A Silver Horde Bears Down on Monashka Bay

Jay Barrett/KMXT

Attention Kodiak sport fishermen: There are thousands of coho salmon headed toward Monashka Bay, and the Silver Horde could start showing up soon.

"We hope that it may be a giant horde of fish," says Kodiak sportsfish biologist Donn Tracy. "The adult coho salmon returning to Monashka Bay this year from the 2011 smolt releases were just about 90,000 smolt, split evenly between Monashka Creek and Pillar Creek. You can get return rates as high as 10 percent on those releases, so hypothetically the adult returns from that release of 90,000 smolt could be as many as 9,000 fish."

Tracy says the peak of the silver run to Monashka, Pillar and Island Lake creeks should start in 10 to 14 days, and last into mid September.

Tracy says the peak of the silver run to Monashka, Pillar and Island Lake creeks should start in 10 to 14 days, and last into mid September.

He says Kodiak anglers help pay for the enhancement through sport fishing license fees and so should take advantage of the returning bounty. The Kodiak Regional Aquaculture Association is Fish and Game’s partner in the sport fish stocking project.

Tracy says other streams in the area offer good angling opportunities as well:

— (Tracy 3 29 sec "Pink fishing along the road system is just kicking into high gear. The run has arrived at most road system streams. Some of the really popular places to fish in the last few days are the Russian River, the Olds River at the mouth, Buskin River already has a very large return of pink salmon. So that’s probably the principal opportunity right now for the community.")

He also says Dolly Varden fishing is hot right now:

— (Tracy 4 47 sec "Dolly Varden fishing is also at its annual peak. Dollies are now returning to the road system streams to feed and subsequently to spawn later this fall. Those fish are available in both the lower reaches of those road system streams, but if you also in river go above the highway bridge in places like the Russian River or American River there’s some great Dolly fishing up there. There’s a few king salmon left in the American and Olds rivers, but those fish are now entering their spawning phase, but they’d still be a good option for some catch and release fishing.")

Meanwhile down on the south end, Tracy says the Karluk king salmon run – like much of the state – was fairly weak, but he said the minimum escapement goal was achieved this summer, which is much better than it has been doing in recent years.

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