The silvers are here

The days are getting shorter and the temperatures are starting to drop, and sadly, fall is just around the corner. I hesitate to look forward to this time of the year as it culminates the end of our already brief Alaska summer. Yet, often I find myself thinking about the many times I've been waist deep in chocolate-colored water during fall temperatures and pouring-down rain just to wet a fly.

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These thoughts alone might seem a bit strange but when they're accompanied by visions of endless piles of chrome-bright silvers, then perhaps they are justified. Now it's that time of the year when these dreams can become reality as we are in the midst of the coho salmon run, which will stretch for months on end.

Coho salmon, or silvers, spawn in rivers from as far north as Point Hope, Alaska, south and east to northern California and west to Hokkaido, Japan. They have been introduced throughout the world into areas such as the Great Lakes and even South America. In Southeast Alaska, coho salmon spawn from late July though December and occasionally a few can be seen as late as the following March.

Coho salmon are the fastest-growing salmon in the world. They spend two to three years in the freshwater and then migrate to sea as smolt in the spring ranging anywhere from 2 to 4 inches in length. The following year, they return as adults weighing between 8 and 12 pounds.

Coho salmon grow so fast that just an extra month spent feeding and gorging can result in dramatic size increases. This is one reason why fish caught later in the season tend to be markedly larger than fish caught early. And this year fish are apparently larger than average. Rumors of unusually big fish have been circulating like wildfire and locally several fish have already been landed exceeding 20 pounds.

The current world's record coho salmon is slightly more than 33 pounds and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see a fish caught in the 30-pound range this season. Locally, abundance is up and the Taku River and releases from the Macaulay Salmon Hatchery, which drive our local marine recreational fishery, are being inundated with fish.

Coho salmon return to just about every roadside system in Juneau. To catch these fish, the weapons of choice vary greatly. Aggressive in nature, sometimes coho salmon will even chase down flies as you skirt them across the surface. Usually, I use solid black more than anything else in my arsenal but occasionally you'll see me throwing something so bright it can be seen from space!

Weather permitting, you can bet I'll be in hot pursuit of these silver bullets over the next few months. And even if it's not so nice, well, perhaps I'll still be out there adding memories to my portfolio of future dreams to come.

To me there is nothing better than wading off-colored waters and soaking flies to shadows of fish in the hopes that soon one will be doing cartwheels downriver.

Ed Jones is a fisheries biologist who loves to fish. For further information concerning sport fishing opportunities or regulations in the Juneau area, call the Division of Sport Fish at 465-4270.