May 2023

Issue 65

Where Will Your Next Fishing Adventure Take You?

The month of May often marks the beginning of the open-water fishing season for many anglers across Alaska. It’s been a long winter, and it seems people are excited for the opportunity to get out and enjoy some time on the water.

In this edition of Reel Times, you’ll learn of one angler’s fishy quest, you’ll get some excellent tips on trolling for salmon, and you’ll read of a telemetry study that led to new opportunities for anglers in the Interior

Before you head out, be sure you have your 2023 sport fishing license. Visit our online store if you need to purchase one. Or download the ADF&G mobile app and you can store your licenses, tags and permits in your mobile device.

Are you following us on social media? If not, be sure to check us out on Instagram @wefishak. You can also follow us on Facebook at ADF&G - wefishak . Also, visit our YouTube channel for a growing selection of "how-to" videos and much more.

If you have a comment or story ideas for Reel Times, we encourage you to send them our way. You can send comments to ryan.ragan@alaska.gov.

We'll see you on the water

The Quest for the Five Kings

By Wilson Puryear

As someone who grew up in Southcentral Alaska, enjoys the outdoors, and currently works for ADF&G’s Division of Sport Fish, I have a somewhat embarrassing confession to make: in my thirty years of life in the Last Frontier, I have only caught one king salmon.

Well, I guess that isn’t entirely true. Sure, I’ve caught a few handfuls of the land-locked kings stocked in lakes around Anchorage, but if we’re talking about the big, beautiful, bellicose specimens of Oncorhynchus tshawytscha - those chrome, sea-run beasts that can reach over 70 pounds in weight, peel line from a reel like a locomotive, and swim through the dreams of anglers throughout Alaska and from all over the world - then yes, the amount of kings that I’ve hooked and landed is that loneliest of numbers: one.

This summer, I’ve decided that I am going to try and change that. Per Alaska sport fishing regulations, there is an annual retention limit of five king salmon measuring 20 inches or greater taken from the waters of Cook Inlet and its drainages, and with this in mind I have made it a personal goal to rise to the challenge of catching a full Cook Inlet basin annual limit. Call it the “Five King Challenge.”

There are, however, already some forces working against me this year. Continuing a trend of low abundance due to poor marine survival, the Department’s forecasts for king salmon returns throughout the state are low, prompting most king salmon fisheries in Southcentral Alaska to start out closed via Emergency Orders.

This doesn’t mean that opportunities for king salmon fishing won’t exist this year, however. Of course, if the forecasts turn out to be incorrect and more fish than predicted return to their natal rivers and meet escapement goals, then fisheries will begin to open up. But even if the forecasts prove correct and the fisheries that are starting out closed remain closed all season, there will still be other options.

Thanks to the work done at ADF&G’s William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery - located on Ship Creek in downtown Anchorage - there will still be chances for anglers to catch and keep king salmon in a select number of fisheries. Of the approximately 4 million fish that the hatchery raises and releases into the waters of Alaska to increase sport fishing opportunities each year, around half are king salmon. Stocked as smolt into nine different locations throughout Southcentral Alaska, these hatchery kings are used to either enhance wild runs or create accessible king salmon fisheries where there would otherwise be none.

When looking at the map of locations stocked with hatchery kings, I couldn’t help but notice that five of them were road-accessible locations within the Cook Inlet basin. The wheels in my head began to turn, and before I knew it the Five King Challenge had taken on a new dimension. The goal now was not only to catch five king salmon out of Cook Inlet drainages, but to do so from five different stocked locations.

The five locations in question are spread widely throughout the Cook Inlet basin. Spanning from Knik Arm to Kachemak Bay, they offer an angler settings and fishing experiences so varied that each feels like a fresh adventure. For those unfamiliar, these locations are outlined below.

Nestled among the trees beneath the rugged peaks of the Chugach Range, the Eklutna Tailrace provides a wooded yet highly accessible terminal king salmon fishery in the Mat-Su region. Located where the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project’s outfall flows into the Knik River, this well-developed site offers a large parking lot, restrooms, gravel fishing pads, a cleaning table, ADA accessible paths on either side of the Tailrace, and a footbridge to easily cross from one side to the other. Far enough upstream to not be affected by tidal change, time of day is the biggest factor to consider when planning to fish here. “The nighttime is the right time” at the Eklutna Tailrace, with late evening and early morning being particularly productive times to fish. The strength of flow in the Tailrace itself depends upon the needs of the Hydroelectric Project and at times current can be nearly nonexistent, causing fish to balk and fishing to slow down. When this happens, it is worth remembering that king salmon fishing is allowed in all waters within a ½-mile radius of the Tailrace’s confluence with the Knik River, and to an ADF&G marker located 2 miles downstream of the confluence; a foot path leads from the Tailrace along the Knik’s south bank. Both bears and bugs can be real possibilities during an evening at the tailrace, so one should plan accordingly.

