The Fishing Report For The Copper River: June 6th, 2025

Everything You Need To Know (And Then Some) About The Fish In The Copper River Right Now 

Copper River salmon. (Photo to the Journal from Neil Hannan of Kenny Lake)

 

Tracy R. Hansen

Area Management Biologist

Upper Copper/Upper Susitna 

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Division of Sport Fish – Glennallen

907.822.3309

Commercial Fishery:

When I reported last Friday (May 30), the commercial fishery was planning a 12-hour fishing period on Saturday, May 31 using a new, further offshore boundary to allow for the harvest of abundant sockeye salmon while simultaneously attempting to reduce king salmon harvest. Saturday’s commercial opener resulted in a harvest of 532 king salmon and about 57,600 sockeye salmon. Weather conditions in the Copper River District were ideal during this period and had a positive influence on the ability to harvest fish.

 

Saturday’s fishing efforts were evaluated the next morning on Sunday, June 1. Extending the fleet further offshore, specifically on the eastern side of the district, achieved a reduced king salmon harvest during that fishing period. With promising sockeye salmon harvest during Saturday’s fishery, the commercial fisheryreopened for an 18-hour period at 7:00am on Monday, June 2 and was extended for an additional 12-hours later that afternoon due to poor weather conditions significantly impacting fishing effort and catch rates. A total of 386 king salmon and about 36,000 sockeye salmon were harvested during that June 2 fishing period. This brought the total commercial catch in the Copper River District to 2,952 king salmon and 174,041 sockeye salmon as of Wednesday, June 4.

 

After evaluating June 2’s fishing period, commercial managers decided to open the Copper River District yesterday, Thursday, June 5 for a 12-hour period with the expanded inside closed waters in place for king salmon conservation. This opener did not use the further, offshore boundary that was implement for the past 2 periods but instead used the typical, expanded inside closed area.  A total of 523 king salmon and about 49,000 sockeye salmon were harvested from this 5^thfishing period of the season, bringing the total commercial catch in the Copper River District to 3,477 king salmon and 222,686 sockeye salmon as of today, June 6. 

 

Miles Lake SONAR:

Total salmon passage past the sonar is 161,979 fish through yesterday, June 5. This is about 15,000 more fish than the total management objective for this date. Since my last email, daily passage has been hovering near and below the anticipated daily objectives. Typically, June 4-12 brings some of the largest sonar counts each season. However, counts from June 3 & 4 were unexpectedly smaller than anticipated.  Yesterday’s count (June 5) has popped back up to near anticipated (about 13,000 fish) which is a good thing, but also, strong passage at the sonar has been expected due to the commercial fishery not having a fishing period a week ago on Thursday, May 28. Presumably, a large pulse of sockeye salmon were to push into the river and materialize at the sonar over the past few days. While they still may show, it is surprising that the daily counts have not seen a large spike but instead have stayed near/below the daily 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.

 

Native Village of Eyak (NVE) Fish Wheels:

As of June 4, the NVE Baird Canyon fish wheels have captured, marked, and released a total of 991 king salmon. This cumulative capture is within the range of the last 5 years, but the data are too few to make any predictions from. The wheels operating in Baird Canyon are fishing well and capture rates are correlating with the sonar, indicating good effectiveness.

 

The upriver Canyon Creek camp has only captured a total of 22 king salmon through June 4, of which 2 were marked fish. Capture rates at Canyon Creek are low for this date. Unfortunately, Canyon Creek only has 1 of their 2 fish wheels operating because the water is too low to operate the second wheel. Also–because of the low velocity–fish are swimming throughout the channel instead of being bank-oriented like usual, making the 1 operating fish wheel less effective. It is likely that the Canyon Creek wheels are under-sampling the king salmon run past this location in the river. The NVE project biologist is heading to Canyon Creek this weekend to help assess the situation and possibly find a new location to fish their fish wheel(s) more effectively. The ratio of marked to unmarked king salmon is used to estimate inriver abundance and is critical for our projections on run size.

 

Copper River:

The Copper River at the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge is the lowest it has been in over 20 years and is currently tracking about 2.5 feet lower than last year at this date.  

 

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 will officially open for the season at 6pm on Wednesday, June 11 for a 102-hour period. Sonar counts from May 26 through June 1 were used to determine fishing time for the opening week. More fish passed the sonar during that period of time than anticipated, which allows for 18 additional hours of fishing time that week.

