New Season

Posted by Stan Harrington

Within just a few hours, the Sport Fishing season will once again commence on the Anchor River. The Anchor River has been a "family" tradition for many years. For the past 56 years or five generations we have fished the Anchor River.

CURRENT RIVER CONDITIONS

At the current time, it is raining however the forecast is for sun over the weekend. Water conditions are high and muddy, however the North Fork is showing an almost perfect color before it mixes with the South Fork. The unfortunate news, is that the Sonar Counter is in operation and the majority of this lens is in the closed area. It will be slow fishing this weekend.

KING SALMON

The Sonar Counter appears to be operational, however, no data has been provided by the Department of Fish and Game. Dependent on how read the past data, we could see another good year of King Salmon fishing this year. The stock level appears to be strong.

2007: 5/14 ~ 9/13 King Salmon Count: 9,527

2006: 5/15 ~ 8/24 King Salmon Count : 10,150 (Weir Washed Out)

2005: 5/13 ~ 9/9 King Salmon Count: 11,083

2004: 5/15 ~ 9/13 King Salmon Count: 12,016

2003: 5/30 ~ 7/9 King Salmon Count: 9,238

SILVER SALMON

2007: Silver Salmon Count: 8,226

2006: Silver Salmon Count: 10,150 (Weir Washed Out 8/24)

2005: Silver Salmon Count: 18,956 (Weir Washed Out 9/9)

2004: Silver Salmon Count: 5,728

This year there was 198 days of winter which leaves only 167 days that could be classified as Sport Fishing Season. You have two options, look forward to shoveling snow for 198 days this coming winter or go fishing 167 days this summer. I know not what course others may follow, but I am going fishing.

This entry was posted on May 15, 2008 at Thursday, May 15, 2008 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

2 comments

john r mclay

Even the sonar count(s) looks good for the next few years of hook-in-water time. Was '02 the "100-year flood"? It doesn't seem the numbers of fish were affected and AR has had great returns since. Now, I just need a fuel-efficient ride to grace her banks more often... and time.

5/16/08, 5:25 AM

Stan Harrington

Yesterday 5/15 was the first full day of fish counting atthe Sonar Site, daily count was 21. We are now through the critical years fromthe flood, neither the King nor the Silver run seemed to be affected by it. Once again, F&G was predicting doom and gloom, perhaps someday they will comprehend that mother nature has been managing the fisheries long before the word biologist was invented. She takes pretty good care of them if we let enough get upstream to spawn. Sunny (non rainy) days inrthe forecast. Pagoda Lake is now dry.

5/16/08, 11:41 PM