Messages to the Fleet
A message from David Buchanan: Good day to my friends in Egegik, Alaska. I would like to say hello to Griffy. Teri. Josh, Rocco and Jake fishin there this season. I miss you all and be safe. Thinking of you all.
To Corey on the F/V Independence:
Happy Birthday Koobah!! I hope you got your gift package. Since you said you couldn't sleep, I threw in your special blankies, pacifier, and some beanie babies so you can hopefully rest just like at home. By the way, I haven’t been able to find Nikki since I packed that box? I’m sure he’s fine.
Anyway, I’m so glad to hear you like the new glitter-coated fuschia paint on your Jeep! The neighborhood girls are already using it as a backdrop for their TikToks. Consider it my gift to you for grounding you over those magazines I found in your room.
While you're gone, we’ve been using your room as the chicken hatchery. It's so nice to not need a cage. I’ve heard chickens are much happier when free range, but we can’t risk them going outside yet.
Oh, Brent messaged me that he received your rash ointment, and said he takes his job of applying it for you very seriously. Hopefully this ointment finally does the trick!
I also heard you’ve caught some fish recently. Good! You can finally pay me back for all those Miracle-Gro chest hair pills... which clearly didn’t work. Maybe let Brent try them? It couldn’t hurt.
Love ya lots, your mom
The Numbers
The bay-wide catch on Monday was 1,149,809 fish, bringing the cumulative catch to 17,954,288 sockeye; the catch forecast bay-wide is 32.26 million sockeye. Escapement yesterday was 731,947 fish, bringing the total run so far to 28,776,407 fish. The forecast this year estimates a total run of 4.05 million sockeye.
Nushagak
In the Nushagak District, fleets caught 271,431 fish on Monday, for a season total of 6,618,348 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 332 sockeye. 74.6% of harvest has been caught by the drift fleet, 22.1% by Nushagak set netters, and 3.3% by set-netters in the Igushik. The forecasted harvest is 13.9 million sockeye.
The total run this season in the Nushagak District is now 11,981,541 sockeye. Their pre-season forecast is an 18.39 million fish run.
Nushagak River
The Nushagak River sonar counted 36,505 sockeye on Monday, for a total of 2,922,183 sockeye up the Nushagak so far.
The Nushagak River is estimated to see an 11.1 million fish run this season, and they are past their escapement goal range of 370,000 to 2.6 million fish.
607 Chinook passed the Nushagak River sonar; their total is just over 30,417 fish so far this season. The escapement goal range for those chinook salmon in the Nushagak River is 55,000 to 120,000 fish.
2,366 chum salmon passed the sonar yesterday, for a total of 153,695 fish.
Wood River
The Wood River tower crews counted 47,562 sockeye on Monday, making their total count just under 2,160,396 fish, plus another 33,600 sockeye past the tower as of 6 a.m. this morning.
The Wood River is estimated to see a 6.43 million fish run this season, and they are within their escapement goal range of 700,000 to 2.8 million fish.
Igushik
Igushik crews counted 35,298 fish yesterday, for a total escapement so far of 280,614 fish, with an additional 5,574 sockeye as of 6 a.m. this morning. They have an estimated run of 890,000 fish, and an escapement goal range of 150,000 to 400,000 fish.
Togiak
In Togiak, 7,045 fish were caught yesterday; their total season catch is now 31,200 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 122 sockeye.
The Togiak tower crews had their first full day yesterday, counting 240 spawners. An additional 174 sockeye swam past the towers as of 6 a.m. this morning.
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
In the Naknek- Kvichak district, 138,251 fish were caught yesterday, leaving their total catch at 1,879,017 sockeye, with an average drift delivery of 578 sockeye. So far, 23.2% of the district’s catch has been from Kvichak set-netters, 20.0% from Naknek set-netters, and 56.8% by the Naknek-Kvichak drift fleet. Their forecasted season harvest is 6.2 million sockeye.
Towers crews on the Naknek River counted 47,490 fish, for a total of 569,058 fish so far. The Naknek river has an estimated inshore run of 3.9 million sockeye, and the escapement goal range is 800,000 to 2 million.
