Here's the June 20th Solstice Copper River Fishing Report

 The Fishing Report 

June 20th, 2025

From Fish & Game 

Commercial Fishery:

When I emailed last Friday, preliminary harvest data from the 24-hour commercial fishing period on Thursday, June 12 was not yet available. That period used this season’s “new” further offshore boundary that is more conservative for king salmon than the normal expanded inside closed waters, and a total of 251 king salmon and 24,774 sockeye salmon harvested. 

 

Another commercial fishing period occurred on Monday, June 16 for 12-hours. This period implemented the “regular” expanded inside closed waters for Chinook salmon. For this date, about 91% of total commercial harvest of king salmon is generally complete in the Copper River District. A total of 264 king salmon and about 27,000 sockeye salmon were harvested, bringing the season total harvest to 4,141 king salmon and 301,336 sockeye salmon.

 

Yesterday, Thursday June 19, the Copper River District opened for a 24-hour fishing period beginning at 7:00 am that used the “regular” expanded inside closed waters for king salmon conservation. That period wrapped up this morning so preliminary harvest data will not be available until tomorrow (Saturday).

 

Miles Lake SONAR:

Total salmon passage past the sonar is 454,780 salmon through yesterday, June 19. This is about 135,000 more fish than the total management objective for this date. The peak count of the season occurred on June 13, with 40,000 salmon passing in a single day and the days following remained well above the daily objectives. Currently, we’re seeing passage trends much closer to the daily management objectives. You can monitor the sonar counts, and how they compare to the anticipated or expected counts, by CLICKING HERE. Miles Lake sonar counts are also found on the Department’s Fish Counts webpage.

King salmon apportionment at the sonar has seen an uptick, which is an unexpected (pleasant!) surprise from last week’s counts. Cumulative passage is tracking very similar to 2021and 2024 (both of which are years when we didn’t meet escapement) and 2023 (a year when escapement was achieved). Past years of apportionment information from 2019-2024 show the average midpoint of the king salmon run past Miles Lake occurs on June 10. When I emailed last week, the apportionment of large king salmon had taken a nosedive a few days earlier, during a period of time when we should be seeing increasing--not decreasing--passage. It was very disheartening at the time and set an ominous tone for the king salmon run.  Since then, we’ve had some unexpected stronger passage days past the sonar, of which some of the largest apportionment counts for those dates were recorded. It is an anomaly compared to past years, that’s for sure, but what it means is unknown. A stronger, later component of king salmon passage is a welcome sign but who knows how long it will last. 

 

Native Village of Eyak (NVE) Fish Wheels:

As of June 19, the NVE Baird Canyon fish wheels have captured, marked, and released a total of 2,692 king salmon. However, the NVE fish wheels running at Canyon Creek have only captured a total of 147 salmon, of which 12 have been marked. The recapture rate through last week was high (greater than 10% for several days straight) and fish have been swimming fast (4-7 days travel time between Baird Canyon and Canyon Creek). Also, catch rates at the Baird Canyon wheels increased earlier this week, correlating with the uptick in king salmon apportionment observed at Miles Lake sonar.

 

The Copper River is rising and has allowed NVE to launch and operate their 2^nd fish wheel at Canyon Creek. Rising river stage may help with fish wheel catch efficiency by orienting salmon towards the bank (where they are susceptible to catch by fish wheel) instead of throughout the channel.  But with the rising water comes the paired struggle of continuously adjusting fishing depth and dealing with large amounts of debris.

 

Current indices still point to a weak king salmon run. Using available NVE data, king salmon inriver abundance is projecting a final estimate between 24,000 – 28,000 fish. Keep in mind precision and accuracy will increase over the next week as more data is collected. Also, this projection does not include harvest, and we know that the subsistence fishery harvests an average of 3,500 king salmon each year. A cut back was necessary to reduce harvest in the sport fishery, and as data collection continues into next week, we may need to take additional restrictions. No actions have been taken in the personal use fishery yet because they currently cannot keep any king salmon by regulation. We can continue to collect data and reassess early next week and make a decision before retention is even allowed in the personal use fishery.

 

Copper River:

Since last Friday, the Copper River at the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge has increased about 3 feet in depth. The warm temperatures and sunshine have been melting snowpack at higher elevations raising the water level quickly. While the river has come up quite a bit, it is still lower than last year on this date and is below the average stage height. You can monitor the Copper River stage gauge in Chitina online at this NOAA site.

 

CHITINA SUBDISTRICT PERSONAL USE FISHERY:

The Chitina Subdistrict Personal Use salmon dip net fishery is currently open and will remain open for the entire week of June 16–22 and June 23–29. With the recent, rapid rise in water level, fishing has slowed down quite a bit. Dipnetters fishing in the Chitina Subdistrict are not allowed to keep any king salmon during the month of June. Any king salmon caught must be released immediately. 

