With multiple fishing spots shut down, where can you go to fish?

With the Fourth of July weekend already here many folks are eager to just fish. And although right now, you can't get any king salmon in the nearby rivers there's still an assortment of fish to catch around town.

If you want to catch any kings around Anchorage, you are going to have to wait until next season. "I fished up here like nine years and it's been the worst season yet, yeah, real bad," said Billy Jac Ocampo, an Anchorage resident. With local Ship Creek and the Mat Su's Deshka out of commission for the almighty king, the recommendation is to try out our local stock lakes. "Jewel Lake, Campbell Point Lake, Cheney Lake, this time of the year when you have this beautiful weather, Symphony Lake is really nice

hike to fish for some grayling," said Dan Bosch, the area management biologist for Fish and Game.

Fish and Game actively stocks the city's lakes with a variety of fish so residents can still get their fix. "We are out here just to enjoy the day, let the kids come out and pull up a couple fish, let them eat up an afternoon while out on summer break," said Eric Brink, an Anchorage resident "We try to time our stocking every year to coincide Fourth of July holiday, so the second round of stocking

should take place just before the fourth," said Bosch.

For many Alaskans, the Fourth of July isn't about fireworks its about fishing, but with streams and rivers being shut down because of low king salmon numbers, the future of fishing for them could be in danger.

7.2 million dollars, that's how much money that's generated when people fish for kings around town. And as we are pretty much regulated to lakes, for some missing the kings could be tragic. "Everybody loves salmon here, its like the icon," said Dr. Carol Ann Woody, a biologist for the Fisheries Research and Consulting. But with the king salmon in its second year of low counts, some fear it could be even worse in the near future. "They are something to be concerned about,

king salmon are the rarest of the pacific salmon species," said Woody. "Because its effecting both the wild fish and the hatchery fish at least at the same rate it appears, its got to be something that's out in the marine environment, and to figure out what that is, is a pretty tough nut to crack," said Bosch.

Some possible factors include the impact of commercial fishing and hatchery fish that can't survive as well as wild fish. "It's very difficult to imitate or create a naturally wild salmon that can deal with all the environmental things that nature throws at it," said Woody. "We don't really know when the environment or what it is that's changing out in the oceans," said Bosch. "We really don't have an idea when it's going to turn around, it's still pretty early."

And while officials try to pinpoint an exact reason for low numbers, for those who fish for sport are hoping, they can continue catching kings. "Sport fishing doesn't really take many fish, maybe five percent, not very many fish out of all the fish that are coming in," said Woody. "No good news for next year, as fish and game is expecting very low salmon count runs for next season, something they are working to fix, so we can all get back to fishing.

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