One More Time – Fish & Game Information On July 25th, 2025

  

Final Salmon Information Of The Season 

Fish & Game, Glennallen 

July 25th, 2025 

Outdoor salmon cooking (Photo, Neil Hannan)

Commercial Fishery:

At the time of my last email, the Copper River District was open for a 60-hour commercial fishing period that began on Thursday, July 17. A total of 21 king salmon and about 77,000 sockeye salmon were harvested during this period.

 

The Copper River District opened for a 48-hour period on Monday, July 21. A total of 10 king salmon and about 34,000 sockeye salmon were harvested. This brings the season total harvest in the Copper River District to 5,466 king salmon and 798,209 sockeye salmon.

 

The Copper River District is currently open for a 60-hour period that began at 7:00 a.m. Thursday, July 24.

 

Commercial harvest information can continue to be tracked through the Division of Commercial Fisheries’ Prince William Sound and Copper River webpage at: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=commercialbyareapws.salmon#harvest

 

Miles Lake SONAR:

Total salmon passage past the sonar is 875,503 salmon through July 24. This is about 288,000 more fish than the cumulative management objective for this date. Daily passage has begun to taper down over the past few days and is now hovering around the anticipated daily passage for these dates. The Miles Lake sonar is nearing the end of its seasonal operations, and the last day of counts typically occurs on July 28. You can monitor the final sonar counts of the season, and how they compare to the anticipated or expected counts, by CLICKING HERE. 

 

 

King salmon cumulative apportionment at the Miles Lake sonar has been tracking very similar to 2021and 2024. Over 99.5% of the king salmon run has passed Miles Lake sonar by this point in the season.

 

Native Village of Eyak (NVE) Fish Wheels:

The NVE mark-recapture project has pretty much wrapped up for the season. The Baird Canyon camp captured a total of 2,928 king salmon this season and the Canyon Creek camp captured a total of 610 king salmon, of which 82 were tagged. Inseason projections from this NVE data indicate that the final inriver king salmon abundance estimate will likely be below the lower bound of the SEG. However, the data will be closely examined for errors and discrepancies post-season and undergo rigorous analyses on how best to estimate abundance. 

 

Copper River:

The Copper River stage height at the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge remains at a 20-year low for this time of year. 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 through August 31 by Emergency Order. The fishery is then open by regulation from September 1 through 30. King salmon retention in the personal use fishery has been prohibited this season by Emergency Order.

 

GLENNALLEN SUBDISTRICT SUBSISTENCE FISHERY:

The Glennallen Subdistrict subsistence salmon fishery is currently open and will also remain open through September 30. There are no restrictions in place for king salmon in the subsistence fishery.

 

SPORT FISHERIES:

All Upper Copper River drainage king salmon sport fisheries have been restricted to catch-and-release and bait and treble hooks have been prohibited in all flowing waters. The king salmon sport fishing season closed on the Gulkana River, and the upper portions of the Klutina and Tonsina Rivers, on July 20 by regulation. The lower portions of the Klutina and Tonsina Rivers remain open to catch-and-release king salmon fishing through August 10. Sockeye salmon fishing reports over the past week in the Klutina River have been mixed. Sockeye entry into the Gulkana has been increasing and anglers are reporting some success for sockeye from Sourdough down to the Richardson Highway Bridge. 

 

On going salmon research in 2025:

The Gulkana counting tower has passed a total of 3,909 king salmon and 8,556 sockeye salmon through July 24. The Gulkana River counting tower will operate through mid-August in order to count the entirety of the king salmon run. The Gulkana River fish counts can be tracked at the ADF&G Fish Counts webpage.

 

Through July 23, a total of 982 sockeye salmon have been radio tagged at Baird Canyon and a total of 355 (previously 301) tagged fish have swam past our lower Copper River tracking station downstream of the Tonsina River. A total of 22 (previously 24) tagged fish have entered the Chitina River drainage, 6 tags (previously 3) have entered the Tonsina River, 241 tags (previously 217) have entered the Klutina River, followed by 26 tags in the Tazlina River (same as last week), 19 tags (previously 11) in the Gulkana River and 22 tags have passed the Gakona station (previously 18). Of those 22 radio tags that have passed Gakona, 16 tags (previously 12) have passed Chistochina heading further upstream.  Sockeye salmon will continue to be radio-tagged through the end of the month. 

 

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.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

 

Thank you for taking the time to read through these updates for the past 2 months. I’m available in person in the Glennallen office, by email, or by phone to answer any questions you may have, and you can expect these emails to begin once again next season.

 

I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer. Take care,

 

Tracy R. Hansen

Area Management Biologist

Upper Copper/Upper Susitna 

Alaska Department of Fish & Game

Division of Sport Fish – Glennallen

907.822.3309