Area Sport Fishing Reports
Yakutat
May 5, 2021
* Just a reminder to all our anglers, please do your part to help slow the spread of Covid-19 by following and reviewing the current State of Alaska Health Mandates in effect. This includes practicing social distancing while sport and personal use fishing and wearing a face covering when fishing and if you are needing fishing supplies from your local store as indicated in Health Alert 010.
Freshwaters
Steelhead Trout
Temperatures have cooled off here in Yakutat. Over-night lows are still in the mid-'30s with daytime highs in the mid-40's. Most of the snow has melted on the lower river but plenty of snow still remains up near 9-mile Bridge. Signs of spring are slowly creeping out.
Water conditions on the Situk River along with the weather have been also improving.......slightly. Water levels continue to remain in the 250-350 cfs range which makes for good boat fishing and moderately good wade fishing. The continuing issue is that water temperature continues to be well below average for this time of year and will most likely stay low until most of the upper river and lake snow melts. Just how cold are the water temperatures? They are the coldest we've seen in over 10 years, and colder than 2012 and 2013, when we saw some of the latest run-timing for steelhead on the Situk River on record. The good news is that daily low water temps continue to slowly rise. Access to the river is good at this point with the many anglers already fishing having packed down good trails in the snow along the river.
Fishing on the Situk has improved a little since the last report. Boaters have encountered a few more fish between the launches, and upper river wading anglers have reported catching a few more in that section. As the water temps slowly warm up the fishing should too. There have been some reports of dark fish being caught in the upper section but there is still a lot of fresh fish too. Fish will most likely continue to drop out of the lake over the next couple of weeks. The cold water is leading to lethargic fish behavior, but the cloudy days have helped get the fish from out of the brush.
Anglers are reminded that the Situk River spawning closure area upstream of the 9-mile Bridge is in effect and that sport fishing is closed in this section. Please refer to the Southeast Regulation Summary.
Fishing should continue to slowly improve over the next few weeks.
Saltwaters
King Salmon
Sportfishing for king salmon is open in Yakutat area marine waters. Fishing reports over the last 10 days have been pretty positive with anglers hooking into kings primarily near the entrance to the Bay near "the can" and "dogbone". Most anglers are trolling spoons or herring behind a flasher near the shoreline or around rocky structures. Try trolling your gear between 20-60 feet deep.
Halibut
Halibut fishing has been pretty good in Yakutat Bay these last 10 days. Good marine weather has allowed anglers to fish outside Yakutat Bay and get into some nice fish. Halibut fishing should only improve from this point forward as more fish move onshore.
Lingcod
Lingcod fishing is closed until May 16th.
Rockfish
Fishing for rockfish should be excellent in the Yakutat area.
For further information, please contact the Yakutat Area Sport Fish management biologist Jason Pawluk at (907) 784-3222.
