June 2024
Issue 78
Fishing Fun in the Land of the Midnight Sun
Ample daylight hours during this time of the year provide anglers seemingly endless time to be on the water. During the month of June many anglers head out in pursuit of salmon. Many others find a lake or river to pursue resident species like rainbow trout and Dolly Varden.
Before you head out, be sure you have your 2024 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.
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.
Young Interior Angler Lands Trophy Lake Trout
By Tim Mowry, Information Officer
Aaron Anderson and 9-year-old son, Matt, were planning to head to the Delta Clearwater River for a day of Arctic grayling fishing on Memorial Day when they realized the ice had gone out on Harding Lake.
They quickly changed their plan and headed to Harding Lake to look for lake trout.
“We had the boat loaded, and I saw the (Tanana River drainage weekly) fishing report and it said that Harding Lake was open,” said Aaron, who is stationed just up the Richardson Highway at Eielson Air Force Base. “Once the ice goes out the water is still really cold and lakers come into the shallows to feed. It’s easier to target them in shallow water than it is in deep water. Once the water gets warmer, they go deeper.”
It turned out to be a wise choice. They barely had the boat in the water and were trolling a 5-inch spoon in 22 feet of water when Matt’s rod bent over.
“We weren’t even trolling for five minutes before that fish hit,” Aaron said. “I saw the pole double over when it hit. I thought he snagged the bottom for a second and then realized it was a fish.”
It wasn’t just a fish. It was a lunker of a lake trout – 34 inches long with a beefy 22-inch girth, to be exact. It was all Matt could do to bring it to the side of the boat.
“He was using a 9-foot Lamiglas trolling rod, and it was hard for him to keep the tip up,” Aaron said. “It was pulling hard.”
It wasn’t until the fish was close enough to the surface, so it was visible in the water that father and son realized how big it was.
“Oh yeah, that’s a big, old laker,” Aaron said in a video he shot to capture the moment. “Oh my goodness. Look at that head shaking.”
Matt was more excited than his dad.
“Oh my gosh!” he exclaimed excitedly, a line he repeated ten times during the nearly three-minute video as he fought and landed the fish. “That is humongous.”
And it’s not like Matt is a stranger to catching big fish.
In July 2022, when he was 7, Matt caught a 28-inch trophy Arctic char in Harding Lake. And while that fish qualified for a catch-and-release trophy certificate just like the lake trout he caught last week, it was old, skinny and scarred up. This fish was the fattest lake trout Aaron Anderson has ever seen. He estimated it at around 20 pounds.
“We’ve gotten 36 inchers out of Lake Louise but nothing that fat,” said Aaron, who grew up fishing in Anchorage. “It’s the biggest laker we’ve gotten at Harding Lake.”
Both he and Matt love to fish and Harding Lake is one of their favorite fishing holes, especially since it’s conveniently located just 20 miles down the road from Eielson.
“We’ve got the bug for lakers,” Aaron said. “I grew up in Anchorage and we always fished Lake Louise for lake trout. Once I got orders up here and found out Harding Lake had got lake trout in it, we started targeting lake trout.
“It’s a hard lake to fish because it’s so big,” he said. “You’ve got to put in a lot of hours before you connect with a laker. You’ve got to be patient. I’ve only caught a few lakers out of there but it’s worth it.”
Matt will attest to that, judging from his reaction in the video his father shot.
“He was freaking out,” Aaron said. “He’s all about the trophy thing now. Any time we get a big fish he’s bugging me to see if it’s a trophy class fish.”
After exchanging high fives, the Anderson’s took a quick measurement, snapped a couple of photos and released the fish back into the lake to be caught again.
If you have pictures or video of a nice fish that you’ve caught, we’d like to see it. It doesn’t have to be a giant trophy fish either. If you had a nice day fishing or a good story to go along with the picture of your catch, send it to tim.mowry@alaska.gov so we can brag for you on our social media pages.
For more information about the ADF&G Trophy Fish Program click here.
Supporting Southeast Alaska Sport Fisheries
By Matt Catterson, Southeast Alaska Access and Enhancement Coordinator
Each summer as Alaskans are dusting off their fishing gear and getting their boats up and running, several million king salmon, coho salmon, and rainbow trout are stocked at strategic locations around Southeast Alaska to support sport fisheries as part of the ADF&G Division of Sport Fish Enhancement Program.
