Seward Lagoon youth-only coho fishery extended through Oct. 5

Anglers 15 and younger can fish coho at the Seward Lagoon through Oct. 5, roughly a month longer than usual. The lagoon and its outfall stream normally open to youth fishing for just two weekends, the last in August and the first in September. Anglers 16 and older stay out.

Each young angler can keep two coho a day, using bait or lures. Snagging is not allowed in fresh water. Adults can help, but whoever hooks the fish owns it against their limit, and that has to be the kid.

The fish are there to be caught. The state stocks the lagoon with coho every year to create fishing in Resurrection Bay, and because the fish do not reproduce there and are not used for hatchery eggs, they are meant for harvest rather than for spawning. "Coho are just starting to show up in good numbers," Assistant Area Management Biologist Donald Arthur said.

More than 100 coho had passed the fish-counting weir at Bear Creek by late August, with better fishing expected within a week or two. Last year the youth season closed Sept. 30.