Little Su 5-31

I took two guests out for a combination King salmon and Pike fishing trip. We got a late start and fished for kings on the Little Susitna river. We had one very good bit but missed it. The fish are still just trickling in, when we left at 6pm there were 15 fish on the board at the parks toll booth. I visited with a few of the guides and most of them were having a slow day as well. I would expect the fishing to improve dramatically over the next week or so, peak around the 10th of June.

Greg

Pike Fishing 5-23 to 5-26

We fished for Pike over the weekend and had a great time at the lake. The fishing was slow, I attribute this to the high water, the pike move into the weeds where we can't get at them and the cold water temperatures. We have fished the Pike early in the past and they are aggressive but this trip they were a bit slow on the take. I would expect the fishing to improve with warmer temperatures and lower water levels.

Greg

Susitna Kings

There are reports of a Few King Salmon being caught in the Susitna Valley. I have only seen one fish, via a photograph taken recently. The local sporting goods stores have a few photos up but nothing like we will see in the next few weeks. We have a few openings during the peak of the run in Early June, give us a call.

We will be heading out to the lake for some Pike fishing over the weekend and I expect to report well over 100 pike landed during our Derby. Have a great weekend,

Greg

Eklutna Tail Race

I talked with two other guides today and both had heard that the first king salmon of the year had been caught at the Eklutna Tailrace the day before yesterday. I have not hear of a definite catch from the sporting goods stores but would not be surprised in the slightest. The water at the tailrace has come up due to the recent warm weather and snow melt. I would expect quite a few fish to start coming in over the next two weeks in the lower Matanuska-Susitna rivers and streams. The Yentna River Drainage is reported to be ice free with the exceptions of some bank ice according to Eric Johnson jr. at Northwoods lodge. The water level is also expected to be higher than last year due to a "normal" snow fall in the drainage. I am planning to head up the Yentna later next week for a memorial weekend Pike fishing trip and will provide a full report on conditions and fishing. The early fishing has been spectacular in the past and I am sure that this year will not be any different.

Fishing forecast

The Big Susitna tributary strems, Talchulitna, Lake Creek, Deshka, Talketna, and Little Susitna rivers are expected to have good returns of King and Silver Salmon in 2008. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game, ADF&G, showed that most of these rivers either met or exceeded escapement in 2007. The return on the Deshka river is forecast to be down this year but the ADF&G is still expecting a Deshka King Salmon return of over 20,000 in 2008, Spawning escapements topped 40,000 fish for coho salmon that should return to both Deshka and Little Susitna River in 2008. This will produce some phenominal fishing in late July through August for Silver Salmon.
The ice is moving on the rivers and most of the lakes re almost ice free. I expect many of them to be navigable in just over a week. This is dependent upon the wether but the 5 day forecast for the Matanuska-Susitna Valley looks good. We had some great trips ice fishing for Pike this winter and are expecting this fishery to continue to produce for us in 2008.

The fishing season is upon us and the forecast looks great and we are ready to get fishing.

Greg

Cabin Construction

We have been up to the lake working on the cabin several weekends this winter. We have had some varied luck ice fishing. I think we have had 4 pike through the ice that were over 40 inches and put 3 of them back. There is alot of snow and ice this year and the conditions should be prime for salmon and pike fishing this summer.

Greg

Pike Fishing 9-8 & 9-9

I took an overnight pike trip for my last trip of the season. The water was within 12" of the lowest I had seen it since early this spring. My clients, a husband and wife from New York state, were great. It was raining from the launch in the am until well after dark. We fished with a wide assortment of lures and caught well over 50 fish. We were hunting for a large pike of mountable quality but never found one. We did catch two pike that were in the mid 30" range and wer pushing 10-12 lbs, of which we only got one picture of, the gentleman of the duo forgot to hit the record button on the camera (I could not resist reminding him of this, they read the blog). The rest of the pike were in the 5-8 lb range with a few smaller fish. I was fully expecting to catch larger fish I am not sure why we didn't, they may be cruising the deep or feeding on dead salmon or the smaller fish out ran them for our gear. We spent a nice dry evening in the cabin and visited about hunting and fishing in New York and Alaska.

The second day was nice, little to no rain and the lake had come up 8" to 12" due to the rain and incoming creek water. The fishing was good until about 11:00 am and then it slowed own to a crawl. We left the lake and had a great trip home, we saw lots of eagles and tons of ducks. The river had come up aproximately 3 feet, this made the trip home a lttle faster but we had to watch for logs and debris in the water.

Have a great winter,

Greg Giauque
Alaska Susitna Charters