Copper River dipnet and subsistence fishing runs through Sept. 30

Copper River dipnetters have until the end of the month to fill their coolers. The Chitina Subdistrict personal use dip net fishery closes at 11:59 pm Wednesday, Sept. 30, and Glennallen Subdistrict subsistence fishing runs through the same day.

It was a lean year on the river. Sonar counting at Miles Lake wrapped up July 28 on what the Alaska Department of Fish and Game calls a below-average run — about 5 percent under the pace the state was hoping for. Back in early July, managers briefly closed the Chitina fishery for a week to make sure enough sockeye reached the spawning grounds.

A couple of things for anyone heading out: water levels are dropping, and the Chitina flow gauge has been offline since mid-June, so the usual online read on river conditions isn't available. And king salmon permit holders on the Upper Copper still have to file their harvest reports, even though the Aug. 31 deadline has passed.