Baywide Total
The baywide catch on Tuesday was 2,205,637 fish, making the total season catch 14,609,950. Overall escapement is at 5,753,542 so far. The total run as of Tuesday, July 1 was estimated at 21,743,492 sockeye. The preseason forecast is set at 51.4 million fish, and the preseason estimated range is 37–66 million fish.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets hauled in 1,258,270 fish on Tuesday, for a total of 8,164,891 with an average drift delivery of 1,334 sockeye. The pre-season catch forecast in the Nushagak District is 15.7 million fish.
Escapement was 242,214 yesterday, for an overall count of 4,016,314 so far. The total run this season in the Nushagak District is 12,181,205, and the pre-season forecast is 21 million fish.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 160,188 sockeye on Tuesday, for a total of 2,424,028 sockeye up the Nushagak so far, with another 30,246 fish passing the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning.
49 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar; their total is 25,683 so far this season. 4,435 chum salmon passed the sonar, for a total of 283,279.
The Nushagak River has surpassed its expected escapement of 2 million fish, and is within its escapement goal range of 370,000 to 2.5 million. The escapement goal range for chinook salmon is 55,000 to 120,000.
Wood River
71,412 sockeye passed the Wood River counting tower on Tuesday, for a total of 1,445,802 so far, with another 17,034 fish passing the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning. Overall escapement is forecasted to be 2.4 million sockeye this season, and the Wood is within its escapement goal range of 700,000 to 3 million.
Igushik
The Igushik tower crew counted 10,614 fish yesterday, for a total of 146,484, with an additional 4,350 fish counted as of 6 a.m. this morning. Igushik’s preseason escapement estimate is 340,000 fish.
Togiak
Fishing crews in Togiak caught 11,975 fish on Tuesday, with a total catch of 29,130 so far. The pre-season catch forecast is 750,000 fish.
The Togiak River’s forecasted run is 1 million fish, and its escapement estimate is 230,000.
Naknek-Kvichak
Naknek and Kvichak fishing fleets caught 467,932 fish yesterday; their total is 2,349,588, with a drift delivery of 1,174 sockeye. The pre-season catch forecast is around 7.7 million fish.
Escapement was 557,880 yesterday, for an overall count of 1,126,788 so far. The total run this season in the Naknek-Kvichak District is 4,676,376, and the pre-season forecast is a 16 million sockeye run.
Naknek River
Naknek tower crews spotted 145,020 fish yesterday, their total is 558,504. The Naknek’s escapement estimate is 1.1 million sockeye, and escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million.
Kvichak River
The Kvichak River crews counted 201,762 fish, for a total of 316,494. Their escapement forecast is at 4 million fish, and their escapement goal range is 2 million to 10 million.
Egegik
Egegik fleets brought in 340,114 fish yesterday, making their total catch 2,730,648, with an average drift delivery of 920 sockeye. The pre-season catch forecast is 5.2 million fish.
92,898 spawners were counted passing the towers in Egegik yesterday, making the season’s total escapement 546,828 fish. The Egegik river’s escapement forecast is 1.1 million fish, with an escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million.
The total season run so far for Egegik is 3,377,476, and the preseason run forecast is 6.5 million sockeye salmon.
Ugashik
Ugashik fleets brought in 127,346 fish yesterday, their total harvest is 1,335,693, with an average drift delivery of 771 sockeye. Ugashik’s catch forecast is 5.5 million fish.
Escapement in Ugashik was 6,894 yesterday, for a total of 63,612 and escapement is an expected 1.2 million, with an escapement goal range of 500,000 to 1.4 million.
The total season run for Ugashik is 1,479,305, and the preseason run forecast is 6.9 million sockeye.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 233 permits on 167 boats. By Friday that should stay the same, and the number of DBoats will stay at 67.
The Ugashik District has 219 permits on 149 boats, which will stay the same in the next 2 days. DBoats will stay at 70.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 308 permits on 239 boats. That should increase to 345 permits on 261 boats by Friday. DBoats will increase from 69 to 84.
