Morning Fog

The rain had stopped and the valley was covered in mist and fog, which caught my eye early this fall morning.

Located 34 miles northeast of Anchorage near Mile 3.5 of the Old Glenn Highway, the Eklutna Tailrace provides a recreational fishery that was originally supported by coho, sockeye, and chum salmon returning to the Cook Inlet Aquaculture Association's hatchery located at the head of the tailrace. The private nonprofit hatchery was operational from 1981 through 1998.

Now, the sport fishery is confined to the approximately one-half mile long tailrace extending from the Old Glenn Highway downstream to its confluence with the Knik River.

Coho salmon smolts have been stocked into the tailrace annually since 1998, with Chinook salmon smolts first being stocked in 2002, and has provided a chinook salmon fishery that began in the spring of 2004.