Sometime today someone in the Nushagak is catching the sockeye that will break the all time harvest record for the district, and boats are piling into Ugashik for the next million or so of the run. Bristol Bay's total run has shot past 47 million as river after river "over escapes." Thanks for your generous support during pledge drive week! We raised at least $60,000 in new contributions, and we're not even sure what's coming in on fish tickets.
Westside fishermen who are calling it quits were steaming up Scandinavian Creek on this morning's high tide, while someone else in the Nushagak District was landing the fish that will set the all time district harvest record. The Wood, Nushagak, and Igushik Rivers have all over-escaped, too, during this explosive, record shattering westside year. Egegik is having a fantastic season too, now surpassing its preseason forecast for harvest and total run, and the Egegik River has also over-escaped. Ugashik has about a million fish to go, if it comes in on size, and the fleet there is growing quickly to capitalize. The Naknek Kvichak Fleet is big, but has been bigger in years past when skippers apparently had more confidence the forecast was accurate. Many processors all around the Bay continue to keep their fleet on various catch limits while they keep chewing through these big harvest days (yesterday was another 1.6 million). Today, Area M North Pen manager Bob Murphy offers an update, saying the fleet harvest down there is smaller than usual because of catch limits, too, but that their season has gone very well. Tim Sands, ADF&G's Bristol Bay westside manager, chimes in on the Togiak run (the smallest and latest of Bristol Bay's districts), and we invite Mark Buckley, president of Digital Observer, Inc., on to talk about the improvements to Bristol Bay salmon quality. Make a pledge of financial support online this weekend! Keep this program funded for next year!
Catch this program nightly at 6 p.m., 10 p.m., and 2 a.m. on AM 670, and online at KDLG.org. (With early broadcasts Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.)
Letters from home to your friends and family in the Bay this summer? Email us at fish@kdlg.org or dave@kdlg.org, or call 907-842-5281.
Have feedback, suggestions of something you'd like to hear? ReachAveryLill / Nick Ciolino /Allison Mollenkamp / or Caitlin Tan (in Naknek)