 

Remember, dipnetters fishing in the Chitina Subdistrict are not allowed to keep any king salmon during the month of June. Any king salmon caught will be released immediately. 

 

GLENNALLEN SUBDISTRICT SUBSISTENCE FISHERY:

The Glennallen Subdistrict subsistence salmon fishery opened by regulation on Sunday, June 1 and will remain open through September 30. Reports from above the bridge in Chitina on Sunday were that dipnetters fishing from boats were getting good catches of sockeye salmon whereas fish wheels operating along the shoreline were reporting poor catch rates. The extremely low water level of the Copper River is negatively affecting fish wheel operations in the Chitina vicinity. Further upriver, the water has been a bit more cooperative and fish wheels have been reporting harvest starting earlier this week from Copper Center up through Gakona.

 

SPORT FISHERIES:

The first king salmon are trickling into the Gulkana River. Fishing the special regulation, fly-only area in the lower river and near the mouth of the Gulkana will likely have the best success since fish are only beginning to arrive. A few fish have even been caught upstream of the Richardson Highway Bridge and downstream of Sailor’s pit.

 

Sockeye salmon have begun to enter the Klutina River this week, which is a pleasant surprise when compared to last year’s late run timing. The Klutina River is running very low and unusually clear, making for excellent fishing conditions and anglers are reporting success. Fish entry into the Klutina should continue to build over the next few weeks, generally peaking through the second and third weeks of June. 

  

On going salmon research in 2025:

The Gulkana tower was installed last weekend and is fully operational. Tower counts began at 6:00 AM Monday, June 2. Only sockeye salmon have been observed passing the tower site so far. Gulkana River fish counts can be tracked at the ADF&G Fish Counts webpage.

 

Through yesterday, June 5, a total of 165 sockeye salmon have been radio tagged at in the lower river at Baird Canyon. Since my last update, 67 tagged fish (previously was only 4) have swam past our lower Copper River tracking station, located on the Copper River between the Tonsina River and the Chitina Airport.  Some of the earliest tagged fish of the season have now entered into the Tazlina River and 3 fish have made it past the Gakona station making their way to the headwaters of the Upper Copper River drainage.  Tagged fish have also gone up the Klutina and Chitina Rivers. Overall, fish are swimming fast, taking advantage of the low water and flow.

 

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. Now that additional sonar data have been collected, early projections are indicating that we will likely come in under forecast which seems to track with what we are observing at the sonar. As mentioned previously, around now is when we generally see the largest counts of the season. Unfortunately, large numbers don’t seem to be materializing past the sonar even with the conservative management of the commercial fishery. Keep in mind, it is still very early to tell what the total run will look like, and the next few days will be telling. 

 

KING SALMON: Yet again, another week has passed and king salmon run strength inriver is still largely unknown. NVE data and ARIS apportionment are largely inconclusive at this time because data is tracking both behind years where we haven’t met escapement and ahead of years where we have met escapement. However, at this point in time, not enough days of data collection have occurred to make any reasonable projections on inriver abundance yet. I know it is frustrating but we are currently in watch and wait mode. We will start having a better read on inriver abundance of king salmon beginning around June 15 and onward. Here in about 3 days, we will be reaching the mid-point of the king salmon run past Baird Canyon and the Miles Lake sonar.

 

We will be prepared to manage the upriver fisheries if abundance indices indicate we may fall below the lower bound of the drainagewide escapement goal. King salmon retention is already prohibited in the personal use fishery during the month of June. The only road-accessible king salmon sport fishery that is currently open is the Gulkana River and king salmon sport fisheries in the Klutina and Tonsina Rivers do not open until July 1.  In the past, restrictions to the king salmon sport fisheries have been released around June 18 and if needed for this year, anglers can anticipate a similar announcement date. If further action is needed to ensure meeting the escapement goal, we may also consider restrictions in the subsistence fishery. These are worst case scenarios if run strength indicators do not improve. Again, at this point in time, we have to wait and continue to watch the incoming data.

 

NEXT DECISION TIME: Tomorrow, Saturday, June 7, managers will be assessing harvest data from yesterday’s opener (Thursday, June 5). 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 9.

 

Also, on Monday (June 9) I will be reviewing the sonar counts from June 2-8 to determine how many hours the personal use fishery will be open for its second week of the season. This decision will be announced on Wednesday, June 11 for fishing time occurring the week of June 16-22.