Chitina's dipnet window shrinks to 48 hours as sockeye falter

The Chitina dipnet fishery gets 48 hours next weekend — noon Friday, July 31 to noon Sunday, Aug. 2 — half the window fishermen had two weeks ago.

The run had been tracking close to projection — 556,351 sockeye past the Miles Lake sonar through July 19, against a forecast of 562,227. Then last week fell apart. Only 20,634 fish were counted July 13 through 19, roughly 26,000 short of what was expected for that week alone. Fish and Game says the numbers support only two days of fishing.

Kings are off the table entirely. The department has banned king retention for the rest of the season, citing a weak Copper River king run; any king or steelhead caught goes back immediately.

Dipnetters need a Chitina personal use permit and a resident sport fishing license. The household limit is 25 salmon for the permit holder and 10 per additional member. Clip both tail-fin tips on landing, and report harvest online by Oct. 15 or lose eligibility next year.