Alaska Fishing

With silver salmon waning on the Deshka and Little Su rivers, anglers might consider a trip to Valdez for Labor Day weekend.

Fat fish await.

Derek Werder, a 37-year-old stay-at-home dad, leads his hometown Valdez Silver Salmon Derby with a 22.14-pound silver -- one of the biggest silvers ever landed in Southcentral.

Until Saturday, when Werder reeled up his monster, the biggest fish ever recorded at the 33-year-old Valdez derby was a 21.76-pounder. And in the 53-year history of the Seward Silver Salmon Derby, only Shirley Baysinger's 2002 record silver is bigger -- by a mere tenth of a pound.

In fact, it takes a 17-pound silver to get into the top 23 in Valdez, derby official Laura Saxe said Wednesday.

"It took out quite a bit of line," Werder said, recounting his battle. "It nearly spooled us. It was one of those things when you kind of look at each other. Then you wonder, 'Hmmmmm, what's on the end of this?' "

It didn't take Werder long to find out. He had it in the boat in a few minutes. Plus, he wasn't trolling far from the harbor aboard his boat, the Butt Chaser, with his daughter Kaitlin, 18, and wife Jennifer, who was the second-place finisher in the derby a few years back.

While Werder declined to disclose exactly what he was trolling with, he said an orange squid was part of the set up.

"I started something new this year, and it's really been a big help,'' he said. "I'm keeping the other half to myself."

With such a big fish, Werder acknowledged, "I'm pretty comfortable. If something does happen, I'll probably at least get second."

The derby winner earns $15,000, with second place paying $5,000 and third worth $2,000. In honor of the 50th anniversary of statehood, the derby, which ends at noon Sunday, is awarding a prize to the top 50 finishers.

And Anchorage anglers who want to take part can avoid the long drive by hopping on the fast ferry in Whittier that crosses Prince William Sound in about three hours. With gas costing more than $4 a gallon, a trip aboard the Chenega is worth considering.

But Anchorage angler Charlene McCay, who holds down third place with her 18.96-pound silver, plans to drive back to Valdez with family for the derby's final weekend. Her son, Jim, owns Cedar House Bed and Breakfast in Valdez and fishing the derby is an annual family sojourn.

After all, it's where she met Bubba.

That's the name she bestowed on her big silver salmon, now safely encased in her freezer, after landing him Aug. 16.

"I was doing a happy dance when I saw him," McCay said of the fish she caught trolling off Mineral Creek in Valdez Arm.

"I had no idea when I was pulling him in it would be a winner," she said. "He took line a couple of times, but he didn't fight real hard. They just wiggle around a little bit."

Dave Cobb of the Valdez Fisheries Development Association said that after starting slow, the derby has picked up steam.

"We haven't seen this many fish coming all the way into the harbor for a long time," he said. "There are harbor seals and sea otters in the harbor and we haven't seen that for years either."

SLOWING DOWN

Closer to home, silver salmon fishing on the Little Su and Deshka rivers is ending.

"It's slowing down quite a bit," said longtime guide Andy Couch, who's fished the Little Su since July. "We're still catching some nice chrome fish, but most of the time we're not seeing any rolling fish.

"If you're not the first person on them early in the morning, you're going to have a tough time," said Couch, owner of Fishtale River Guides. "There's no doubt it's slower than it's been some years this time. I don't hold out any hope there's going to be another push of silvers."

Fish count numbers confirm Couch's sense of the Little Su and Deshka runs.

Only 102 silvers have passed the Deshka weir the last three days. The Little Su numbers look better -- 792 were counted on Tuesday -- but remember the weir is well upstream, a half-mile above the Parks Highway, where fishing is closed.

And what looked like a promising silver season early on turned flat. Right now, the Little Su return is the second-worst of the last decade, with 5,853 fish past the weir so far.

More fish will return in September, but 2008 pales against such memorable years as 2002 (47,938 returners), 2004 (40,199 returners) or 2001 (30,383 returners).

On the Deshka, the 12,408 fish past the weir is better than three other years in the last decade -- but far below such boom years as 2004 (62,940) and 2006 (59,419).

Farther north, Kelsey Kaso of On The Fly Outfitters in Talkeetna said anglers are still catching silvers at Clear Creek, a Talkeetna River tributary, but most have to weed through old fish to find a silver bright enough to keep.

"Fishing is starting to slow down," he confirmed.

TRY TROUT

Elsewhere, some opportunities remain:

• Whittier silvers are beginning to show up and should be available through September. Whittier's Silver Salmon Derby opens Friday.

• Silvers will move into the Kenai River into October, though not in huge numbers.

• Resurrection Bay still has some silvers, and shore anglers are doing better.

But as the salmon fishing fades, trout anglers prosper. Rainbow trout, lake trout, Dolly Varden char and grayling fishing tends to get better until freeze up. Many Alaska anglers believe there is no better time than September to fish the upper Kenai River, and anglers willing to explore Susitna River tributaries this month can often find exceptional world-class trout fishing a short drive from home.

And then, of course, there are those steelhead trout of the Anchor River and Deep Creek, the northernmost steelhead on the continent. They'll still be coming back when ice forms in river in November.

Find Daily News reporter Mike Campbell online at mcampbell@adn.com or call 257-4329.

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