Silvers are coming in but...........

[Ard]

Unfortunately we had a little over 2" of rain the past 2 days here where I live and obviously more in the mountains. Yesterday we had over 800 before the weir went under and the count was halted. Essentially the rivers are blown out with excess flow and silt. The high water is good for survival of the escapement fish but bad if you're looking to swing some onto a fly

Water should drop by Friday but expect to travel way up rivers to find fish and I mean way up.

 

[mcnerney]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Ard

The good news is you are getting lots of moisture, lots of places down here are literally burning up and folks are praying for moisture.
But I understand, too much of a good thing can be bad, hopefully your local rivers will come back into shape in a few days.

 

[jpbfly]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Ard....looks like nothing will never be the same....in Alaska and anywhere else.We have a big heatwave here and would be glad to have a little rain.I haven't taken anyone on the water for two weeks.

 

[duker]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Ard, that's good news (about the silvers I mean, not the weather), considering the fate of some salmon farther south. I'm heading to SE Alaska in six weeks for coho, so at least I know they're out there. Looks like their rivers are going up right now too, but lots of time to drop in time for us. That's a lot of rain you're having.

Scott

 

[Ard]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

It all worked out, I got out last week and caught some of them and caught the largest male pink I've ever seen. I probably should have weighed and measured him but was about 100 years downstream of the boat so I just unhooked and let him go. I also caught a few chum each day.

Weekends are the days I don't fish and try to dissuade anyone hiring me on weekends. In between the showers on Saturday and Sunday I got the house painted. There's a fellow who lives in Anchorage who worked for me for years and he came out to help me with the house. I still have trim to finish and expect to get done with that tomorrow, I was in Anchorage for business purposes today so no trim painting here. By the time I have the place trimmed out the water will be down

 

[bushak]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Rivers being blown out has been a constant theme out here as well. I know a lot of my friends are just now getting out fishing because it was so difficult to find gravel bars.

 

[Ard]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Hi,

We have one river that remained clear in this area but with the others high and muddy guess where everyone is at. Once you get enough jet boats running up and down a clear water river you'll think it's raining hard upriver because the boats will churn things up into a mess. I'll wait for things to calm down, between the number of people and the greed for fish, that's the only word that fits, greed, I'd be happier fishing some stream in the lower 48...….. With no kings, no sockeye, these people are acting crazy chasing these few silvers.

 

[big_dog1996]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Ard, Kodiak was the same way at the time. I managed to catch an early silver on the 7th before the rain hit hard. Everything was blown out for about 3-4 days, then started to subside. After that the pinks made a strong push and filled every hole of every river haha. The sea-run rainbow fishing had been good on the island up to that point, haven't seen once since after. I'm actually in Charleson SC now for work until November. Tight lines. Dom.

 

[Ard]

Re: SIlvers are coming in but...........

Hey Dom,

I hope you get some good weather down there at least. It finally quit raining here 3 days ago but it'll take more than a few days for things to drop and clear. Unfortunately our Silver return piddled out as the waters were rising and now we are seeing the number Zero come up daily on the fish counts.

The good news about high dirty water when a light run peaks is that very few are caught so survival of the escapement fish is high. The downside of high flows during the spawn is that fish may choose a spot that when the water drops will be quite shallow. If the eggs can hatch and the alevin move before the ice forms they will survive with normal mortality rates. However, if there is low water at the redds and an early freeze that can spell trouble for entire broods.

It's been a tough year for salmon fly fishers here buddy.