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With blistering winds and stormy seas yesterday, the first commercial opening of the Nushagak was quite the event. Management biologists determined that a sufficient number of sockeye were on their way to the Nushagak sonar station to open up the district to commercial harvest. Nushagak fleets brought in nearly 248,000 fish. Port Moller’s test fishing yesterday had to come to a halt, with winds and weather preventing them from collecting samples at all stations except for one.

The baywide catch yesterday topped a million for the first time this season, with a haul of 1.6 million fish. Nushagak fleets brought in about a third of those fish, followed by fleets in the Naknek/Kvichak and Egegik. Test fishery crews say they expect a push of Nushagak fish today and tomorrow with Kvichak fish to follow. Almost two thirds of the fish caught at Port Moller this season have been caught in the smaller mesh size, indicating smaller fish. That trend of smaller fish is expected to continue this season.

Monday’s baywide catch was just around 380,000 fish total, continuing to pull the majority of that number from the Naknek/Kvichak and drawing in the rest from the remaining districts. Both the Wood River and Naknek tower crews are packing things up for the season, as we get their final escapement counts for the year.

Districts continue to bring in plenty of fish this week, with yesterday’s catch numbers higher than Sunday’s. The Nushagak hauls in most of the catch, and Ugashik/Egegik districts catch substantially more than they did on Sunday. With some districts passing preseason expectations–and others not quite reaching them–it’s fascinating to see how this season is shaping up to conclude.

Monday’s baywide catch was over 900,000, with the numbers evening out across the districts. Excitement continues to build in the Kvichak river, with dozens of additional boats heading that way. The Kvichak river’s total escapement counts are climbing rapidly, catching up with the Wood river. Port Moller crews also estimate 42% of the next run of fish should be headed in that direction. Due to the recent drop in catch indices, they say there’s also indication of a bimodal run this season, meaning we might see another push of fish this summer.