October 2023
Issue 70
Ready for Winter Fishing?
I’ve noticed a thin layer of ice has formed on a few of the local lakes in the area where I live. While the ice is not near safe enough to walk on yet, if the cold temperatures hold for a while, it won’t be long and we’ll start seeing ice anglers on the hard water auguring a hole and wetting a line. Are you ready for winter?
We’ve added a new feature to this newsletter. A “Meet Our Staff” profile. In this edition, we focus on Tim Mowry, who is the Region III Information Officer working out of the Fairbanks office. We hope you enjoy the new feature.
If you have a comment for Reel Times, we encourage you to reach out to us. You can send comments to ryan.ragan@alaska.gov.
We'll see you on the water
Ryan Ragan
Targeting Tanner Crab
By Holly Dickson | Assistant Area Management Biologist, Homer
The snow is creeping down the mountains, the sunlight is waning, and the buoys of Tanner crab pots are again speckling the waters of Kachemak Bay next to Homer. The Tanner crab fishery in Cook Inlet and North Gulf Coast waters presents a unique opportunity to harvest a small number of Tanner crab in the quieter winter months. It’s the perfect thing to fit in at the beginning and end of a fishing trip.
Many who set pots in this fishery do so in the morning, head out to troll for winter king salmon, and pull the pot on the way home. A 6-hour soak is plenty, but an overnight soak works just as well. Any longer than a day-long soak and you run the risk of crab leaving the pot once the bait is gone.
There’s a small, but crucial, list of things you need to go get your own Tanner crab. A permit, which you can get on our mobile app or the Online Store. A pot - you can find what’s considered a legal pot on pg. 86 of the Southcentral Sport Fishing Regulation Summary, but in short you need some rotten cotton and escape mechanisms. You’ll need some bait for your pot - the more rotten and gross the better. Think cat food, fish carcasses, etc. And last but not at all least, you need a boat that can pull a pot- or even better, you need a friend with a boat!
The hardest part is pulling the Tanner crab pot. Tanners live around 350-500 feet deep, so you need plenty of line (600’ is ideal to have enough scope so it stays in place) and ideally a pot puller, but plenty of people use the buoy pull method to bring their pots up. Check out our YouTube presentation Online Fishing Forum: Tanner Crab Fishing in Kachemak Bay - YouTube on pot pulling methods, among all the other details you need to know to set a Tanner crab pot in this fishery.
Most crabbers set their pots in the ‘trench’ southwest of the Homer Spit. There are a couple of other places that can be productive, including Tutka Bay.
Tanner crab do move around throughout the year, so don’t be too disappointed if your first set of the season turns up empty.
Once you have the pot with some crab in it in your boat, you need to determine what’s legal to keep. Only male Tanner crab with a carapace width of 4.5 inches or greater are legal. All smaller males, all females, and any other crab species, including Dungeness, must be thrown back. Of course, there’s the bag and annual limit to consider too - 3 per person, and a total of 20 per season.
And now the best part of it all! How to eat Tanner crab? The options are endless, but the first step is pretty standard. Most people break the crab in half to clean out the guts and gills and then steam the crab for 6-8 minutes. From there, the simplest and maybe most popular option is to dip the crab meat in butter and enjoy. Tanner crab meat is sweet and tender and really doesn’t even need added butter to enjoy. But other options abound. Think about crabby avocado toast for breakfast, or crabby eggs benedict. For dinner you could do crab fettucine or ricotta and crab stuffed pasta shells.
For anyone with more questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Homer Sport Fish staff. They would be glad to help you better understand this unique sport fishing opportunity! And be sure to find them on Instagram @adfg.sportfish.homer.
Fall Stocking in the Interior
By Tim Mowry | Region III Information Officer
Even though both the leaves and the temperatures are dropping throughout Interior Alaska, there’s no reason anglers have to put their fishing equipment away yet.
Several lakes and ponds in Fairbanks and Glennallen recently received fresh batches of fish for the fall fishing season.
Staff at the Ruth Burnett Sport Fish Hatchery in Fairbanks stocked almost 15,000 catchable-size rainbow trout in 10 different ponds and lakes during the last week of August.
“This batch of rainbows will give local anglers a fresh shot of fish for fall fishing as well as help supplement the landlocked king salmon, we will be stocking into local lakes in coming weeks for the winter ice fishing season,” said Tanana River drainage Area Management Biologist Andy Gryska.
Nearly 4,000 rainbows were put in Chena Lake in North Pole, one of the most popular fishing lakes in the Fairbanks area. Cushman Lake, another popular and accessible fishing spot in the Tanana Lakes Recreation Area in Fairbanks, received more than 2,000 rainbows and Ballaine Lake, located off Farmer’s Loop Road near the University of Alaska Fairbanks, was stocked with more than 1,000 rainbows.