Flowing through the industrial heart of downtown Anchorage, Ship Creek is an institution all its own. One of the state’s most popular and accessible king salmon fisheries, anglers from around the world gather on the banks to wet a line and try their luck within sight of the Anchorage skyline. Here the fishery is affected by the tide, with most catches occurring within the timeframe of three hours before through three hours after high tide. Fishing during this entire tidal window gives anglers “two whacks” at hooking a fish; both the fresh fish riding the incoming tide as well as those not quite ready to commit to going upstream who allow the outgoing tide to carry them back to the creek’s mouth. Fishing conditions at Ship Creek are often crowded during the peak of the season, and a little dash of courtesy goes a long way. Ship Creek’s mud is infamous, and it is recommended to wear either chest waders, hip boots, or clothing that you don’t mind ruining a little. Given the steepness of the banks, a landing net is advisable, but if you don’t have one, one of your fellow anglers almost certainly does and would likely be more than happy to assist you in landing your catch. Salmon fishing is open on Ship Creek from its mouth upstream to a cable stretched across the creek 100 feet downstream of the Chugach Power Plant Dam, and during the height of the king salmon season (May 15 – July 13), fishing is only allowed between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m.

Often looked at as the “little brother” to the world-famous Kenai River further north, the Kasilof River provides phenomenal fishing experiences in its own right. Flowing from Tustumena Lake, the Kasilof crosses the Sterling Highway approximately 14 miles south of Soldotna. Here, hatchery king salmon are used to augment a naturally occurring run and are differentiated from the wild fish by a missing adipose fin that was clipped off before their release. While many who fish the Kasilof do so from a boat, those anglers confined to the shore (like yours truly) are not entirely up the creek without a paddle. Although much of the land bordering the river’s banks is privately owned, the Crooked Creek State Recreation Site provides over half a mile of public riverbank access along the Kasilof, including a few deep holes where king salmon tend to gather to rest before pushing further upstream. This site also offers 79 campsites for those wanting to spend the night or get an early start to fishing in the morning. Shore anglers can also try their luck further upstream at the Kasilof River State Recreation Site. Although the primary attraction of this site is the public boat launch, publicly-owned shoreline extends a good distance in either direction from the launch for the angler willing to bushwhack a little. Both recreation sites sit upstream of tidal influence, so fishing success is more closely tied to time of day, water flow, and fishing pressure from other anglers. At the time of this writing, Emergency Orders were in effect for the Kasilof River limiting anglers to the use of single hooks and retention of hatchery kings only, providing a good reminder to check both the Sport Fishing Regulations Summary as well as current Emergency Orders before heading out to fish.

Crossing the Sterling Highway about 25 miles south of the Kasilof River, the Ninilchik River provides anglers versatility in how they prefer to target king salmon. During periods open to fishing, king salmon can be targeted anywhere along the lower river from its mouth upstream approximately 2 miles to ADF&G markers. This means that anglers can take their pick from soaking eggs and casting lures with the tide cycles at the mouth or drifting their presentations through the many deep holes and pockets further upstream. Access is little issue due to the Ninilchik State Recreation area, made up of three campgrounds and one scenic overlook located at various points along the river. Although most of the land surrounding the river adjacent to and upstream of the Sterling Highway bridge is state-owned, there are some stretches of private property along the Ninilchik’s lowest reaches. Here, trespassing can be avoided by wading the river itself, but if this is done care must be taken not to frighten fish away. Like the Kasilof, the Ninilchik hosts runs of both hatchery-raised and wild kings, and pre-season Emergency Orders. here likewise restrict anglers to single hooks and retention of hatchery fish only. Unlike the Kasilof, on which fishing is open 24/7, sport fishing on the Ninilchik is only allowed during three consecutive weekends and Mondays beginning on Memorial Day weekend before opening to fishing 24/7 June 16 through October 31.

