Anchor River opens catch-and-release king salmon fishing June 13-17

Three days of catch-and-release fishing on the lower two miles of the Anchor River next week will be the only sport opportunity for a Cook Inlet king salmon all summer — a narrow window opened by in-season counts that came in stronger than a 2026 forecast the Alaska Department of Fish and Game had already flagged as below conservation thresholds.

The picture across the rest of the region is grim. ADF&G's preseason forecasts projected every major king salmon run in Cook Inlet below its escapement goal: the Deshka River at 3,414 fish against a biological escapement goal of 9,000 to 18,000; the Kenai River early-run at 2,325 large fish against a sustainable escapement goal of 2,800 to 5,600; the Kenai River late-run at 12,718 large fish against 13,500 to 27,000; and the Anchor River itself at 2,747 against 3,200 to 6,400. In its own published assessment, the department wrote that king salmon are experiencing a period of poor productivity and that escapement goals are not likely to be achieved in 2026.

That diagnosis has triggered cascading closures.

Upper Cook Inlet salt waters north of Bluff Point are closed to all king salmon fishing — including catch-and-release — from May 1 through August 15. The Kenai River late-run has been formally designated a stock of concern, with a Board of Fisheries recovery plan in place. The Kenai, Deshka, and Mat-Su king fisheries are all shut down for the season. More broadly, ADF&G says king salmon stocks throughout Cook Inlet and the Gulf of Alaska have failed to return at levels that meet established goals, triggering stock-of-concern designations for many of them.

The Anchor was nearly on the same list. The river is opening only because in-season weir counts hit 756 kings by June 9 — about 20 percent of a run ADF&G now projects at roughly 3,800 fish, just inside the lower bound of the escapement goal. Under a Board of Fisheries management plan adopted in November 2023, projections between 3,200 and 4,800 fish trigger catch-and-release rather than full closure.

The opening runs June 13 through 15 and again June 17, on the lower two river miles. Single unbaited artificial hooks only; kings must be released immediately and may not be removed from the water. Anglers looking to keep a king will have to go to the Ninilchik River hatchery fishery, which opens June 20.

The Anchor and Deep Creek reopen to sport fishing for all species other than king salmon on July 1.