Pre-Season King Season Update 04/07

Our first king salmon fishing charters of the season are scheduled on May 17th this season. We expect to start catching a few kings by the second week in May and to see the run build into June. We are offering an Early King Salmon Fishing Special for those that just can't help themselves and need to get a jump on the fishing.

Forecasts for the king salmon returns in the Deshka River and Little Susitna River near Wasilla, Alaska are looking to be great for 2007. Dave Rutz of the Palmer office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) has reported that the parent years for the 2007 return were excellent and based on last years return of smaller fish, they are expecting more 4-5 year fish to show up this year.

 That means we should expect to see some excellent king salmon fishing in local area river systems. The good news is that these drainages are only 90 minutes drive north of Anchorage and are easy and affordable to get to. People can fly into Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, rent a car, drive to meet us at the Deshka Landing Boat Launch in just an hour and a half and experience World-class salmon fishing all in the same day.

 

The returns to the Deshka River in recent years have been large enough to prompt AGF&G to allow fishing 24-7, the use of bait for king salmon, and an increase in the daily bag limit and possession to 2 king salmon per day 4 in possession. We expect them to announce an increased bag limit once again this year.

 

When this happens the Deshka River becomes the only river system in South Central Alaska with a 2 fish king salmon limit and one of the very few where bait is allowed. What this means for the guests that fish with the Deshka River with us is that they can put a king salmon "in the box" and keep on fishing. When you fish for and retain a king salmon anywhere else in South Central, you put your rod down and you are done fishing for the day, even If you hooked it in the first few minutes of the charter. This is a real bonus for our customers.

 

The Nye Frontier Mat-Su King Salmon Derby begins May 20 this year and there are many great prizes. The expectation of a larger run of fish this year should prove to make this year's derby very exciting. You can pick up derby tickets and weigh fish at both locations of 3 River Fly and Tackle in Wasilla and Willow, Alaska. Their pro staff is in the know and can guide anglers to the right stuff for Alaska Salmon Fishing. See them at www.3riversflyandtackle.com

 

IFishAlaska Guide Service offers daily king salmon fishing charters to the Deshka River. To find out more check out the other information in this website or contact us at 907-357-0131

 

May 18-22
We have run 3 different charters so far without catching our first king salmon. We have had good success catching rainbow trout and if we were wanting whitefish we could set records, but no kings thus far. We have heard reports of several kings caught in the last few days. We expect things ot pick up any time.

May 23 - First Kings of the Season!
Howard Riley ran a trip today with to the Deshka River with 4 people on board and they caught our first kings of the year. They fished several stretches of the Deshka using different combinations, eggs under bobbers, spin and glows and eggs and plugs and they were able to catch and keep one 30 lb king salmon and one 15lb king salmon.

We have two groups going out to the Deshka tomorrow and we expect to see more action. We still have space available for our "May special" where you can go with us on a half day king charter for only $100 pp.

May 24 -28
King fishing has been steadily gaining steam this week as more fish are showing up in the river each day. Our two boats run by Howard Riley and Pat Donelson have been going out to the Deshka River twice daily for the last several days and have caught kings on every trip except one. Right now we are seeing an average of two to three kings caught per boat on each trip. These fish are chrome bright, very spunky, and extremely hard fighters that sizzle the drags.

The river levels have raised significantly over the weekend and today (May 28) we noticed many more fish in the river than in days past. The next few days should be good fishing. We still have openings for to take advantage of our Early Season  May Special where you can go on a half day king charter for only $100. This week should show a sharp rise in the numbers of fish entering the river and the catch rates for our guests. CAll us at 357-0131 for details and bookings.

May 29
Today we had two morning trips each having groups of four people and one evening trip with four people. All the trips today were to the Deshka River. It was a beautiful morning on the river and we saw Moose, Beavers, Eagles, and many other types of birds.

Both boats caught fish today, three king salmon in one boat and two kings in the other. King fishing is picking up slowly and more fish are entering the river daily. All the fish we caught today were taken on eggs. At the time of this report I have not heard back from Howard about the evening trip although I expect they caught fish as well.

These ealry kings are chrome bright with sea lice and some of the hardest fighters I have seen for their size. We still have space available for the May special which is a super great deal. We also have several great slots available for June charters during the peak of the king salmon run. Call us for details 907-357-0131

May 30th
Today both of our boats went to the Deshka with a group of four and a group of two people. It was onother very nice day on the river. We worked several holes in the lower river hard and managed to only hook and keep one king salmon. We had two other kings on but lost them after a short fight. I saw several groups of kings moving upriver today towards the end of our trip which was encouraging. I expect to see more fish tomorrow when we head out again to the Deshka once again.

May 31 - June 2
Fishing on the Deshka has been slowing over the last few days. The blast of fish we experienced last week has tailed off and we are waiting for more fish to enter the river. I expect to see them arriving any moment. We have been running trips to the Deshka everyday and for the last 3 days the catch rates have been fairly poor. We have been catching one or two fish per charter until today, June 2nd, when both of our morning charters were skunked and caught no kings.

We will be out again tomorrow with the hopes more fish have arrived. We plan to fish the mouth tomorrow and we will post the results. We still have seats available for some of the peak king fishing dates in June. Call our office at 907-357-0131 for details and to reserve your spot.

June 3, 2007
I took a group of 3 guests to the Deshka River today in search of the mighty king salmon. It was a very nice day on the river and the fishing appears to be taking a turn for the better after the last two days. We began the day fishing near the mouth of the river soaking eggs on the bottom and we managed to catch two king salmon which we kept. Later we moved upriver where we caught one more king and lost another after a short fight. Everyone in the boat got a chance to fight a king salmon. We saw a cow moose with a calf so small it was barely able to walk as well as bald eagles, geese, ducks, and beavers. We will be taking groups out to the Deshka River again tomorrow. I expect to have a good day of fishing.

I appologize for not keeping up with my fishing report this season. Once again I stayed out at the Deshka Landing during most of king season and the internet access I thought I would have did not materialize. This fact coupled with running a 5:00 AM and 5:00 PM trip everyday made keeping up with this report impossible for this season. We will try to do better during silver season which is developing now.