Fairbanks's chum salmon fishery reopens on the Tanana on Friday

Fairbanks-area households get their first shot at chum salmon since Aug. 12 when the personal-use fishery reopens on the Tanana River at 6 pm Friday. Fish and Game is easing up because the fall chum run came in stronger than expected — but the reopening comes with limits worth knowing before you head out.

The fishery covers the Fairbanks, North Pole and Salcha stretch of the Tanana, open two windows a week: 6 pm Monday to noon Wednesday, and 6 pm Friday to noon Sunday. You can fish with dip nets or manned fish wheels, and you'll need a personal-use salmon permit and a resident sport fishing license. Each household can keep up to 75 chum for the season. Any coho — silvers — have to go back in the water alive.

The run is the reason. Counts on the lower Yukon have topped 750,000 fall chum, well above the historical average for late August and above the drainage-wide spawning target. That's strong enough for Fish and Game to loosen the rules where it won't catch Canada-bound fish — like the Tanana. The Yukon's main stem stays closed, because the fish headed for Canada still aren't expected to meet U.S.-Canada treaty targets even in a good year.

Coho are the opposite story. That run is projected at 63,000 to 86,000 fish, far below the usual 212,000 — which is why silvers can't be kept anywhere right now.

Fish and Game can shut the fishery back down by emergency order at any time, so it's worth checking the current status before you go.