Canada Fishing Info

A faltering return of Kenai River red salmon that shut down commercial fishing in much of Upper Cook Inlet earlier this month escalated into the first significant in-river restriction on sport fishing Wednesday. Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologists said they are closing the river downstream from the sonar that counts salmon at river Mile 19 as of midnight today. To date, only 400,000 fish have made it past the sonar, and even with commercial fishing shut down, far fewer fish than desired are entering the river. Coming as they did in large numbers early in a year when most salmon runs around the state have been late — perhaps because of colder than normal water temperatures in this cool summer — biologists thought the Kenai could be in for a strong run of reds. Of particular concern is the return to the Russian River, a hugely popular Kenai tributary 54 miles upstream — about a week’s travel time for a salmon — of Kenai sonar. Fish and Game was Wednesday within 10,000 fish of meeting the minimum red salmon escapement goal for the Yentna River, a major Susitna tributary where the spawning goal has been only rarely met. read more

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