Located on the Homer Spit, the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon provides anglers with a shore-based king salmon fishery right in the middle of Kachemak Bay. Locally referred to as “The Fishing Hole”, the Lagoon, like the Homer Spit itself, is a quirky place. Consisting of a manmade basin originally dredged to serve as a barge refitting location, ADF&G began stocking king salmon smolt into the Lagoon in 1984. Held in net pens for a week or so before release, the smolt imprint on the smell of the Lagoon’s water and faithfully return to it upon maturity despite the fact that there is no freshwater to be found. Although the Lagoon is an entirely saltwater fishery, it is important to note that snagging is not allowed within its regulatory boundaries unless opened up by Emergency Order. Ordinarily, fish must be hooked in the mouth if they are to be legally retained here. Like Ship Creek, this fishery is largely affected by the tide, with the best fishing usually occurring on either side of the high tide as incoming and outgoing water creates a current through the Lagoon’s entrance that simulates a river’s flow. With ADA accessible ramps providing access to fishing at all stages of the tide, a paved parking area, restroom facilities, and nearby fish cleaning stations, the Lagoon provides good accessibility to anglers of all abilities. The Fishing Hole Campground can be found directly adjacent to the Lagoon, and along with other nearby campgrounds offers respite for weary anglers wishing to spend a day or two among both the hustle and bustle of the Spit and the splendor of Kachemak Bay.

By attempting to catch a king salmon from each of these locations this summer, it is my hope to show that even in years of low wild king salmon abundance and limited opportunity, a fairly inexperienced, boat-less, road system-bound angler can still fill their annual limit of Cook Inlet kings with a little time, a little effort, and a modicum of luck.

I hope that you might join me in my quest for kings by getting out and undertaking some form of your own. In fact, I deeply encourage it. Whenever you or I buy a sport fishing license, a part of that revenue goes to ADF&G’s Sport Fish Hatchery Program, so in a very real sense you, and I, and anyone else who buys an Alaska Sport Fishing License has already “paid” for these fish. The power and feed needed to raise them, the fuel and equipment necessary to stock them, and the man-hours required from dedicated staff to care for them year-round was all funded in large part through our sport fishing license dollars.

So please, get out there and fish for them! Whether you decide to try your luck at one of the locations mentioned here, or at one of the other four locations stocked by ADF&G, opportunities to fish for kings in Southcentral will be out there. All that’s missing is you.

Later in the season, I hope to provide an update as to how I fared with the Five King Challenge. Until then, perhaps I’ll see you out on the water seeking your own rendezvous with river royalty.

Tight lines!

Trolling for Salmon

By Troy Tydingco

There are many ways to target salmon in marine waters. Mooching, jigging, and even flyfishing are common methods, but the focus of this article will be trolling. The basic concept of trolling involves dragging bait or lures horizontally behind a moving vessel at a set depth as opposed to mooching or jigging where the vessel remains in place and the gear moves up and down vertically in the water column. There are several advantages to trolling for salmon, first of which is the amount of water area you can cover. You can just troll around until you find the fish. Additionally, with the lure or bait trailing, it appears to a salmon as moving prey and when the fish does take the bait, it tends to be hooked more readily

So, presumably, you’ve got a boat and the ability to slowly drive through the water dragging some terminal gear behind you. Next, we’ll discuss gear. Some vessels can maintain consistent, slow speed with the main motor. Others require a kicker or smaller motor mounted on the rear. Typical trolling speed for sport anglers is around 1.5 to 2 kts. Another important piece of equipment that is necessary for trolling is a depth sounder or fish finder. This will allow anglers to see fish or bait in the water column and know the depth of the water below the boat. This is especially important in order to keep gear from getting caught up on the ocean floor. Next is the downrigger. This may be a manual downrigger rigged with a few hundred feet of stainless-steel cable or a braided line designed to support a lead weight. Manual downriggers are cranked up by hand and automatic downriggers, typically powered by your boat’s 12v power source, automatically bring up the lead weight from depth. A typical downrigger weight used by sport anglers may be as light as 8 or 10 lbs., or as heavy as 15 lbs. A heavier weight keeps your lines traveling vertical in the water column and is frequently easier to manage but is also more work to retrieve with a manual downrigger.

A quick release is attached to the downrigger line near the weight and is used to take your lure or bait to depth. This device typically has a snap that can be attached to the downrigger line on one end while the other end has a pair of padded “pinchers” that hold your fishing line through spring-loaded friction. These pinchers are often adjustable to a degree and hold just tight enough to keep the fishing line, and everything downstream of the pinch point (flasher and lure or bait) tracking along with the boat. When a fish is hooked, the fishing line will pull free from the quick release and the fish can be reeled in without interference from the downrigger weight.

