Kenai Peninsula sockeye bag limits rise to 6 fish as run tracks above forecast

Three Alaska Department of Fish and Game emergency orders issued in late June raised the sockeye bag limit to six fish per day and twelve in possession on the Kenai River, Russian River, and Kasilof River, and expanded personal-use dipnet shore access on the Kasilof upstream to the Sterling Highway Bridge. Emergency Order 2-RS-1-29-26 increased the bag limit for the Russian River and a section of the mainstem Kenai River. Emergency Order 2-RS-1-31-26 raised the limit on the Kasilof, where the higher limit applies to sockeye 16 inches or greater. Emergency Order 2-RS-1-32-26 expanded the dipnet shore access area.

The orders follow ADF&G's March 2026 salmon forecast, which projected approximately 4.45 million late-run sockeye for the Kenai, 23 percent above the recent ten-year average, with the Kasilof adding a projected 1.2 million more. A June 21 sonar count recorded 92,035 sockeye on the Kasilof. Lower Kenai fishing has been slow at times and is expected to improve as late-run fish enter. Limits can change rapidly if escapement goals or king salmon conservation concerns arise.

Native Peoples Action and subsistence-focused stakeholders have argued that allocation decisions in Alaska can underweight Indigenous subsistence and food security. Anglers and dipnetters should verify current emergency orders before each trip.