newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — Just when it looked like dip netting at Chitina was going downhill fast, things are looking up for dip-netters.

A flood of salmon poured past the sonar counter at Miles Lake during the past week on the Copper River. More than 150,000 fish passed the sonar counter in the past week, including more than 70,000 on July 4-5 alone.

Though it will likely take those fish two to three weeks to reach Chitina, the blast of fish means that the personal-use dip net fishery will be open continuously through July 27 and will result in two supplemental periods for the weeks of July 14-20 and 21-27. Dip-netters can catch an extra 10 fish during a supplemental period, which is declared when the number of fish going past the sonar for a certain time period exceeds preseason projections by 50,000 or more.

Last week, based on lower-than-expected sonar numbers and a prolonged closure of the Cordova commercial fishing fleet, area management biologist Mark Somerville said it was likely that dip-netters’ fishing time would be cut.

“The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for the dip net fishery,” Somerville reported. “I think this is the moment everyone has been waiting for.”

Somerville predicted that the burst of fish past the sonar would hit Chitina the week of July 21.

Until then, dip-netters will have to bide their time. Fishing over the July 4 weekend was fair but nothing to write home about Somerville said. The Copper River is still high, which usually means poor fishing.

Charter operator Mark Hem didn’t offer any good news on his hotline report on Monday.

“The river is still high, the fishing is poor and I’m tired of doing this report,” a discouraged Hem said. “Fishing will be poor until the river stops coming up.”

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There are king salmon in both the Chena and Salcha rivers and Bill O’Halloran can vouch for it.

“We did some test fishing last weekend and caught kings in the Salcha,” reported O’Halloran, owner of North Country River Charters in Fairbanks, one of the few local outfits that offers king charters. “They were nice fish.”

O’Halloran said he saw other kings being caught, too, and there kings rolling near the mouth of the Salcha.

It’s still too early to judge the run based on king counts at the Moose Creek Dam on the Chena and at the Richardson Highway bridge on the Salcha, but it appears to be building, area management biologist Audra Brase at ADF&G in Fairbanks said. Subsistence fishermen in Nenana report good king catches in fish wheels, a positive sign that the Tanana River’s king run may be stronger than the Yukon’s.

It remains to be seen what kind of effect the rain in Fairbanks this week will have on water clarity in the Chena and Salcha.

The Salcha was still clear on Tuesday night, said Roger Fleming, a guide for North Country, who reported hooking five kings.

“Hopefully the water won’t go brown on us,” he said.

• • •

Anglers reported good success king salmon fishing in the Gulkana River during the July 4 weekend, but the river blew out starting on Sunday because of heavy rain, Somerville said.

“High and muddy,” he said, describing the conditions on Tuesday. “It’s a mess right now.”

Whether it will clear up by the weekend remains to be seen, but there still appear to be plenty of fish in the river.

Almost 2,000 kings have been counted at a counting tower above the Sourdough boat launch.

• • •

The Klutina River is putting out some big kings and there are lots of them in the river now, said Erick Nickel at Klutina Salmon Charters.

“(Monday) we brought in one over 50 pounds and one over 60 pounds,” he reported.

Fishing for kings has picked up, Nickel said.

“Everybody is hitting fish right now,” he said. “There’s a big slug of fish in the river.

“I think we’re getting the tail end of the first run and the beginning of the second run all at once.”

Fishing for reds in the Klutina is still productive, too, he said.

• • •

Another possible king salmon fishing spot is the Tonsina River, south of the more popular Gulkana and Klutina rivers.

“I was down there yesterday at the Richardson Highway bridge and I was watching kings roll right there,” Somerville reported. “There’s nobody fishing there.”

• • •

Pink salmon are starting to flood in to Valdez and anglers are having good success catching pinks off Allison Point, reports Billy Marr at Fish Central in Valdez.

“Two hours before and after high tide is the best but it’s getting to the point where you can catch them at almost any time,” he said.

There have also been a few silvers reportedly caught farther out in Prince William Sound, Marr said.

The halibut fishing has been decent, but no monsters have showed up on the docks lately. The leader in the Valdez Halibut Derby is still 244 pounds and it remains to be seen if the top derby fish will break the 300-pound mark for the fourth year in a row.

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King salmon fishing in all the Parks Highway streams of the Mat-Su Valley, with the exception of the Little Susitna River and the East Fork Chulitna River, is now closed.

Streams that are still open to king fishing in the Valley are the Talkeetna River, Lake Creek, the Talachulitna River and the Eklutna Tailrace, though anglers will have to sift through a few fish to find one that is good for the freezer because the kings are starting to get blushed.

With the exception of the Eklutna Tailrace, king salmon fishing closes for all northern and western Cook Inlet area waters on July 13.

The Deshka River remains closed to king salmon fishing because of a weak return. Silver salmon are starting to show up in some streams, though in small numbers. There have been reports of a few coho being caught in the lower Little Susitna River and some silvers have been counted through the Deshka weir.

• • •

Fishing for sockeye and king salmon in the Kenai River is slow, according to Robert Begich, area management biologist for ADF&G in Soldotna.

“For king salmon we are at the third lowest return on record to date and fishing is poor,” Begich wrote in an e-mail.

The peak of the late king run in the Kenai is traditionally July 19 so fishing should improve.  Water in the Russian River is low and fishing for sockeye salmon there is currently rated as poor.

Anglers are catching some kings in the Kasilof River but more fish should be showing up soon.

The Kenai River personal-use dip net fishery opens at 6 a.m. today but dip netting isn’t expected to be hot with only about 1,000 fish a day entering the river.