 

GLENNALLEN SUBDISTRICT SUBSISTENCE FISHERY:

The Glennallen Subdistrict subsistence salmon fishery is currently open. Reports from the subsistence fishery is also slow with the recent surge in river stage. Folks are reporting slow and spotty fish wheel catch and dipnetters above the bridge are likely also experiencing slower catches with the rising water. 

 

SPORT FISHERIES:

King salmon continue to move into the Gulkana River. Most sport fishing success continues to occur upstream of the Richardson Highway bridge to Sailor’s pit, but fish are being caught near Sourdough also.  Little effort is occurring downstream of the bridge in the special, fly-only area. 

 

An Emergency Order was released effective Friday, June 20 reducing the king salmon annual limit in the sport fishery and prohibiting the use of bait and treble hooks in the Gulkana River drainage. Because the inriver abundance projection estimates a final inriver number of king salmon near the lower bound of the escapement goal, we cannot allow unrestricted harvest in the sport fishery.  Additionally, indices of early-run king salmon returning to the Copper River appear weaker than anticipated based on NVE fish wheel recapture rates at Canyon Creek through June 15 and past radiotelemetry studies show that Upper Copper and Gulkana River king salmon stocks are the earliest stocks returning to the river. Because of that, additional restrictions for the Gulkana River were implemented.

 

Sockeye salmon continue to enter the Klutina River and anglers were reporting success earlier this week but over the past two days, fishing has slowed. Similar to the Copper, the Klutina River stage height is rising a few inches each day.

 

On going salmon research in 2025:

The Gulkana counting tower has passed a total of 411 king salmon and 2,106 sockeye salmon through yesterday, June 19. The king salmon counts are better than the last few years but remember, the salmon runs for those years have been later than normal so what this truly means for abundance is yet to be determined.  Gulkana River fish counts can be tracked at the ADF&G Fish Counts webpage.

 

Through yesterday, June 19, a total of 512 sockeye salmon have been radio tagged at Baird Canyon. Since my last update, 180 tagged fish have swam past our lower Copper River tracking station (previously was 133 tagged fish). A total of 11 radio tagged fish have entered the Chitina River (previously 8), 109 tags have entered the Klutina River (previously 63), followed by 23 tags in the Tazlina River (previously 19), and 5 tags in the Gulkana River (previously 4). So far, 9 tagged fish have made it past the Gakona station making their way to the headwaters of the Upper Copper River drainage, of which 7 of those tags have already passed Chistochina (last week was 6 tags).

 

If you catch a radio-tagged salmon this season, we ask that you please contact the office at 907-822-3309 so we can collect data on when and where the fish was harvested, and the tag number located on the tag itself. Also, if you can return the tag to us in a timely manner, it can be reused this season and put into another salmon.  You can mail in or drop off your radio tags in Glennallen or any other local Fish and Game office. There is a drop box out front of the office if you pass through Glennallen after-hours, as well as a drop box located at O’Brien Creek on the ADF&G Information Board and another near the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge on the East side of the river.

 

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR NOW:

SOCKEYE SALMON:  We will continue to monitor and track daily passage at Miles Lake. Cumulative passage past the sonar to date is projecting that we will exceed the inriver goal by over 200,000 fish. As of now, we are not yet projected to exceed the top end of the sockeye salmon escapement goal. 

 

KING SALMON: Projections on king salmon point towards an inriver estimate near 25,000 fish. Restrictions have been implemented in the sport fishery and we will continue to monitor NVE capture data to determine if further action is needed to ensure we meet the escapement goal. This could lead to additional restrictions in the sport or personal use fisheries but at this time, I am hopeful we will not need to restrict the subsistence fishery.

 

NEXT DECISION TIME: Tomorrow, Saturday, June 21, commercial managers will be assessing data from yesterday’s opener (Thursday, June 19). Commercial harvest, compared with sonar counts and king salmon indices, will be used by Division of Commercial Fisheries staff to make a decision for Monday, June 23. 

 

On Monday (June 23) I will be reviewing the sonar counts from June 16-22 to determine how many hours the personal use fishery will be open for its fourth week of the season. This decision will be announced on Wednesday, June 25 for fishing time occurring the week of June 30-July 6. 

 

We will also be scrutizing all NVE and sonar data to update our king salmon projections to determine if/how we need to reduce the harvest. If restrictions on king salmon are needed in the personal use fishery, they will likely be included in next week’s EO for that fishery.

 

While the king salmon run still isn’t looking the best, I have more optimism now than I did last week at this time. Please remember that the Department manages fisheries to provide commercial, sport, personal use, and subsistence harvest opportunity to the extent possible while ensuring spawning escapement falls within the sustainable escapement goal range.

 

Thanks again for your attention to this email and feel free to reach out with questions. Wishing you all a fun, safe, and happy summer solstice.

 

Tracy R. Hansen

Area Management Biologist

Upper Copper/Upper Susitna 

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Division of Sport Fish – Glennallen

907.822.3309