Area Sport Fishing Reports
Haines/Skagway
Archived Sport Fishing Report
September 21, 2015
Fall 2015 fishing opportunities
Coho salmon
Anglers have caught some coho salmon on the Chilkoot River.
Coho salmon catches in the Chilkat River fish wheels indicate the Chilkat coho run is on track to meet the escapement goal. The Chilkat River water is still opaque with glacial silt. Coho fishing will improve when the water gets clearer with cooler fall temperatures. The National Weather Service provides a graph of the Chilkat River water level for the past week and a forecast for the next 2 days. Declining and stable low water levels usually result in good fishing conditions.
Char and Trout
Dolly Varden fishing has been good near chum spawning areas on the Chilkat River and on the Chilkoot River. Bait is prohibited when fishing in Chilkat Lake or Mosquito Lake and their inlet and outlet streams. See the Haines area sport fishing regulations for specifics.
Sockeye salmon
The Chilkoot River sockeye salmon run is winding down. A total of 71,000 sockeye salmon were counted through the weir from early June through September 8, when the Chilkoot weir was removed for the year.
The Chilkat River sockeye salmon run is still going strong, and some bright fish have been caught in Chilkat Lake. An article on successful fly patterns for sockeye fishing is available here. A video on a successful sockeye fishing technique in glacial waters is available here.
Sockeye salmon counts at the Chilkat River fish wheels are winding down. The season total sockeye count is more than twice the long-term average.
Pink salmon
There are still plenty of pink salmon in Chilkoot River and in Chilkoot Lake.
The Chilkat River pink salmon run has slowed to a trickle. This year's total catch of 12,434 pink salmon in the fish wheels was the highest catch since 1999.
King salmon
In District 15, the bag & possession limit is 1 king salmon 28 inches or longer. This area includes Lynn Canal waters north of Eagle Beach along the Juneau road system, Chilkat Inlet, Chilkoot Inlet, and Lutak Inlet near Haines, and Taiya Inlet near Skagway.
Non-Alaska residents must record each harvested king salmon immediately on the back of their fishing license to comply with the non-resident annual limit of 3 king salmon.
The department's preliminary Chilkat River king salmon assessment is that the run met the escapement goal of 1,750 to 3,500 large kings (5 yrs old and older). Post-season analysis of 2015 catches and escapement samples will allow the department to forecast next year's run by February 2016.
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.