47.9 Mile Pond on Chena Hot Springs Road was stocked with more than 850 rainbows and Olnes Pond off the Elliott Highway just north of Fairbanks, received a fresh batch of almost 500 rainbows.
In the Glennallen area, Pippin Lake off the Richardson Highway, was stocked with more than 2,700 rainbows and Two Mile Lake in Chitina received almost 2,000 rainbows. Old Road and Round Lakes on Lake Louise Road each received almost 400 rainbows each.
The recently stocked fish averaged 11 inches in length, so they’re perfect for the frying pan.
Check out this cool video of some ospreys who greeted the stocking truck at Chena Lake on August 28 for a free lunch of rainbow trout.
For detailed information about the number and size of the fish put into each lake, anglers can go to the Alaska Lake Database.
Anglers can also consult the Tanana River Drainage Stocked Lakes Fishing Guide for a list of all the stocked lakes in the Tanana River drainage, what kind of fish they have in them and directions on how to get to them.
Reminder - Tanana River drainage, including the Delta Clearwater River Coho Fishery Closure
By Tim Mowry | Region III Information Officer
There will be no sport fishing for silver salmon this fall in the Tanana River drainage, including the Delta Clearwater River.
The estimated passage of coho salmon past the Pilot Station sonar through August 28 was 28,862 fish, well below the median cumulative count of 109,947 indicating this is the second lowest coho run on record. While a late surge of coho counted past the Pilot Station sonar during the first week of September pushed the total coho estimate up to 49,764 fish, coho numbers are still well below the median count of 141,585 fish for this time of the year.
“Given the weak coho run, this closure is warranted to protect returning coho salmon and provide future fishing opportunities for anglers,” said Tanana River drainage Assistant Area Management Biologist Brandy Baker. “We need to get as many fish onto the spawning grounds as possible and give them the best opportunity to successfully spawn.”
While Delta Clearwater River coho are not considered table fare given the long distance they’ve traveled to reach their spawning beds, the fishery is popular with Interior anglers because it’s the last, accessible open-water fishing opportunity anglers have before winter sets in. This is the fifth year in a row the Delta Clearwater River coho fishery has been closed prior to or during the season due to weak runs.
Deep Ocean Trick-or-Treat
By Dave Love | Assistant Area Management Biologist, Juneau
Nurtured phantasm from the fading light of the autumnal equinox. Unable to see, we invent demons and ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. Celebrate the darkening demise of one season and the rebirth of light into another, maybe a metaphor for our own lives. Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, Samhain. Quickly now, sacrifice something to the sacred fires, bring back the sun! Yet why is death associated only with darkness when our sun’s own light can kill us? Only a thin, epithelial layer of atmosphere over our continents and radiation-absorbing waves of our oceans have protected our ancestors, our present, and the future. A nurturing blue ocean absorbing the red, orange and yellow wavelengths. Deeper still, even blue is attenuated, and all that remains is the nurturing darkness. Hiding in this primordium, a plethora of living ghouls and goblins.
The murky, unlighted soup of our deep oceans has nourished a plethora of strange and wonderful offspring. Extreme selective pressures, literally as well as genetically, driving an evolution beyond our own experience. Bodies adapted to unimaginable pressures, the ability to detect barely discernable scent, visual sensitivity to polarized and ultraviolet light. And yes, also light, but homemade light based on the circular DNA of bacterial biochemistry, harnessed to a deep-water fish’s own purposes. Bioluminescence generated by the light-emitting compound luciferin, the “light-bringer”. The release of photons, a byproduct of oxidative metabolism, arrived at independently through parallel evolution in species as varied as bacteria, worms, squid, and deep-sea fishes. Biochemical light, put to innumerable uses. Life, death, darkness and the flickering lights of green, blue and red. Some predator, some prey, some attractant, some camouflage. A deep ocean interplay of light or lack therein, between bodies transparent, refracting or reflecting light, be it ambient or otherwise. As it should be, since matter is mostly uncolored space anyhow. Mesopelagic species of the Twilight zone, some extremely abundant: lanternfishes estimated to be greater in biomass than all of the world’s fisheries combined. Deeper still, the dark Bathypelagic, with a diversity still being discovered: animals with scary names like Viper fish, Vampire squid, Goblin sharks, Gulper eels, Chimaera, and Fangtooth. These oceanic abyssal deeps fed by marine “snow” from above. A corporeal feast from the microscopic to the immense, sometimes literally as large as a whale. All are connected by gravity, the irresistible pull of matter against matter, celebrated by a flickering, ephemeral bioluminescence.
