Pasagshak Drainage Closing to Sockeye Angling

Jay Barrett/KMXT
Poor escapement has claimed another popular sportsfishing spot on Kodiak Island. In an emergency order today (Wednesday), the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced the closure of the Pasagshak River drainage to sportfishing for sockeye salmon. It goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday and is closed until further notice.
According to Fish and Game figures, the escapement goal for sockeye into the Pasagshak River drainage is 3,000 fish, but as of Monday (July 14), the weir count was just 410 sockeye salmon.
As a result, and based on historical run timing, the department is not projecting the Pasagshak system to meet its goal.

Sockeye Bag Limit Increase on Two More Kodiak Area Rivers

Jay Barrett/KMXT
There’s again more opportunity to catch some red salmon because of the strong run this year.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game has increased the limit for sockeye in both the Dog Salmon River drainage and the Saltry Cove drainage to 10 per day and 10 in possession, beginning at 12:01 a.m. Thursday. The increase is in effect for the rest of the season.
The escapement goal for the Dog Salmon River is 75,000 to 170,000 fish. As of the end of June the weir count showed 48,000 had passed and the department is projecting the escapement will exceed the 170,000 upper end of the desired range.
The escapement goal for sockeye in the Saltry River drainage is 15,000 to 35,000. About 20 percent of the way through the run the Saltry River weir count was greater than 10,000 and based on historic run time, the department is expecting overescapement there, as well.

Updated – Kodiak Sockeye Harvest Over 1-Million

ADF&G Kodiak Salmon Harvest through June 30
Jay Barrett/KMXT
The Kodiak Management Area sockeye salmon harvest jumped the million-fish mark Saturday, with a catch of 28,723. The sockeye total is now 1,020,655. Total salmon harvest area-wide is about 1.19-million, which includes about 124,000 chum, 32,000 pinks and just over 11,000 kings.
The Kodiak Westside areas of Karluk, Northwest Kodiak and Southwest Afognak accounts for about half the sockeye total, with Cape Igvak and Wide Bay about a third.
Meanwhile, the Karluk escapement continues to run stronger than all but one year in the last eight, with 215,160 crossing the weir through Saturday. The Ayakulik is slightly a head of the past four years with 165,274 sockeye escapement.

Open Water for Buskin Subsistence Fishing Expands

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Jay Barrett/KMXT
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have opened up more water at the mouth of the Buskin River in an attempt to limit sockeye salmon escapement into Buskin Lake.
A release from the Kodiak office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game says, “In order to prevent a higher than desired sockeye escapement into the Buskin River, closed waters will be reduced to the stream terminus at the ocean shoreline at Buskin River at noon, June 18th until July 31, 2013.”
The desired escapement range for Buskin sockeye is 5,000 to 8,000 fish, and the weir has counted 9,125 passing through Monday, which saw an escapement of 1,312 sockeye that day alone.
The Fish and Game message also points out that there are certain rules subsistence fishermen must observe when fishing at the mouth of the river.
“Subsistence fishermen are reminded that subsistence seine and gillnet gear may not be operated in a manner to obstruct more than one half the width of any waterway, and any channel or side channel of any waterway. Fishermen should also consult both State of Alaska fishing regulations and the Federal Subsistence Management regulations to waters subject to ANILCA Title 8, before fishing.”
The expanded open water went into effect at noon Tuesday, and will remain so until the end of July.

Sockeye Salmon Continue Strong Run

Jay Barrett/KMXT
Two fisheries in the Kodiak Management Area continue to see a lot of sockeye salmon harvest, less than a week into the season. Cape Igvak and Wide Bay had over 93,000 reds caught through Tuesday, while the Karluk, Northwest Kodiak and Southwest Afognak area has registered nearly 86,000.
On Tuesday, 23,682 sockeye were harvested in the KMA, bringing the season total to 204,298. Over 1,2,00 chum were caught on Tuesday, boosting its total over 9,000. There have been 1,600 king salmon netted – largely on the west side – so far this season, and 538 kinda early humpies. No silver salmon have yet been counted.
The Foul Bay Special Harvest Area has accounted for nearly 4,200 reds caught, while the Waterfall SHA has seen over 2,600.

As far as escapement goes, the sockeye are slamming the Karluk River Weir, which is – by far – seeing its best red season since 2004. Escapement through Tuesday was 136,307, which is 132,701 more than the same time last year. Over 10,000 fish went by on Tuesday.
The Chignik River is still behind the last two years, but much further ahead than any other year since 2005.
The Ayakulik saw nearly 14,000 escape on Tuesday, boosting its season total to nearly 42,000. Upper Station and the Buskin are both well ahead of recent years, while Litnik is neck-and-neck with last year’s return.

All those numbers are through Tuesday. We usually get updates from Fish and Game in mid morning, so tune into the Midday Report for an update.

Buskin Sockeye Bag Limit Boosted

Jay Barrett/KMXT
More good news for anglers looking to fight some salmon this summer – the Alaska Department of Fish and Game is increasing the bag and possession limit in the Buskin River Drainage for sockeye. The Department had already increased the bag limit on the Afognak River. Starting at 1 minute after midnight Wednesday morning, the bag limit for sockeye 20 inches or longer will be five fish per day, with five in possession.
It turns out the red salmon return is going strong at the Buskin, as it is elsewhere in the Kodiak Management Area, and there is concern the escapement goal will be exceeded.
In a release by Kodiak Area Management Biologist Donn Tracy, he notes the biological escapement goal range is 5,000 to 8,000 fish, and the weir count is already over 4,000. He writes that the Department is now projecting the escapement will exceed 8,000 even with the additional sports harvest opportunity.
The increased bag limit is in effect until further notice.