Area Sport Fishing Reports
Mat-Su

Recent Emergency Orders & Press Releases for Mat-Su

Archived Sport Fishing Report

An emergency order was issued to increase the coho bag limit to 3 fish and add an additional day of fishing to the weekend-only fisheries on Fish Creek, Cottonwood Creek, and Wasilla Creek. Beginning this Saturday, August 17, anglers fishing Fish, Cottonwood, and Wasilla creeks may harvest 3 salmon, all of which may be coho, and fish Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays through the end of the season. Anglers are reminded that sport fishing is only allowed in these waters from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Bait is allowed in many – but not all – Susitna River tributaries. Check for exceptions to the general regulations before heading out.
Bodenburg Creek, including all waters of the Knik River within a 100-yd radius of the mouth of the creek is closed year–round to fishing for salmon.
Coho salmon 16 inches or longer removed from fresh water must be retained and become part of the bag limit of the person who originally hooked the fish. A person may not remove a coho salmon 16 inches or longer from the water before releasing it. • Only catch and release fishing for rainbow trout and grayling is allowed year-round on Montana Creek. On Willow Creek, rainbow trout are catch-and-release only downstream of the Parks Highway.

Little Su coho fishing remains good; anglers have been successful using artificial lures as well as bait. The river is clearing after the recent rains and is plenty fishable.
Jim Creek coho fishing should continue to produce limits throughout the week.
Fishing at the Eklutna Tailrace is mostly good. Make this your before-work fishing destination!
Fishing is expected to be good at Cottonwood, Fish, and Wasilla creeks this weekend. Remember, fishing is open only from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on these streams.
Fishing at the mouth of the Deshka River and lower 7 miles of river is good. The recent rise in water level has coho moving; Take advantage of rainy days when fishing the Deshka this time of year.
Good numbers of coho, pinks, and chums salmon are being caught along the Parks Highway streams of Willow, Little Willow, Kashwitna, Sheep, Goose, Caswell, and Montana creeks.
Coho fishing on Yentna River tributaries is expected to be good this week. Lake Creek is consistently producing limits of coho; be sure to try other Yentna tributaries and sloughs such as Moose and Indian creeks.
Chum and pink salmon fishing in the Talkeetna River drainage is good to excellent. Numbers of coho are increasing daily and should be good later in the week.
On the west side of Cook Inlet, coho fishing should be good. Water is high and muddy on some of these streams due to recent rain.

Rainbow trout fishing along the Parks Highway streams has been excellent.
Try fishing egg and flesh fly patterns as rainbow trout are now targeting king eggs and beginning to feed on king carcasses; don’t forget the occasional leech or sculpin pattern.

Pike can be taken using spears, bow and arrow (the arrow must be attached to the bow by a line) bait, spinning, and fly-fishing gear. Try top-water weedless lures, spoons and flies in the heavily vegetated bays and sloughs. Herring suspended under a bobber is a sure-fire bet.
For road-accessible pike fishing, try Nancy Lake, Big Lake, Anderson Lake, or lakes in the Nancy Lake Canoe System, such as Phoebe, Little No Luck, South Rolly, Ardaw, Echo, Candlestick, and Red Shirt lakes.
For fly-in fishing try Alexander, Shell, Hewitt, Trapper, Eight-mile and Sucker lakes.

In the Palmer/Wasilla area, Irene, Kepler/Bradley, Echo, Meirs, and Knik lakes are stocked with rainbow trout.
Further north on the Parks Highway, North Rolly, Rhein, Christiansen, South Friend, Tigger, and "Y" lakes have rainbow trout.
Arctic char are stocked in Benka, Finger, Irene, Marion, Matanuska, and Seventeenmile lakes.
Along the Glenn Highway northeast of Palmer, Seventeenmile, Long, Ravine, Weiner, and Wishbone lakes all have rainbow trout.
If it's Arctic grayling you're looking for, try, Canoe, Finger, Florence, Knik, Meirs, and Lorraine lakes.