Area Sport Fishing Reports
Haines/Skagway
Archived Sport Fishing Report
June 20, 2016
Summer 2016 fishing opportunities
Char and Trout
Some Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout have moved to salt water near river mouths to feed for the summer. Dolly Varden are also actively feeding in Chilkoot River. The Chilkat River is high and turbid with summer glacier melt water, but Dolly Varden and cutthroat trout can be caught in clearwater tributaries and lakes.
Bait is prohibited when fishing in Chilkat Lake or Mosquito Lake and their inlet and outlet streams. See the Haines/Skagway area regulations for details and a map.
King salmon
Skagway anglers caught some legal size adult kings last week, and continued to catch and release king salmon feeders less than 28 inches in length.
Chilkat Inlet, north of Seduction Point, is closed to king salmon sport fishing now through July 15.
The sport fishing bag and possession limit is 1 king salmon 28 inches or greater in length in the waters of Lynn Canal north of Sherman Rock, including Chilkoot Inlet, Lutak Inlet, and Taiya Inlet. Non-Alaska residents must record each king salmon they harvest on the back of their license, and the non-resident annual limit is 6 kings in Southeast Alaska.
ADF&G is managing commercial and subsistence fisheries conservatively to meet the Chilkat River king salmon escapement goal. Learn the latest results of ADF&G's king salmon research projects in the Spring 2016 issue of Chinook News.
Hatchery-reared king salmon smolt that were released in Pullen Pond (120,000 released in 2012 and 50,000 released in 2013) will contribute legal-size adult kings to the Haines and Skagway salt water sport fishing in 2016.
King salmon bag and possession limits are more liberal in other parts of Southeast Alaska where local stock abundance is not a concern.
Sockeye salmon
The Chilkoot River sockeye salmon run is building slowly. Last week, sockeye salmon counts averaged 200 fish per day, and 1,300 fish had passed upstream through the weir. The Chilkoot River weir escapement goal range is 38,000 to 86,000 fish.
Review of 2015 salmon runs
King salmon
The Chilkat River king salmon inriver tagging study estimated 2,400 large (age-5 and older) king salmon passed the tagging site at 9-mile. This estimate is within the goal range (1,850 to 3,600 large kings) specified in the Upper Lynn Canal and Chilkat River King Salmon Fishery Management Plan. The success in reaching the king salmon escapment goal is thanks to the cooperation of commercial, sport, and subsistence users in the Haines area whose fisheries were restricted in 2015.
Coho salmon
The Chilkat River coho salmon escapement was 49,000 fish, which was within the goal range of 30,000 to 70,000 fish.