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Coming out of an eventful weekend, districts continue to pull in fish by the hundreds of thousands, with Nushagak nearly hitting 1.5 million alone on Sunday. Escapement has calmed down a bit, and Port Moller catch indices are beginning to spread out more evenly across districts.

The Nushagak region opened to commercial fishing last week, with fleets bringing in almost 3 million fish so far. Baywide, the total catch is 4.6 million. Bristol Bay saw a record low average weight for sockeye last year, but researchers predict that this season, the average fish will be bigger and heavier. We hear from ecologist Curry Cunningham about why he’s expecting larger sockeye.

A wild, record-breaking catch index over at Port Moller adds to the peculiar 2025 fishing season; further testimony that the salmon are going to continue running strong. Yesterday’s catch in the Nushagak well surpassed a million, as crews attacked this crazy first week of openings.

Looking ahead at the fishing season, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game forecasts a bay-wide run of 51.3 million sockeye. That’s roughly the same as last year’s 51.6 million-fish run. Sockeye numbers in the Nushagak River on Friday, June 20 are the highest they’ve been on this date in recorded history. Dillingham ushered in the season with several events meant to bring the community together and bless the fleet before they head into the bay.

Total catch in the Nushagak breaks a million, as fleets brought in half of that on Tuesday. Escapement in the Nushagak and Wood continues to decrease after that huge spike over the weekend, and Port Moller crews note that it shouldn't be too long before we know whether the sockeye run is indeed as early as it seems.