Although the darkness has returned again to our northern latitudes, the earth tilted away from the sun; this time of year, we celebrate that the light will return. Yet, the denizens of the oceanic darkness know little difference. These real-world goblins and ghouls remind us of the connection to our past, our connection to the oceans and the nourishing darkness below. Think of our deep ocean cousins the next time you break a glow-stick for Halloween or find a lanternfish in the stomach of a winter king salmon. But beware the Viper fish, the Vampire squid, the Goblin sharks, and the Gulper eels! Run, little shrimp, run! Blind ‘em with bioluminescence, a glowing sputum decoy. Escape! Deep Ocean Trick-or-Treat! But beware the Viper fish, the Vampire squid, the Goblin sharks, and the Gulper eels! Run, little shrimp, run! Blind ‘em with bioluminescence, a glowing sputum decoy. Escape! Deep Ocean Trick-or-Treat!
Annual Sport Fishing Surveys Will Be Mailed Out
Anglers who purchased an Alaska sport fishing license in 2023 may soon receive a copy of the 2023 Alaska Sport Fishing Survey. This is an annual mail-based survey conducted by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) to assess where sport fishing occurs and estimate how many fish are caught and kept from sport fishing locations across Alaska.
This week, ADF&G Division of Sport Fish will begin mailing the first wave of 2023 Alaska Sport Fishing Surveys. The survey is mailed to approximately 47,000 randomly selected Alaska resident and nonresident households that have at least one person who purchased a sport fishing license or had a permanent sport fishing license card in 2023. Conducted annually since 1977, the Alaska Sport Fishing Survey is a scientific survey that asks anglers to recall basic information such as the number of days fished by members of their household, how many fish were caught and harvested by species, and the location(s) fished in 2023.
Selected angler households will receive a detailed survey booklet and a full-color fish identification index. Postage-paid envelopes are provided so the surveys can be mailed back to ADF&G.
The information collected by the Alaska Sport Fishing Survey is used to produce detailed statewide estimates of the total sport fishing effort (days fished), the total number of fish caught and kept by species, and fishing location. This information, combined with other creel surveys and data gathering efforts are an essential part of the Division of Sport Fish’s mission to protect and improve Alaska’s sport fisheries.
Anglers who have questions about the survey or would like to request information may contact Statewide Harvest Survey staff at (907) 267-2280 or dfg.dsf.publications@alaska.gov. Results of the 2023 Alaska Sport Fishing Survey will be available by fall 2024. Results from previous survey years can be found on the Alaska Sport Fishing Survey webpage.
Meet Our Staff - Tim Mowry
We asked the Region III Information Officer, Tim Mowry, to tell us a little about himself and his role at ADF&G. Tim has been in his position for one-and-a-half years.
What are the general duties of your position? - As the sport fish information officer for Region III, I manage the sport fish side of the Fairbanks ADF&G information center (i.e., front lobby), which involves issuing fishing and hunting licenses and permits and answering questions from the public about fishing and hunting regulations. I also manage the Region III Sport Fish social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram), edit and process press releases, emergency orders and fishing reports, oversee the ADF&G Public Use Cabin Reservation System and write stories pertaining to sport fishing in the Interior.
What do you love most about your job? - My favorite part of the job is interacting with the public, whether it’s helping them to understand and interpret Alaska’s complex fishing and hunting regulations, educating them about the plethora of fishing and hunting opportunities in Alaska or just hearing their fishing and hunting stories.
What are some of your favorite things to do in your spare time? - Spending time with my wife, Kristan and our three dogs - a Standard Poodle/German wirehair mix named Cleo, a chocolate Labrador retriever named Copper and a spaniel/Labrador retriever mix named Nordic. I also enjoy cooking and preserving food, hiking, running, camping, fishing, hunting, foraging, cycling, playing pickleball and gathering and splitting firewood.
What is your favorite fishing memory? - Catching my first Alaska chinook salmon on the bank of Goose Creek in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley in 1988 with the help of an unknown gentleman from Ester who went neck-deep into the creek to help net the fish, which promptly spit my hook as soon as we got it on shore. There is nothing quite like standing on the bank of a creek/river, hooking into a king salmon and relishing the battle that ensues in bringing it to shore.
What is a fun or unusual fact about you that people might not know? - I ran the 1,000-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race twice (1988 and 1989) and the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog seven times (1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1998). While I didn’t win any of those races, I did finish each one and was named the Most Improved Musher in the 1989 Iditarod by improving from 42nd place to 27th place. I also ran the New York City Marathon in 1982.
Field to Plate - Recipe of the Month
Smothered Wild Alaska Crab Garlic Fries
Enjoy your next meal with this recipe for Smothered Wild Alaska Crab Garlic Fries 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