A sockeye surge doubles the Fish Creek salmon limit for a week

Anglers at Fish Creek can keep six salmon a day for one more week before the limit drops back to three.

A strong sockeye return prompted the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to open the Mat-Su creek early, on Aug. 3, and raise the daily bag and possession limit to six salmon, no more than two of them coho. The higher limit runs through Aug. 15. On Aug. 16 it returns to three salmon over 16 inches per day, again with no more than two coho, and the fishery stays open the rest of the year.

Fishing is allowed seven days a week from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., from the creek mouth upstream to about a quarter mile above Knik Goose Bay Road.

The extra fish are a bright spot in an otherwise tight Mat-Su season. Emergency orders have closed king salmon fishing across much of the region this year — the Susitna and Little Susitna drainages and West Cook Inlet among them, leaving only the Eklutna Tailrace open in June — because Kenai, Anchor and Deshka king runs are expected to fall short of their escapement goals. King fishing in Cook Inlet salt waters north of Bluff Point is also closed through Aug. 15. Against all that, Fish Creek's sockeye are running strong enough to hand anglers a rare bump.