In the Nushagak, there are 814 permits on 584 boats. In the next 2 days that should move up to 805 permits on 579 boats. DBoats will increase from 231 to 225.
In Togiak there are 22 permits on 22 boats, and that should stay the same by Friday.
In total bay-wide, there are 1,596 active permits on 1,161 boats and 437 DBoats.
Chignik River weir
At the Chignik River weir, 4,698 sockeye swam through the weir on Tuesday, for a season total of 279,123 so far.
4,105 fish were part of the early run, and 593 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M yesterday, fleets harvested 9,417 sockeye on Tuesday for a season total of over 822,274.
15 chinook were caught yesterday, and their overall harvest is 2,264 thus far.
Fleets caught 62 chum on Tuesday, for a total of 165,090.
24 pinks were caught the other day, their harvest is 127,084.
And no cohos were caught on Tuesday, their total is 242.
A total of 1,116,954 salmon across all species have been caught in Area M this season.
Port Moller Test Fishery
The overall catch index yesterday was quite low, but crews say this is expected around this time of the season. Also, they note that their travel time estimate for the Kvichak district was off, it now appears to be 9 days.
For Port Moller catches on Tuesday, no fish were caught at stations 2 and 16.
Station 4 caught 1 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 3.
Station 6 caught 21 fish in the small net and 9 fish in the big net. That catch index is 78.
Station 8 caught 6 fish in the small net and 19 fish in the big net. That catch index is 65.
Station 10 caught 5 fish in the small net and 4 fish in the big net. That catch index is 23.
Station 12 caught 1 fish in the small net and 5 fish in the big net. That catch index is 16.
Station 14 caught 3 fish in the small net and 3 fish in the big net. That catch index is 17.
Station 18 caught 0 fish in the small net and 11 fish in the big net. That catch index is 29.
Station 20 caught 2 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 5.
Station 22 caught 14 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 38.
Station 24 caught 6 fish in the small net and 5 fish in the big net. That catch index is 29.
Overall, the average catch index for Tuesday was 25, the lowest they’ve had in 2 weeks. The average length of fish caught in the small mesh is 506mm, and 530mm for fish in the big mesh.
Messages to the Fleet
To the crew of the F/V Salamatof:
Montasia Girl here, still in Montana but heading back to the Malaysian jungle today. I hear you had a decent set this morning. Keep up the good work.
Now that the skipper has shown his deckhand the ropes on the boat, he’ll need to teach him the fine art of gardening and yard work next- rumor has it S’s skills are about as strong as a sea cucumber’s handshake. He’ll need to be taught how to keep the everything alive without trying to fillet it first back here in Missoula.
Also to the deckhand-you’d better plan a trip to Malaysia soon. I imagine a Montana hunter stomping around our backyard jungle trying to figure out how to sneak up on a monkey like you try and sneak up on elk. We promise you’d be fed well, but you sure won’t be able to bag anything there. Macaques are vicious, man. You wouldn’t stand a chance.
And to the skipper-calm seas have never made skilled sailors, keep going. And don’t forget: our marriage runs on Netflix, food stalls and those crack fries from Fowl Boys, so you can run on instant coffee and canned meat up there, no problem.
Stay safe out there! And catch some more fish!
-Montasia Girl
The Mothers from All The Brothers are sending love to The Sawyer-Holston-Rader-Wenger crew.
Looking forward to some humpie fishing on Stuart soon!
We would like to wish Steffen Refvik on a drift boat in the nushagak river a very happy happy birthday on July 2,
Stay safe for yourself and your crew and come home with a lot of money.
Your friends, Karl and Craig
I would love to wish happy birthday to one of my best friends and biggest fans, Steffen Refvik, fishing with his crew in the nushagak river this salmon season.
Stay safe and hopefully you can come visit one of my shows in Vegas when you are done
–Bruno Mars
If you’d like to send a message to the fleet or get in touch with us, give us a call at 842-5281 or send us an email at fish@kdlg.org.
