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Kashwitna River Drainage

The rule for this water, with the receipt.

Special regulations modifying the Susitna River Drainage area defaults, as the 2026 book words them

Susitna River Drainage area County · River · AK

Has its own special rules
How to read this page:Official text quoted regulationParsed fields from the ruleDerived calculated from rulesContext conditions, not a ruleAdvice our suggestion

The rules for this water, verbatimOfficial text

Straight from AK's official regulations. Rules in force today lead; out-of-season rows are dimmed. Nothing is paraphrased. Not legal advice: verify the posted rules at the water.

Whole water
  • From its mouth upstream to the Alaska Railroad Bridge:
  • Upstream of the Alaska Railroad Bridge:
  • General regulations on pages 15, 19-20 apply except:
  • North fork of the Kashwitna River, and all waters within a ¼ mile radius of its confluence with the Kashwitna River:
  • Only one unbaited, single-hook, artificial lure or fly is allowed year-round.
  • Rainbow/steelhead trout: Catch-and-release fishing only. All rainbow/steelhead trout caught must be released immediately.

Susitna River Drainage area (Southcentral Region) rules (base layer)

Area waters: All waters of the Susitna River Units 1-6.

  1. May 15-July 13: Sport fishing is only allowed from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day in king salmon waters.
SpeciesBag limitSize and specificationsSeason
King SalmonKing salmon fishing is closed in 2026 by emergency order. A king salmon 20 inches or longer that is removed from the water must be retained and becomes part of the bag limit of the person who originally hooked the fish. You must not remove a king salmon 20 inches or longer from the water before releasing. If you retain a king salmon 20 inches or longer, you must immediately record that harvest. See page 5 for recording instructions. There is a combined annual limit of 5 king salmon 20 inches or longer from the waters of the following areas: Cook Inlet Salt Waters, West Cook Inlet, Susitna River Drainage, Knik Arm, Anchorage Bowl, Kenai River, and Kenai Peninsula.Closed (see rule)
Coho SalmonA coho salmon 16 inches or longer that is removed from fresh water must be retained and becomes part of the bag limit of the person who originally hooked the fish. You must not remove a coho salmon 16 inches or longer from the water before releasing.Open year-round
Rainbow/Steelhead TroutThere is a total annual limit of 2 rainbow/steelhead trout 20 inches or longer taken north of the latitude of Point Adam, from the waters of the following areas: West Cook Inlet, Susitna River Drainage, Knik Arm, Anchorage Bowl, Kenai Lake drainages, Kenai River tributaries, and Kenai Peninsula. If you retain a rainbow/steelhead trout 20 inches or longer, you must immediately record that harvest. See page 5 for recording instructions.Open year-round
Northern Pike Invasive SpeciesNo limitNo limit. Live Release Prohibited. You are not allowed to release live pike back into the water. Pike not retained for personal use may be disposed of through lawful and safe methods, including returning dead pike to the water. Northern pike may be taken by spear, sport fishing gear, ice fishing gear, or by bow and arrow (the arrow must be attached to the bow with a line and the arrow must have a barbed tip). When fishing through the ice for northern pike, you may use two hooks on a single line, provided that both hooks are attached to one single piece of bait. The following special regulations apply to ice fishing for northern pike in the waters below: Sport fishing through the ice for northern pike is allowed using 5 lines provided that: Standard ice fishing gear is used; The fishing gear is closely attended, and; All other species of fish caught are released immediately. Unit 1: Alexander Creek and Lake, Amber Lake, Fish creek (Lower Susitna River), Fish Creek (Kroto Slough), Kroto Lakes, Ladyslipper Lake, Lockwood Lake, Lower and Upper Vern Lakes (Ding-Dong Lakes), Neil Lake, Parker Lake, Scotty Lake, Sucker Lake, Trail Lake, Trapper Lake, Whitsol Lake, and Witsoe Creek. Unit 2: Crystal Lake, Long Lake, Shirley Lake. Unit 4: Bulchitna Lake, Cabin Lakes, Donkey Lake, Eightmile Lake, Fish Lakes, Hewitt Lake, Indian Creek, Little Bulchitna Lake, Onestone Lake, Shell Lake, Whiskey Lake.Open year-round
BurbotBait is allowed while fishing for burbot, and burbot may be taken with more than oneOpen year-round

ADF&G 2026 Southcentral book - Susitna River Drainage · Captured in the state's own words; checked against the source July 4, 2026.

How this answer was assembled

  1. StatewideStatewide river rules are the base layer: default season, gear, bait, and limits.
  2. This waterSpecial rules written for this exact water replace the statewide defaults where they speak.
  3. Emergency orderEmergency orders in effect today override everything else. They sync quietly when the phone has coverage and never lock you out of the app.

Where this stretch begins and ends

Loading map…

The drawn shape is the named water, matched from the official list against OpenStreetMap and accepted only because the name resolved to a single feature in this water's county.

Different sections of this water can have different rules. The exact section boundaries are not marked on the map yet; each rule above describes in plain words where it starts and ends, and that written description is the authoritative boundary. Map boundaries come water by water, never as a guess.

At the water nowContext

Tonight
41°F
Scattered Rain Showers
Wind 0 to 5 mph · 28% precip
Wednesday
55°F
Mostly Sunny
Wind 0 to 5 mph · 10% precip
Wednesday Night
46°F
Mostly Cloudy
Wind 0 to 5 mph · 7% precip

Streamflow: 891 cfs at kashwitna r nr willow ak (2018-10-18 09:15)

Forecast: National Weather Service. Flow: nearest active USGS gauge in this water's area, which may sit on a different reach. Conditions are context, not rules.

What are you fishing for here?Advice

Pick from the species named in Kashwitna River Drainage's rules. Setups are checked against the gear rules in force today, and your picks are remembered on this device only. These are rule-aware suggestions, not a claim about what is biting; advice, not law, and the rules above govern.

Receipts

Alaska statewide sport fishing rules
Statewide
Checked against this official source on July 3, 2026.
Susitna River Drainage area (Southcentral Region) rules (base layer)
Statewide
Checked against this official source on July 4, 2026.
Special rules - Kashwitna River Drainage
This water
Checked against this official source on July 4, 2026.
These rules matched the official source when we last checked (July 4, 2026). If a future check ever disagrees, this page gets flagged automatically. How we check our data

Local services near Kashwitna River Drainage

Tackle shops, guides, and boat launches that serve this water will appear here - a separate lane below the rules, so a local business can reach you without ever getting between you and the regulation.

Run a shop or guide service on Kashwitna River Drainage? Get listed.