getting some early bites and then almost total lack of interest from the salmon, I spent less time on each individual school of fish, and fished more places. Thus getting more overall hookups and landing more salmon. During the trip I saw a few salmon in some of the holes that appeared to be chrome fresh run fish, but all of the salmon we caught had various shades of spawning color blush to them.

September 08, 2007

Little Susitna River -- I was scheduled to guide an afternoon salmon fishing trip, however, after meeting me at the river, and observing how much it was raining, my guests decided to cancell their trip, so we did not fish.

Even though it was raining quite hard since late on Friday evening, the river water level only rose slightly from Friday.

September 09, 2007

Little Susitna River -- I was at the river today, but did not fish. Boating along the river, I did see a few salmon rolling or swimming away from the boat. Even though it has been raining steadily for the past couple days the lower river water level was still low but rising. A look at the USGS water level chart for the Little Susitna River, however, shows a dramatic rise in water level on the upper river, so water levels should rise significantly on the lower river by Monday or Tuesday.