For terminal tackle, trolling presents additional opportunities. Specifically, trolling allows anglers to present a flasher or dodger directly on their lines upstream of their lure or bait. These attractors provide two functions, first they provide a visual flash that may look like other salmon chasing bait, and secondly, they can give your lure or bait additional wiggle action in the water. While anglers often present these flashers directly on their fishing lines, they can instead be added to the downrigger line or weight which makes it easier to reel in a salmon (without the added drag of a flasher)

Now that gear has been covered, how about bait? Arguably, the most common bait is herring. Herring may be rigged in a holder called a nose clip, designed to pinch the head of the herring, and impart a spinning motion to the bait as it is pulled through the water. Herring may also be cut in such a way as to create this spinning motion - commonly known as a cut plug herring. Another common lure is a “hoochie” or artificial squid which is a common prey item for salmon especially kings and coho. They come in a seemingly endless variety of colors and patterns. Other lures include spoons or plugs, or even artificial cut plug herring.

Trolling presents a variety of unique options for anglers targeting salmon that can be very effective. It does, however, come with the additional challenge of getting the gear tangled up. Anyone and Everyone who has trolled has had to deal with this at some point. If you lower your weight too fast relative to your forward speed, your fishing line can get tangled up in your main trolling wire. This necessitates bringing all the gear onboard and painstakingly untangling everything. Once a fish is hooked, it can be easier to reel it in if the boat isn’t moving forward, but also presents challenges if your downrigger lines remain in the water (additional potential for fish to swim around your downrigger lines and get hung up). Frequently anglers choose to maintain vessel forward progress to keep the fish behind the boat while reeling in the fish.

After 30 years of catch-and-release restrictions, lower Chena River opens to limited Arctic grayling harvest on June 1

By Tim Mowry

Starting on June 1, anglers of all ages will finally get a chance to taste a Chena River grayling.

“Ever since (catch and release) went into effect in 1991, people come in and say, ‘Are you ever going to let us keep a grayling again,’” said ADF&G fisheries biologist Andy Gryska, area management biologist for the Tanana Drainage Management Area. “Now they can keep a fish for a shore lunch.”

The Chena River drainage has been restricted to catch-and-release fishing for Arctic grayling for more than 30 years for most people, but a youth-only fishery established was established in 2019 that allowed anglers younger than 16 to keep one Arctic grayling during four weekends in June and July.

However, the Alaska Board of Fisheries adopted a new regulation allowing a limited harvest of Arctic grayling in the lower 74 km of the Chena River (downstream of the Moose Creek Dam) at its January meeting for the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim region. Starting on June 1, all anglers will be allowed to keep one Arctic grayling per day in the lower portion of the Chena River below the Moose Creek Dam, except on four special weekends when it remains a youth only fishery

Population decline

Catch-and-release restrictions for Arctic grayling were put in place in July 1991 in response to a dramatic drop in the grayling population due to a combination of overharvest and natural fluctuations. From 1977 through 1984, the annual harvest of Arctic grayling in the Chena River averaged 30,000 fish. However, in 1985 and 1986 the average harvest declined dramatically to 7,000 Arctic grayling. At the same time, biologists documented a rapid decline in the grayling population. Stock assessments during 1986 and 1987 indicated a population decline of nearly 50% during those two years.

The sudden declines in the fishery and grayling population prompted fishery managers to issue several emergency regulations for the 1987 season to reduce harvest, including a 12-inch minimum length, only unbaited, artificial flies and lures allowed, a catch and release section of river, and a closed fishing season from April 1 to first Saturday of June.

By 1990, annual grayling population estimates suggested that these new regulations were not effective in increasing the population, and the daily bag limit was reduced to 2 fish drainage wide and only allowing single-hooks. On July 1, 1991, fishery managers issued an emergency order (EO) which prohibited retention of Arctic grayling throughout the Chena River drainage. That EO was adopted as a regulation in 1994.

Thanks in part to the catch-and-release restrictions put in place, the population rebounded and the Chena River, especially the upper Chena east of Fairbanks, developed into a blue-ribbon Arctic grayling fishery. Each summer, attracted by their voracious appetites and willingness to rise to dry flies, fly fishers flock to the upper Chena River along Chena Hot Springs Road to catch and release large Arctic grayling up to 18 inches.