Kvichak crews counted 296,106 fish yesterday for a total of 1,665,240 sockeye so far. Their estimated run is 3.9 million fish, and their escapement goal range is at 2 million to 10 million.
Yesterday, Alagnak towers counted 104,868 fish, for a season total of 548,604 fish so far. The Alagnak River’s forecasted run is for 3.2 million sockeye, and they are past their minimum escapement goal of 210,000 sockeye.
The total run for Naknek-Kvichak is 5,161,919 fish so far. The pre-season run forecast for the district is about 11 million fish.
Egegik
Egegik brought in the most fish of the districts yesterday. Their crews caught 492,817 fish, with an average drift delivery of 938 sockeye. Their season total catch is 5,941,102 sockeye so far. 83.1% of the harvest was caught by the drift fleet, and 16.9% by the set-netters. Their harvest is forecasted at 7.5 million sockeye.
[94,314 spawners made it past the counting towers in Egegik yesterday, bringing the season’s total escapement to 1,405,740 fish so far. They are within their escapement goal range of 800,000 to 2 million fish.
Overall, the total run for Egegik is 7,496,842 sockeye, and the forecasted inshore run is for 8.9 million fish.
Ugashik
Ugashik crews hauled in 240,264 fish yesterday; their season’s total catch is 3,484,621 sockeye so far, with an average drift delivery yesterday of 912 sockeye. 87.5% of the catch was caught by the drift fleets, and 12.5% was caught by set-netters. The forecast predicts a harvest of 4.3 million fish.
69,564 fish were counted swimming past the Ugashik towers, for a total escapement of 370,044 fish. Their escapement goal range is 500,000 to 1.4 million sockeye.
The Ugashik total run is 4,104,665 fish so far, with a forecasted inshore run of 5.2 million fish.
Vessel Registrations
As of 9 a.m. this morning, in Egegik, there are 405 permits on 281 boats. That will increase to 416 permits on 291 boats by Thursday, and the number of DBoats will bump up from 124 to 125.
The Ugashik District has 319 permits on 211 boats, which will increase to 378 permits on 258 boats in the next 2 days. DBoats will go up from 108 to 120.
In the Naknek-Kvichak District, there are now 338 permits on 256 boats. That will have a BIG jump up to 482 permits on 356 boats by Thursday. DBoats will go from 82 to 126.
In the Nushagak, there are 390 permits on 277 boats. In the next 2 days, that will decrease to 384 permits on 274 boats. DBoats will move down from 113 to 110.
The Togiak District has 23 permits on 23 boats, which will stay the same in the next two days.
In total bay-wide, there are 1,475 active permits on 1,048 boats and 427 DBoats.
Chignik River Weir
At the Chignik River weir, 28,594 sockeye swam through the weir on Monday, for a season total of 368,290 sockeye. 19,150 fish were part of the early run, and 9,444 fish were part of the late run.
Area M
Over in Area M yesterday, fleets harvested 54,247 sockeye for a season total of 3,499,090 fish.
11 chinook were caught, their total season harvest is 1,354 thus far.
Fleets caught 715 chum on Monday, for a total of about 487,261.
1,362 pinks were caught the other day, their harvest is 1,327,059.
34 Coho were caught on Monday, their total is 537.
A total of 5,315,301 million salmon across all species have been caught in Area M so far this season.
Port Moller Test Fishery:
For Port Moller catches on Monday, no fish were caught at Stations 2, 6, 12, 14, 16, 22, and 24. Stations 22 and 24 were not fished.
Station 4 caught 5 fish in the small net and 4 fish in the big net. That catch index is 20.
Station 8 caught 63 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 128.
Station 10 caught 38 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 74.
Station 18 caught 1 fish in the small net and 1 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Station 20 caught 2 fish in the small net and 0 fish in the big net. That catch index is 4.
Overall, the average catch index for Monday was 19. The average length of fish caught in the small mesh was 508mm, and 530mm for fish in the big mesh.
Get in touch at fish@kdlg.org.
