Anglers can now take up to 10 fish from the river per day starting July 11. But, only 5 can be chum or pink salmon, and only two can be coho, or silvers.
So far, 7,126 sockeye have passed through the Saltery River weir as of July 9. Tyler Polum, an area management biologist for the department, said that’s likely a fraction of the number of fish on their way.
“Historically, we’re only at about 15% of the run and so, by all accounts, we’re going to meet the escapement goal and then probably go over as well,” he said.
Polum expects the run could finish with up to 50 thousand sockeye by the end of the year – well over the upper escapement goal of 35 thousand.
He said that’s been mostly the case for the last decade for the Saltery River, despite all of the fishing in the area.
“Between the three fisheries – the sport, commercial and subsistence – there’s a pretty large number of fish that get taken every year and that run still seems to be producing pretty well despite the harvest,” Polum said.
That river isn’t the only one in the archipelago with increased sport fishing limits either. Up to 10 sockeye per day can be caught and kept from the Buskin and Ayakulik Rivers, too. Restrictions for other salmon species can be found on Fish and Game’s website. Polum said those runs will likely exceed the upper escapement goals for the species this year as well.
However, no Chinook can be kept in the Ayakulik River, which has had record low returns in recent years. Fishing for kings was completely closed on the west side of the archipelago for all of May and June, and sport fishing is still limited to one Chinook per day due to low counts across the Gulf of Alaska.
Polum said he hopes anglers can still enjoy targeting sockeye, or reds.
“I know a lot of folks are bummed out about our saltwater king salmon limits, so I’m glad that there’s, between Buskin and Pasagshak and Saltery, there’s quite a few reds around for folks to get, at least in the fresh water,” he said.
The limit for Chinook across the Gulf of Alaska ends Sept. 15. The increased limits for Saltery Cove as well as the Buskin and Ayakulik Rivers end Dec. 31.
