Avid Mat-Su king salmon anglers won't have much to celebrate July Fourth weekend.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced Tuesday afternoon it would close an array of Parks Highway streams and the Little Susitna River to king anglers beginning 6 a.m. Friday.
"At a time when sport fish harvest in these streams should be high, few fish were observed caught or hooked," area management biologist Dave Rutz said in a press release. "Anglers have reported the fishing has never been this poor."
Waterways shuttered include the Kashwitna River and Willow, Little Willow, Greys, Caswell, Sheep, Montana, Goose, Sunshine, Birch, Trapper and Rabideux creeks as well as all flowing waters of the Susitna River from the confluence with the Deshka River upstream to the confluence with the Talkeetna River.
The move comes on the brink of the final weekend of the PSEA Mat-Su Valley King Salmon Derby, but derby coordinator Terrance Shanigan said he won't end the first-year derby early.
"We still have the Yentna and the Talkeetna drainage," he said.
Outside of the Deshka, one of the Valley's most popular king salmon fisheries, which was closed last month, there are no fish-counting weirs operating in Mat-Su -- so biologists don't have a precise tally of fish arriving upstream.
On Friday, Fish and Game staffers counted kings on foot, in boats and from a helicopter.
"Few king salmon were observed," Rutz said. "It looked real dismal."
Closures will crimp some people's holiday outings, he said. But many anglers may have already headed to more productive spots such as the Kenai Peninsula, at least judging from anecdotal reports.
This past Saturday on Willow Creek, an employee for the state Fish and Game Department counted 18 anglers, Rutz said. Normally, the mouth is packed combat-style.
"They should be lined up in there like cordwood," he said.
Shanigan said the water level in the Susitna River had dropped so much that clear water from tributaries pushed well out into the main stem of the river.
"I walked Caswell Creek to fish it, and people were standing out in sloughs where normally it's chest-high water. The water's just not favorable."
Still, he said he hooked and lost five fish on the Kashwitna River Sunday night.
Steve Runyan, manager for Three Rivers Fly & Tackle store in Wasilla, said fish are coming through but in small waves. Anglers have to be there at the right time to pick them off.
"You have to put your time in," he said.
It's likely to be a lot of time though. At the Little Susitna River Public Use Facility launch, a paltry 48 fish were reported caught this weekend by nearly 400 anglers. Rutz said at least one guide told him he's canceling trips.
Shanigan said the Talkeetna River, running clear and low, could be fished right up to its confluence with the Susitna River. But the derby's final weekend may feature more barbecues with hot dogs, not salmon filets.
"It's going to be a down year," Shanigan said of his derby. "We started behind the curve, and it was kind of a down year for fish. But we'll be back."
Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com and S.K. Komarnitsky at skomarnitsky@adn.com.
By MIKE CAMPBELL and S.J. KOMARNITSKY
Anchorage Daily News