Area Sport Fishing Reports
Yukon

Archived Sport Fishing Report

June 30, 2023

ADF&G News

ADF&G is mobile. You can purchase and display your fishing license, record your annual harvest (where applicable), access sport fishing regulations and locations, and so much more on your mobile device. Download the ADF&G Mobile App today! And be sure to review Emergency Orders for the area you are fishing before you head out.

Also, check out ADF&G;s new goFishAk interactive map to discover popular fishing locations and information on species run timing, fishing gear selections, and boat, angler, and floater access areas and tips.

Freshwater Fishing

Arctic Grayling

• Arctic grayling are fairly ubiquitous throughout the Yukon River drainage. Nome Creek and the Ikhèenjik River (Birch Creek), which can be accessed from the Steese Highway, are running low and clear and offer excellent fishing opportunities for Arctic grayling. Only catch-and-release fishing for Arctic grayling is allowed in Nome Creek, which is located within the White Mountains National Recreation Area.
• Conditions are similar for streams within the Fortymile River drainage, which can be accessed from the Taylor Highway. With decreasing snow melt, fishing opportunities have also improved for streams that cross the Dalton Highway. The Jim River is running clear and Arctic grayling fishing should be good.
• Post-spawning Arctic grayling will be at their summer feeding locations where they will remain throughout most of July and August. In general, older and larger adult Arctic grayling will occupy the upper reaches of a river or stream, gradating to smaller adults and juveniles lower in the drainages. Many of the streams accessed from the Steese, Dalton, and Taylor Highways are headwaters.
• Popular gear used to capture Arctic grayling are shiny spoons when the streams are wide enough and colorful jigs for narrower streams and creeks. Mosquitos have appeared in the upper elevations of Nome and Beaver Creeks, Ikhèenjik River, and Dalton Highway streams, and flies mimicking these pesty blood-suckers would also be enticing to a hungry Arctic grayling.
• Watch our video How to Fish for Arctic Grayling to learn what you will need to know to successfully target Arctic grayling.

Northern Pike

• Northern pike, like Arctic grayling, are fairly ubiquitous throughout the Yukon River drainage. Good fishing can be found in slower moving waters like the lower portion of the Ikhèenjik River that crosses at mile 147 of the Steese Highway.

• Other popular fishing locations for large Northern pike are at the mouths of major tributaries that drain into the mainstem Yukon River such as the Dall, Ray, Nowitna, and Innoko Rivers, and Hess Creek.

• Due to the late spring and large snow melt, the Yukon River is still running high. However, sport fishing conditions will improve for these voracious, visual predators as the water lowers and clears at the mouths of major Yukon River tributaries.

• Popular lures that fishers have reported success in capturing northern pike include buzzbait, booyah, jitterbugs, shiny spoons, and shads. Northern pike have rows of sharp teeth, so be sure to bring pliers and a spreader in order to safely remove hooks, especially from larger fish.

Sheefish

• Sheefish that have overwintered in the lower Yukon River are migrating upstream to summer feeding areas, and as the water in the Yukon River drops and clears, good fishing opportunities will be found at the mouths of major tributaries such as the Innoko, Koyukuk, Nowitna and Porcupine Rivers. Large, shiny spoons are popular lures for capturing sheefish such as crocodiles, pixies, and daredevils as well as various shads that mimic juvenile prey.

Salmon

• Sport fisheries for king and chum salmon closed throughout the Yukon Management Area (excludes the Tanana River) on April 5, 2023, because of poor run forecasts and subsequent pre-season closures of the subsistence fishery. As of July 1, king salmon numbers are still trending below average, and the sport as well as subsistence fisheries will remain closed for the remainder of the season. However, summer chum salmon numbers are trending higher than anticipated, which will allow for some limited subsistence harvest. Currently these numbers are still well below what will be needed to reopen the sport fishery. If these numbers rise sufficiently to allow for a sport fishery, an EO will be issued to rescind the current closure.

Emergency orders

Please review the Emergency Orders and Advisory Announcements below in their entirety before heading out on your next fishing trip:

• Emergency Order 3-KS-Y-3-2023 closes the Yukon River drainage excluding the Tanana River drainage, to sport fishing for king salmon.
• Emergency Order 3-CS-Y-4-2023 closes the Yukon River drainage excluding the Tanana River drainage, to sport fishing for king salmon.

Catch-and-release techniques

• Because fish typically grow and reproduce more slowly at high latitudes and elevations, please use proper techniques when engaging in catch-and-release in order to ensure the survival of the released fish such as:
  • Use lures with a single hook and crimp down the barb. Do not use bait.
  • Land the fish with a soft net and keep the fish in the water when removing the hook.
  • To release the fish, hold it gently facing into the current or in water without a current to gently cradle the fish and move it slowly back and forth until it swims away under its own power.

For More Information

For more information, please call Yukon Area Management Biologist Lisa Stuby at 907-459-7202.