The Alaska Department of Fish and Game released an advisory announcement and emergency order last week that starting 12:01am on Monday, June 20th Chitina personal-use dipnetters will no longer be all0wed to keep a king salmon in the dip net fishery. Additionally, sport fishing for king salmon in all waters of the Copper River drainage upstream of Haley Creek, which includes the Gulkana and Klutina Rivers, will be restricted to catch-and-release only starting at 12:01am on Monday, June 20th. The emergency order also restricts anglers to one unbaited, single hook, artificial lure. Any king salmon caught in either fishery must be released immediately.
The restriction on retaining king salmon is based on test wheel capture rates that indicate the 2022 Copper River king salmon run appears to be weaker than the preseason forecast of 40,000 kings. Those test wheel catch rates match up with declines in daily king salmon apportionment at the Miles Lake sonar. The good news is a sufficient number of sockeye salmon have been counted at the sonar to justify a 168-hour dip net opening starting at 12:01am on Monday, June 20th and continuing through 11:59pm Sunday, June 26th. That’s an increase of 36 hours from the preseason schedule. A total of 152,886 salmon were counted past the Miles Lake sonar for the week of Jun 6-12 which was 86,076 fish above the preseason projection.
CLICK HERE to visit the emergency order regarding the king salmon retention restriction at Chitina. CLICK HERE to read the advisory announcement and emergency order regarding the Copper River King salmon sport fishery being restricted to catch-and-release only.