Area Sport Fishing Reports
Haines/Skagway
Archived Sport Fishing Report
June 22, 2015
Summer 2015 fishing opportunities
Sockeye salmon
The first pulse of 1,000 sockeye salmon passed through the Chilkoot River weir last week. The Chilkoot run typically gains momentum in July and continues through August.
The first pulse of sockeye salmon passed through the Chilkat River fish wheels last week.The Chilkat run typically continues steadily through September.
Char and Trout
Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout can be caught in clear water streams and lakes through the summer. The Chilkoot River water is high but remains fairly clear. The Chilkat River is high and will be silty for the summer. Bait is prohibited when fishing in Chilkat Lake or Mosquito Lake and their inlet and outlet streams.
Sea-run Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout are feeding in salt water. They can be caught near shore through the summer in the Haines and Skagway area.
King salmon
The Pat Moore Memorial Gamefish Derby takes place in Skagway starting Thursday through Sunday, June 25-28.
King salmon fishing effort was light last week at the Haines small boat harbor.
King salmon fishing effort picked up last week at the Skagway small boat harbor.
Chilkat Inlet is closed to king salmon sport fishing through July 15. ADF&G is managing sport, commercial, and subsistence fisheries in Chilkat Inlet conservatively to meet the Chilkat king salmon escapement goal. The Chilkat king run monitoring project near 9 Mile Haines Highway has seen a few kings in the very early part of the run.
In the remainder of the Haines and Skagway area, the bag & possession limit is 1 king salmon 28 inches or longer. This area includes Taiya Inlet near Skagway, Lutak and Chilkoot Inlets near Haines, and Lynn Canal as far south as the latitude of Little Island Light. Non-Alaska residents must record each harvested king salmon on the back of their fishing license to comply with the non-resident annual limit of 6 king salmon.
About 200,000 hatchery-reared smolt were released in Pullen Pond in June 2015. These fish will return to the Skagway and Haines area as legal size kings in years 2017 through 2019.