Area Sport Fishing Reports
Prince William Sound

Archived Sport Fishing Report

July 14, 2016

Prince William Sound and the
Copper River Delta Area

Week of July 13 to July 19
Issued July 13, 2016

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

Regulation Reminders and Emergency Orders

• Permits are mandatory for all non-commercial 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.
• n Main Bay, sport fishing from a vessel that is within 60 feet of the Prince William Sound Aquaculture hatchery barrier seine, or from a vessel inside of the barrier seine is prohibited. Signs have been posted accordingly. The signs posted on either bank show the 60 foot line. Marker buoys may or may not be set 60 feet from the barrier seine.
• 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.
• Lingcod season is OPEN until December 31. Limits are 2 per day, 4 in possession. Fish must be a minimum of 35 inches or longer with head attached OR 28 inches or greater in length with the head removed. Don’t forget your measuring tape.
• 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 about wrapped up at Fleming Spit. Anglers should start keeping an eye out for coho showing up. Let us know if you here of any one being successful.
• Remember: a coho salmon that is removed from the water must be retained and becomes part of the daily bag limit of the person who originally hooked the fish. A person may not remove a coho salmon from the water before releasing it.
• Sockeye salmon are making their way up into Eshamy Lake now. Check out the late run sockeye at locations such as Eshamy, Gunboat, and Shotgun Creeks if you are out in PWS.
• Sockeye fishing is still great throughout Eyak River! Anglers are having lots of success at the weir. Remember: salmon fishing is not allowed in Eyak Lake. Signs marking the upper limits of the fishing area are located approximately 200 yards above the weir.
• Sockeye fishing at Coghill River and lake is still slow as returns of sockeye salmon to this location are still lower than previous years. 
• Reminder: Power Creek in Cordova is closed to salmon fishing year-round.

Trout, Dolly Varden, Grayling

• Cutthroat and rainbow/steelhead trout fishing opened on June 15th. Try small spinners or nymph type flies.
• 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. Anglers are reminded to check the Prince William Sound regulations on the legal size limit for retained trout in the area they are fishing.
• Ruth Pond and Blueberry Lake were recently stocked with catchable size rainbow trout. Fishing at both locations has been great and fun for kids!

Salt waters

Halibut, Lingcod, and Rockfish

• Halibut anglers had mixed reports this week. Weather over the weekend kept some boats from traveling far but many boats were still successful at catching their limit of smaller sized halibut.
• Top fish caught last week in the Valdez halibut derby took the second place seat weighing in at 211lbs!
• Nice sized black rockfish were caught by anglers this week in PWS.
• Lingcod fishing opened on July 1st. Successful catches of lingcod were reported. If you start getting into too many rockfish (who enjoy similar habitat to lingcod) move to a new location and use a deepwater release mechanism once you have reached your bag limit of rockfish.
• 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

• Silvers are starting to get picked up outside of Port Nellie Juan.
• Hatchery king salmon are in Passage Canal and kings are jumping right in Whittier boat harbor. Remember: Whittier harbor is closed to snagging.
• Pink salmon fishing picked up around Valdez over the holiday weekend. Pixies, spinners, and vibrax are all good options.
• Sockeye are still in Main Bay. 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 A better option would be to move over to Eshamy Bay to target reds.

Shellfish

• Shrimping continues to be productive throughout the Sound. Look for good habitat and depths in the 400-500’ range to set pots in to improve your success rate. Rocky terrain with steep drop offs are a good one to look for on charts. 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.