However, once the population rebounded and fishing improved, a small segment of the angling public continued to submit proposals to re-open the Chena River to harvest. A proposal to open the lower river to a limited grayling harvest through a Youth-Only fishery was established by the Alaska Board of Fisheries in 2019. The Youth-Only fishery allowed anglers younger than 16 to keep one grayling of any size per day on four consecutive weekends starting the third Saturday in June.

The most recent regulation allowing harvest of 1 Arctic grayling below the Moose Creek Dam is a compromise that will allow anglers to harvest a limited number of smaller fish in the lower Chena while retaining a blue-ribbon, catch-and-release fishery for larger grayling in the upper Chena, Gryska said.

Grayling movements

One of the reasons the Board voted to adopt the new regulation was due to a telemetry project conducted by Alaska Department of Fish and Game last summer that showed the majority of large fish have already moved upstream of the Chena River Dam by the time the fishery is opened to harvest on June 1.

Biologists and technicians from the ADF&G Division of Sport Fish captured 129 mature Arctic grayling (12 inches or more) in the lower river downstream of the dam and 30 in Badger Slough prior to spawning in the spring of 2022. They then surgically implanted small radio transmitters in the fish by making a small slit in the belly, inserting the transmitter, and sewing them back up. This allowed biologists to track the fish electronically over the course of the summer and fall

Based on previous studies, biologists already knew that many large grayling in the Chena River overwinter and spawn in the lower part of the river (i.e. below the dam) before migrating to their summer feeding grounds in the upper Chena and its tributaries.

What biologists wanted to determine in the most recent study is when fish migrate above the dam and in what kind of numbers so they could gauge the impact a limited harvest of fish in the lower river might have on the catch-and-release fishery in the upper river.

Biologists tracked fish movements by plane, boat and with a tracking station set up below the dam that would identify the day a fish swam by as it migrated upstream in the spring. They conducted six aerial flights between May 21 and August 20, using a transmitter to pick up radio signals from the implanted tags. They did the same thing by boat, conducting 12 boat surveys from the Chena River Dam to the mouth of the Chena. The tracking station set up 3 kilometers downstream of the dam tracked fish movements from May 13 to October 4.

While the study didn’t reveal any groundbreaking information, it did reinforce what biologists already suspected based on previous studies – that the majority of mature grayling moved upstream of dam by June 1 when the 1-fish-a-day bag limit will go into effect in the lower river. The study revealed that 85 percent of the tagged fish moved upstream of the dam by May 31 and 98 percent of the fish were above the dam by June 15. Only two of the 149 tagged fish stayed below the dam all summer.

“It’s pretty clear that downstream of the dam there are a lot of juveniles, and the larger, older fish are above the dam by the time anglers will be allowed to keep a grayling in the lower river,” Gryska said.

The large grayling tagged in the lower river “really booked upriver,” said fisheries biologist Laura Gutierrez, who led the study.

And they stayed there, for the most part. Sixty-nine percent of the tagged fish reached their maximum upstream extent by the end of June, 19% by the end of July and 12% by the end of August.

“They tend to scoot up to where they’ll be for the summer and remain pretty stationary,” she said.

Site fidelity

The telemetry study also provided some insight on where Chena River Arctic grayling go after spawning.

“The biggest surprise is how many fish went up the Little Chena River,” Gutierrez said. “Almost 30 percent of the fish went up the Little Chena. We didn’t know they used that as a summering area to such a large degree. It’s just one of those things you overlook because it doesn’t really look like a place numerous grayling would go. Where those fish were at is just a trickle.”

Fellow fisheries biologist Joe Spencer, who tracked the fish during aerial flights, also found it interesting that most of the tagged fish remained in the main stem Chena.

“I was shocked at how few fish went into tributaries,” he said. “Almost no fish went up the South Fork and almost none went up the Middle Fork. They power straight through to where it’s pools and riffles. I was expecting more fish to go up little, tiny creeks.”

Fish started to drop down into the lower river below the dam near the end of August. There were nine fish detected below dam on Sept. 2 and 22 fish had moved below the dam by Sept. 29. The batteries in the transmitters weren’t big enough to last through the entire fall so biologists weren’t able to determine when all the fish moved below the dam, Gutierrez said.

