Anticipation is building in the Dillingham harbor as crews get ready for the start of the 2026 Bristol Bay salmon season. Despite some concerns over processor consolidation and declining king runs, crews seem optimistic about the season’s high base prices and strong sockeye forecasts. This week, KDLG caught the annual blessing of the fleet, and checked in with fishermen in the harbor getting ready for the start of another busy season.
There's a breeze on the bay and clouds in the sky today, and for this week's Weather Wednesday, Ryan Berkoski sat down with Rick Thoman for the tale behind the gale and what to expect on the water this fishing season.
Messages to the Fleet
Shout out to the crew and captain of the Point Defiance! Good luck in your first year as captain and crew. Snacks and jam are coming your way to help support a bit of luck and a lot of hard work.
Fair winds and following seas!
Meg and Nico
If you’d like to send a message to the fleet, give us a call at 842-5281 or send an email to fish@kdlg.org.
The Numbers
The bay-wide catch on Tuesday was 234,256 fish, bringing the cumulative catch to about 653,989, while the catch forecast sits at 32.26 million. Escapement yesterday was 130,113 fish, bringing the run so far to 1,075,107 fish. The forecast this year expects a total run of 44.05 million.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 9,791 fish on Tuesday, for a total of 38,855 fish. The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 382,101 fish.
In the Nushagak District, the pre-season forecast is an 18.39 million run with a potential surplus of 13.9 million fish.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 50,313 sockeye on Tuesday, for a total of 239,002 sockeye up the Nushagak so far, with another 19,000 past the sonar this morning.
575 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar yesterday; their total is 6,122 so far this season. 2,720 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 39,899.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see an 11.1 million fish run this season, with an escapement goal range of 370,000 to 2.6 million.
The escapement goal range for king salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted a whopping 52,314 sockeye on Tuesday, doubling their total count to 104,244, plus another 13,770 past the tower as of 6 am this morning.
The Wood River is estimated to see a 6.43 million fish run this season, with an escapement goal range of 700,000 to 2.8 million.
Igushik
Escapement counts at the Igushik should begin very soon. They have an estimated run of 890,000 fish, and an escapement goal range of 150,000 to 400,000.
Togiak
519 fish were caught in Togiak the other day, bringing their total to 744.
No Togiak escapement counts yet, the district’s tower crews are scheduled to begin around July 4th. The Togiak River’s forecasted inshore sockeye run this season is 530,000 fish, with an escapement goal range of 120,000 to 270,000.
Naknek-Kvichak
5,090 fish were caught in the Naknek-Kvichak District yesterday, making the total catch 8,576.
The Naknek towers counted just 192 fish yesterday, for a total of 342 so far. The Naknek’s river has an estimated inshore run of 3.9 million sockeye, and the escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million.
Kvichak crews have begun counting and have a start of 72 fish so far, but their estimated run is also 3.9 million fish, and their escapement goal range is at 2 million to 10 million.
The Alagnak River’s forecasted run is about 3.2 million sockeye, with an escapement goal of a minimum of 210,000 sockeye.
The pre-season run forecast for the district is around 11 million fish, with a projected surplus of 6.2 million sockeye.
Egegik
No fish were caught yesterday in Egegik, but their season total catch is 135,059 fish.
27,222 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement up to 52,458 fish so far.
Overall, the total run for Egegik sits at 212,517, and the forecasted inshore run is for 8.9 million fish. The escapement goal range for the Egegik River is 800,000 to 2 million fish, leaving a potential surplus of 7.5 million for harvest.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in 218,856 fish yesterday; their season’s catch is 470,755 fish.
No escapement numbers yet, but the Ugashik inshore run is forecasted at 5.2 million fish. Their escapement goal range is 500,000 to 1.4 million, leaving a potential surplus of 4.3 million fish for harvest.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 343 permits on 238 boats. That will increase to 362 permits on 251 boats by Friday, and the number of DBoats will increase from 105 to 111.
The Ugashik District has 263 permits on 174 boats, which will decrease to 182 permits on 124 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go down from 89 to 58.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 68 permits on 57 boats. That will decrease to 63 permits on 54 boats by Friday. DBoats will go from 11 to 9.
In the Nushagak, there are 102 permits on 84 boats. In the next 2 days, that will shoot up to 184 permits on 143 boats. DBoats will move up from 18 to 41.
The Togiak District has 10 permits on 10 boats, which will stay the same in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 786 active permits on 563 boats and 223 DBoats.
Chignik River Weir
At the Chignik River weir, 11,161 sockeye swam through the weir on Tuesday, for a season total of 238,224 fish. 10,623 fish were part of the early run, and 538 were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M yesterday, fleets harvested 31,367 sockeye for a season total of 1,695,097 fish.
9 chinook were caught yesterday, bringing the total season harvest to 989 thus far.
Fleets caught 6,201 chum on Tuesday, for a total of 415,005.
And 30,845 pinks were caught the other day, bringing their harvest to 1,140,513.
No Cohos were caught on Tuesday, their total is 492.
A total of 3,252,096 million fish across all species have been caught in Area M so far this season.
Port Moller Test Fishery:
Port Moller’s fourth stock composition is out, covering June 22–23.
North Peninsula 4.8%
Ugashik 7.1%
Egegik 16.8%
Naknek 1.8%
Alagnak 0.3%
Kvichak 8.1%
Nushagak 26.9%
Wood 29.0%
Igushik 0.4%
Togiak 0.3%
Kuskokwim 4.6%
Stations 10 and 12 remain strong, with a good index at station 6 and low counts everywhere else. Port Moller says that the average sockeye weight so far this year is 5.4 lbs.
For Port Moller catches on Tuesday, no fish were caught at Stations 4, 8, and 18.
At the following test fishery stations, the smaller mesh size is 4 ½ inch and the bigger mesh size is 5 ⅛ inch.
Station 2 caught 1 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Station 6 caught 53 fish in the small net and 25 fish in the big net. That catch index is 151.
Station 10 caught 81 fish in the small net and 86 fish in the big net. That catch index is 358.
Station 12 caught 52 fish in the small net and 91 fish in the big net. That catch index is 286.
Station 14 caught 2 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Station 16 caught 1 fish in the small net and 3 fish in the big net. That catch index is 9.
Station 20 caught 7 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 14.
Station 22 caught 6 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 12.
Station 24 caught 1 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 2.
Overall, the average catch index for Tuesday was 70. The average length of fish caught in the small mesh was 518mm, and 528mm for fish in the big mesh.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org.
