Area Sport Fishing Reports
Prince William Sound

Archived Sport Fishing Report

June 08, 2016

 Prince William Sound and the
Copper River Delta Area

Week of June 9 to June 14
Issued June 7, 2016

General Area Description: includes all waters between Cape Fairfield and Cape Suckling.

Regulation Reminders and Emergency Orders

• Permits are mandatory for all noncommercial shrimp fisherman. Permits are available online or available at local Fish and Game offices and at select vendors.
• Cordova Terminal Harvest Area is closed to snagging salmon from June 1 – September 30.
• On the Eyak River beginning on June 1, only single-hook, artificial flies with a hook gap of 3/8 inch or less between point and shank are allowed from a point 200 yards upstream of Eyak Lake dam and to a point 200 yards downstream from the bridge at the outlet of Eyak Lake. No additional weight may be attached to the line when fishing in this area.
• Cutthroat and Rainbow/Steelhead trout fishing is closed until June 15.
• Lingcod season is closed until July 1 to protect nest-guarding males.
• Ibeck Creek is closed to all sport fishing upstream from a point 3 miles above the Copper River Highway.

Fresh waters

Salmon

• Chinook salmon fishing is picking up and fish are being caught daily around the high tides at Fleming Spit. Spoons, spinners, and bait all produced good catches. Sockeye continue to make their way up the Eyak River. Fishing is best further down river but should start to improve at the bridge this week.

Trout, Dolly Varden, Grayling

• Cutthroat and rainbow/steelhead trout fishing is closed until June 15 to protect spawning adults.
• Dolly Varden are present in many of the streams throughout Prince William Sound and the Copper River Delta. Use fry/smolt imitation flies or small spinners at lake outlets or stream confluences.

Salt waters

Halibut, Lingcod, and Rockfish

• Halibut angling continues to be productive throughout PWS. The ocean entrances continued to be very productive places to catch nice halibut. Fishing shallower depths can also be just as productive as deeper waters.
• Lingcod is closed until July 1st.
• Rockfish angling is quite productive with small jigs near rocky reefs.
• AND REMEMBER if you are targeting multiple species, target rockfish last, and use a deepwater release mechanism on all released rockfish (these devices can turn the chance of survival for a rockfish from near zero to near 100%!)
• What’s deepwater release?
• http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishingSportFishingInfo.rockfishconservation

Salmon

• Trolling for kings should be productive near Cordova and near salmon producing streams. Trolling (e.g. herring behind a flasher) near shallow rocky reefs and headlands is a good bet this time of year.
• Hatchery king salmon are showing up outside of Fleming Spit in Cordova and Passage Canal in Whittier.
• Sockeye fishing in Main Bay and the rest of PWS should be picking up in the next week or two. Fishing around Main Bay is easier when there are not commercial openers happening…. check here to get updates on when those are happening http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=cfnews.main

Shellfish

• Shrimping continues to be productive near Whittier and Valdez, but it’s generally improves the farther you get away from ports. Depths in the 400 foot range were most productive. Don’t forget your shrimp permit. Permit needs to be in possession as you are shrimping. Also, remember that each vessel can only fish 4 pots.