Area Sport Fishing Reports
Prince William Sound
Archived Sport Fishing Report
August 10, 2016
Prince William Sound and the
Copper River Delta Area
Week of August 10 to August 16
Issued August 10, 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.
- In 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.
- Ibeck Creek is closed to all sport fishing upstream from a point 3 miles above the Copper River Highway.
- CORDOVA STREAMS crossing the Copper River Highway from Eyak River to the Million Dollar Bridge: Once you reach your daily limit of coho salmon (3 fish), you may not fish with bait in any of these streams for the remainder of the day.
Fresh waters
Salmon
- Minimal success is being reported at Fleming Spit in Cordova but fish should be coming in soon.
- 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 (silvers) salmon from the water before releasing it.
- Fishing for coho will be slow for the next couple of weeks until larger numbers of fish start to show up. The first coho salmon was reported caught at Eyak River last week and Ibeck Creek has been producing a few fish for anglers to catch. Lots of rain over the weekend has bumped up water levels in Cordova area streams making fishing difficult. Remember: salmon fishing is not allowed in Eyak Lake.
- 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 are stocked with catchable size rainbow trout. Fishing at both locations has been great and fun for kids!
Salt waters
Halibut, Lingcod, and Rockfish
- Weather was pretty rough over the weekend inhibiting travel to ocean entrances for most anglers. Smaller halibut were reported caught over the weekend. Bigger fish were caught during the week before the weather set in.
- Last week’s top fish in the Valdez halibut derby exceeded150lbs!
- Lingcod fishing has been slow. If you start getting into too many rockfish while targeting 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
- Hatchery king salmon are around Passage Canal and anglers are still having success trolling close to the harbor. Remember: Whittier harbor is closed to snagging.
- Pink salmon fishing was good around Valdez over the weekend but coho fishing is pretty slow from both the boat and shore. Boat anglers are having to travel far to pick up fish.
- A few coho were reported to be picked up outside of Main Bay but fishing has been slow. 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 throughout the Sound. Look for good habitat and depths in the 500-600’ range to set pots. Deeper waters are proving more productive. 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.