Fall is fast approaching and that means peak fishing for certain species on Prince of Wales Island. According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the summer salmon runs for pink and chum salmon on the island are dying down now but mid-September is primetime for fishermen on the hunt for Coho in freshwater streams.
The king salmon fishery on Prince of Wales Island closed towards the end of last month but will reopen on October 1.
Fish and Game also said that this period of time – when many species of salmon spawn upriver – means that the streams and rivers are full of rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, and Dolly Varden. They feed on salmon eggs.
Area biologists also reported that halibut stocks near Prince of Wales Island have been good this year and they expect anglers will be able to continue catching them in the coming months. The daily bag limit for guided fishing in the area is one halibut.
There is also a one-a-day bag limit for guided fishermen catching lingcod and demersal shelf and slope rockfish on Prince of Wales Island, which biologists said congregate in the rocky depths during the fall months. Common rockfish species near Prince of Wales can be caught year-round.