Fisheries enhancement is a core function of the Division of Sport Fish and stocking activities have been carefully developed to meet regional needs by supplementing and diversifying fishing opportunities while minimizing adverse impacts to wild fish and their habitats. For more information about the specific goals and objectives of the Division of Sport Fish check out the Division’s Strategic Plan.
The Sport Fish Enhancement Program benefits all anglers but is purposefully designed to get fish into the hands and onto the plates of Alaskans. This is done by stocking fish near Southeast Alaska population centers of Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, and Petersburg, at locations where they are easily accessible to anglers fishing from boats and from the shore. Rainbow trout are stocked at lakes near Sitka and Ketchikan to support local family fishing events and to provide additional lake fishing opportunities. King salmon are stocked in Juneau, Ketchikan, and Petersburg at popular saltwater fishing locations close to town with shoreside access.
ADF&G relies on private non-profit hatchery organizations to implement many of these stocking activities in Southeast Alaska. We have partnered with the Douglas Island Pink and Chum (DIPAC) for stocking in the Juneau area, and the Southern Southeast Regional Aquaculture (SSRAA) for stocking in Ketchikan and Petersburg. Through the Sport Fish Enhancement program, ADF&G provides funding to these hatchery organizations for specific stocking activities designed to benefit sport fisheries. It is important to remember that not all production at these facilities is funded by ADF&G, hatchery organizations have many of their own programs that contribute to fisheries throughout Southeast Alaska.
You may have noticed more trucks and trailers at the boat ramp recently and more cars at the local pull-outs to favorite fishing spots. Starting June 1st, terminal areas in Juneau, Petersburg , and Ketchikan opened to king salmon fishing to target returning hatchery produced fish- check out the Advisory Announcements on the ADF&G webpage for more info. These specific times and areas of open fishing opportunity were designed to protect wild stocks of king salmon in the area while allowing anglers to harvest hatchery produced king salmon. This chance to catch and harvest a stocked hatchery king salmon is extra important in these communities which have had limited opportunity to harvest wild king salmon in recent years.
For more information on the specific stocking activities occurring in Southeast Alaska and across the Alaska, check out the ADF&G Statewide Stocking Plan for Sport Fish.
In Anchorage or Fairbanks? Be Sure to Visit a Sport Fish Hatchery
If you’re in Anchorage or Fairbanks, it’s certainly worth your time to visit a sport fish hatchery.
The Tanana Valley Fisheries Center located in the Ruth Burnett Sport Fish hatchery in Fairbanks is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The address is 1150 Wilbur Street. Bring the family and check out the amazing aquarium. Admission is free to the public.
The Ship Creek Fisheries Center located at the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish hatchery in Anchorage is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. 7-days per week.
You can take a self-guided tour through the facility or you can book a guided tour through our online booking system.
There are activities and information for people of all ages at each facility.
You can learn more about these facilities by clicking here.
Why Rockfish Matter
Rockfish can be a very long-lived fish species. An article originally published in Fish and Wildlife News explores why rockfish are an important species in Alaska.
The Kings and I: Lessons Learned in Pursuit of Cook Inlet Chinook
By Wilson Puryear
Part I
A little over a year ago, I wrote an article for Reel Times detailing my plans to undertake what I was calling the “Five King Challenge”. My goal was to catch one king (or Chinook) salmon 20 inches or longer from each of the five road-accessible locations within the Cook Inlet basin that are stocked with king salmon smolt raised at the William Jack Hernandez Sport Fish Hatchery in Anchorage: Ship Creek, the Eklutna Tailrace, the Kasilof River, the Ninilchik River, and the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon in Homer. At the end of my article, I made a promise to readers that I would follow up after the season to let those interested know how everything ultimately played out.
This is that follow-up. While I will be the first to admit that a year seems like an awfully long time to take to provide a summary, I must also admit that it really has taken me this amount of time to fully reflect on and identify the true meaning of my experience.
