Silver Salmon

While the Kenai contributes an average of about one out of every five coho salmon harvested in sport fisheries in Alaska, despite the attention and acclaim, the Susitna, not the Kenai, is the most prolific coho producer in Southcentral.

The mainstream Susitna is much too large and silty to provide for quality fishing along most of its length, leaving the best opportunities concentrated in the many Clearwater tributaries of the system. Most of the Parks highway streams offer good coho angling in August and early September, especially for those willing to use a raft or jet boat to access the lonelier stretches of water. Highlights include Willow, Little Willow, Sheep, Montana and Caswell creeks.

Once again the Little Susitna is an above-average producer, as is the Talkeetna River system, though bank opportunities are limited.

For more remote action, Alexander Creek sustains a healthy coho population. The creek's mouth is typically the most productive spot, in some years providing silver action to rival any other locale in the state, with salmon heading upstream to spawn in the Susitna's other clear water tributaries pulling into these docile, iron-tinted waters for brief recuperation.

The glacial Yentna system also receives a solid run of silvers, which can be best fished in the numerous clear water sloughs and tributary mouths that dot the drainage. Further upriver on select tributaries, namely Lake Creek, the coho action can be fast and furious.