“I think some of them do wait longer (before they move below the dam),” she said. “Of the fish we had tagged and picked up coming downstream, most went back to the place they were tagged. They have high site fidelity, which we have seen in other studies.”

None of the tagged fish left the Chena River drainage, though with such a small proportion of fish tagged it certainly is a possible that some Chena River fish may spend the summer outside the drainage.

“I thought it was interesting that we didn’t pick up any fish on clearwater creeks on the south side of the Tanana River,” Gutierrez said.

“(Grayling) in the Delta Clearwater River come from several spawning locations such as the Goodpaster River and Shaw Creek to go to the Delta Clearwater in the summer,” she said. “We thought there might be fish that spawned in the Chena and then went to similar spring streams, but all the fish tagged in the Chena stayed in the Chena.”

Sustainable harvest

It's unclear how many Chena River grayling anglers will keep with the new regulation allowing a limited harvest, but Gryska doesn’t think it will be significant based on harvests in other grayling fisheries.

“We don’t actually see large harvests on the Chatanika River even though it is close to Fairbanks, has good road access and the bag limit is five fish a day,” Gryska said.

Biologists are confident the lower river can sustain a limited harvest because the scope of the harvest is limited by the 1-fish-a-day bag limit and the fact the fishery won’t open until June 1 when most of the larger fish have already moved upstream of the dam. There are enough smaller, juvenile fish spread throughout the lower river to provide for both recruitment and harvest, Gryska said.

“The lower river is where the smaller, younger fish rear, and they are numerous,” Gryska said. “There are enough small, young fish in the lower river to sustain a harvest.”

Because biologists completed a population estimate in 2021, they can monitor the impact any harvest will have by completing another population estimate in 5-10 years and comparing the two to ensure the size composition and population of fish is not being negatively impacted.

Biologists don’t really know how many Arctic grayling there are in the Chena River, Gryska said. The Chena River drainage is a very large drainage, which makes estimating the total population difficult. When biologists estimate the population and size composition of Chena River grayling, they do it in an index area that covers 90 miles from approximately 37 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road to the mouth of the river where in flows into the Tanana River. However, there are another 400 miles of tributaries that potentially have grayling, Gryska said.

“We estimate the spring spawner abundance because many large adults spawn in the lower river, before migrating back upriver for the summer,” he said. “We think this gives us the best look to assess the condition of the stock.

“It’s terribly difficult to say what percentage of the total population the index area represents.” Gryska said.

The 2021 estimate was 24,161 grayling larger than 12 inches in the index area during early May, he said. If that number represents 50% of the population, the total population would be approximately 50,000 fish, but that’s really just a guess, Gryska said.

Cook it quick

Anglers who do choose to keep grayling need to keep in mind that the fish are best eaten as soon as possible after being caught, Gryska said. They are not like salmon, which can be frozen and retain their texture and taste for months, he said.

“The axiom is fish is best prepared fresh from the water to the pan, and for Arctic grayling this is especially true,” Gryska said. “Arctic grayling flesh is comprised of delicate thin flakes which don’t freeze well; that is, the flesh becomes a bit mushy after it freezes.”

“When cooked fresh, Arctic grayling make for a delicious, light meal,” he said.

Indeed, the Arctic grayling’s Latin name – Thymallus articus – is an ode to the aroma of fresh thyme that fresh-caught grayling exude when cooked.

Larger grayling can be filleted of the bone and skin, then lightly battered and fried or lightly seasoned and pan seared, Gryska said. For smaller grayling, gut and scale the fish, then score each side several times, season lightly and fry or grill, he said.

Take the Five Salmon Family Challenge

The “Five Salmon Family Challenge” is a great opportunity to get out with a group of friends or family members and target all five species of Pacific salmon native to the freshwaters of Alaska. The challenge is also open to individual anglers.

If you successfully complete the Five Salmon Family Challenge, you will receive a certificate with your name on it, and you will receive a poster designed by Alaskan Shelly Marshall.

Learn more about the Five Salmon Family Challenge.

You can check out more art by Shelly Marshall and follow her on Instagram @shellartstudio.

Field to Plate - Recipe of the Month

Recipe of the Month – Pistachio Crusted Alaska Sockeye Salmon

Alaska Seafood Logo Here’s a delicious recipe for Pistachio Crusted Alaska Sockeye Salmon from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Enjoy!

If you have any questions about the Reel Times newsletter, please contact Ryan Ragan at ryan.ragan@alaska.gov

Alaska Department of Fish and Game