I must preface by saying that if you are seeking some story of heroic triumph, of a budding sportsman counting coup on the biggest and burliest of the Pacific salmon, then you will have to look elsewhere. Hunting and fishing media is full of such tales, but this isn’t that kind of story. You won’t find the exploits of a master outdoorsman or uber-angler here; if anything at all, this is the story of a student, one who emerged from his experience perhaps a little wiser, but still fully aware that there remains much for him to learn.
My quest for the five kings began early in the morning on Friday, June 2nd. I had taken the day off from work and left home late Thursday night to try my luck over the weekend at some of the Kenai Peninsula locations, thinking that if things went really well, I might be able to cross all three off my list. With no luck in the morning at the Kasilof, I headed further down the Sterling Highway to set up camp at the Ninilchik River Campground in preparation for fishing the opener beginning just after midnight. Heading down to the river an hour early to stake out a good spot, I found many of the prime fishing locations already occupied by other anglers, which, although a little disappointing, gave me a good idea of where to try fishing the next day.
After catching up on sleep, I spent Saturday afternoon and evening methodically trying my luck at different areas throughout the fishery, drifting cured salmon eggs under a slip bobber (at the time my go-to for king salmon fishing where bait is legal) both at the river’s mouth during the incoming tide as well as through slow and deep holes and bends further upstream. Finally, early in the morning on Sunday, June 4th I was able to connect and was on the board with my first king of the challenge: a beautiful hen full of eggs that, when cured, would replace those that I had used.
Two days later, on June 6th, I was able to bring another Chinook to hand by fishing eggs behind a Spin-n-Glo during the incoming tide on Ship Creek. Although not a monster, at 23 inches the buck was large enough to count towards my Cook Inlet annual limit and thus met the criteria of my challenge. With two fish caught over the course of two days, completing my challenge was beginning to look like a very attainable goal.
My luck, however, was about to change.
As the month continued, I faced weekend after weekend without further success, turning driving home empty-handed into a weekly tradition. A combination of rough weather, abundant seals, and what seemed to be a late-returning run stymied my efforts in Homer and try as I might I just couldn’t seem to have any luck on the Kasilof, despite others fishing near me sometimes catching king after king, seemingly at will.
On summer solstice I began spending a few nights a week fishing the Eklutna Tailrace, going to bed immediately after coming home from work, waking up around midnight, and fishing in the early hours when the river was less crowded and fish would be more active, before heading to work and starting all over again.
It was during this time that I suffered my greatest fishing heartbreak of the challenge. On my very first night fishing the Tailrace – after spending hours waiting for something to strike my Spin-n-Glo and eggs – I felt a definite tug on the line and my rod doubled over like a reveler in the early hours of New Year’s Day. Overcome with the piscine equivalent of buck fever, I tried to set the hook too quickly and too eagerly, pulling my presentation from the fish’s mouth and sending a pyramid weight hurling back in my direction. No more than five seconds later, the angler about 15 feet upstream of me hooked what had to be the same fish, a big, beautiful buck that erupted from the water and seemed to momentarily hang in the air like something out of a beer commercial or vintage sporting goods ad before snapping the line and disappearing back into the silty current. The image of that fish frozen in midair will be burned into my mind’s eye for a long, long time; maybe forever. The one that got away.
June came and went without any additional kings recorded on my license, but on July 1st I made the trip to Homer to try my hand one more time at the Nick Dudiak Lagoon. Though ordinarily closed to snagging, an Emergency Order opened the Lagoon to this method of fishing for the first four days of the month in order to allow the building number of milling king salmon to be harvested before reaching their spawning phase when palatability drops markedly. The Lagoon was crowded and hectic at the start of the noon opener, and while I was happy to see many anglers finding success, I was hesitant to join the melee. By using knowledge gained during previous weekends of how and when fish entered the Lagoon during the tide cycle, I was able to avoid the crowds and snag a king in relative solitude. This fish would prove to be the largest that I have yet caught; a gorgeous hen ripe with roe that brought my challenge tally to three.
After this success, I tried my best to continue the momentum, but ultimately, I conceded to the Kasilof on the 4th of July, and spent my last morning at the Tailrace five days later. My Five King Challenge was over.
(Part II of this article will appear in the July edition of Reel Times.)
Recipe of the month – Greek Tavern Alaska Fish Fries
Enjoy this recipe for Greek Tavern Alaska Fish 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