Area Sport Fishing Reports
Prince William Sound

Archived Sport Fishing Report

May 24, 2017

Week of May 25 to May 31

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

Regulation Reminders and Emergency Orders

• Prince William Sound noncommercial shrimp fishery opened on April 15. Permits are mandatory for all noncommercial shrimp fisherman. Permits are available online, at local ADF&G offices, and at select vendors.
  • Please note that there are no PWS shrimp permit vendors in Whittier.
• Per Emergency Order No. 2-SHR-6-11-17: The number of shrimp pots allowed to harvest shrimp in Prince William Sound was reduced from five pots per person with a maximum of five pots per vessel, to four pots per person with a maximum of four pots per vessel.
• Lingcod season is closed until July 1 to protect nest-guarding males.
• Cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and steelhead fishing opens on June 15.
• Ibeck Creek is closed to all sport fishing upstream from a point 3 miles above the Copper River Highway.

Fresh Waters

Salmon

• Chinook salmon returning to the lagoon at Fleming Spit should start to show up any day now. No reports yet.
•  A few sockeye salmon are trickling into Eyak River. No significant catches have been reported.

Trout, Dolly Varden, Grayling

• Cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, and steelhead fishing in the Cordova area is still closed. Start getting ready as it will open in just a few weeks on June 15.
• Dolly Varden are present in many of the streams throughout Prince William Sound and the Copper River Delta. Try using fry or smolt imitation flies or small spinners at lake outlets and stream confluences.

Salt Waters

Salmon

• Chinook salmon returning to the lagoon at Fleming Spit should start to show up any day now. Trolling outside the lagoon in the saltwater can produces catches of fish this time of year when the fish start to show up and mill around.

Halibut, Lingcod, and Rockfish

• Lingcod is closed until July 1.
• The Valdez Halibut Derby has begun! The derby was started off with a couple of 50 pound fish caught.
• Strawberry Channel continues to have small catches of halibut.
• Rockfish can be caught year round throughout PWS. Bag limits starting May 1 through September 15 are four per day, eight in possession of which only two may be non-pelagic.

Fishing Tip: Brush up on your rockfish identification before you head out fishing by looking on page 90 of the 2017 Southcentral Sport Fishing Regulation Summary booklet.

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%!

Never heard of deepwater release for rockfish??? Please visit the ADF&G's Rockfish Conservation and Deepwater Release webpage for more information.

Shellfish

• Shrimp season opened on April 15. Good catches are still being reported. Targeting depths of 350 to 450 feet have been productive.
• You are encouraged to get your permit online but you must have a printed and signed copy with you while fishing. Permit needs to be in possession as you are shrimping and harvest needs to be reported before your catch is concealed.
• Don’t forget to record when you drop your pots in the water and remember only four pots are allowed per vessel in 2017.
• Don’t forget to turn in your harvest report after the season closes on September 15!