Area Sport Fishing Reports
Mat-Su

Recent Emergency Orders & Press Releases for Mat-Su

Archived Sport Fishing Report

Starting September 1, the Parks Highway streams and many other Mat-Su and West Cook Inlet waters go to no bait and single-hook only. So check your regulation book before going fishing.
By emergency order, Fish Creek has been liberalized to fishing 7 days per week. Sport fishing in Cottonwood and Wasilla creeks remains open only on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays. Anglers are reminded that sport fishing is only allowed in all of these waters from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. each day. The bag and possession limit for salmon, other than king salmon, 16 inches or greater in length remains at three per day and in possession, of which all three may be coho salmon, in the waters of Fish Creek, Cottonwood Creek, and Wasilla Creek.
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.

Clear Creek (Talkeetna River), Willow Creek, Montana Creek and the Eklutna Power Plant Tailrace usually see late coho trickling in through mid-September. Also try Sunshine and Rabiduex creeks.
Jim Creek has a late run of coho through September and fishing there is good.
Wasilla, Fish, and Cottonwood creeks should be fair to good.
Fishing on the Little Susitna is good throughout the river downstream of the Parks Highway bridge. Now is a nice time of year for a float trip.
In early September, fair to good coho fishing can be found in the tributaries and sloughs of the Yentna and Skwentna rivers. Try fishing at Moose, Indian, Eightmile, Bottle, or Hewitt creeks.
Fair to good coho fishing should continue through mid-September in West Cook Inlet streams such as the Kustatan, Theodore and the Chuit rivers.

Rainbow trout fishing on area streams is expected to be good to excellent through the weekend. These streams should also produce fair catches of Arctic grayling and Dolly Varden.

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, Trapper, Eight-mile and Sucker lakes.

With the cooler temperatures of fall approaching, lake fishing should improve. Fish become more active and feed in shallower water. Lake fishing can provide that feeling of solitude you may be longing for after a long summer of combat fishing. Now would be a great time to dust off the float tube and hit the lakes.
If you would like to fish several lakes in one day, try Loberg, Meirs, Echo, Matanuska, Canoe, and Irene.
Further north on the Parks Highway, for a day of rainbows try Visnaw, Seymour, and Lalen lakes.
Instead of waiting in line for fair traffic, try taking the kids fishing at Matanuska, or Kepler/Bradley lakes. You can also access Klaire and Victor lakes from the Kepler/Bradley Lakes State Recreation Area.
For big rainbows try, X, Benka, Nancy, Visnaw, Big, Irene, and Seventeen Mile lakes.