King salmon retention at Blind Slough ends Aug. 15

Anglers have until 11:59 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, to keep a king salmon in the Wrangell Narrows/Blind Slough Terminal Harvest Area near Petersburg. After that, retention ends, and any king caught inside the area must be released on the spot.

"Anglers are reminded that the special regulation for this area ends at 11:59 p.m., Saturday, August 15th, after which time king salmon retention will no longer be allowed and any king salmon caught must be released immediately," Jeff Rice, the Petersburg/Wrangell area management biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Division of Sport Fish, said in his Aug. 5 fishing report.

The deadline closes a window the department widened on July 18, when it increased both the area open to harvest and the bag limits. The expansion followed a Crystal Lake Hatchery return that exceeded its projection, with three completed broodstock collections removing the conservation constraint. Inside the terminal waters and Blind Slough above a line between Blind Point and Anchor Point, residents could keep three kings per day of any size and nonresidents two, none of them counting against the nonresident annual limit. Announcing the change July 17, the Division of Sport Fish said it was "opening the entirety of Blind Slough to king salmon retention and increasing harvest opportunity." That opportunity has run alongside Southeast Alaska nonretention rules in effect near Petersburg since April 1 to protect wild king stocks; the terminal-area exception applied specifically to surplus hatchery fish.

Rice said many anglers took advantage of the wider window, and that the remaining kings are now dark and less active, while coho moving into Blind Slough have become the new focus. Coho fishing is just beginning, with low streams from dry weather and more fish so far in Sumner Strait than in Frederick Sound.

Outside the terminal harvest area, regional limits changed by emergency order on July 31 allow residents three kings per day with no annual limit and nonresidents two per day with an annual limit of four, all at 28 inches or greater. Those limits apply only where retention is open; area-specific nonretention rules remain in force elsewhere near Petersburg. Rice said feeder kings that are not spawning this year are still caught incidentally by anglers targeting coho.

A king salmon stamp is required whenever an angler fishes for kings, including catch-and-release, not only when keeping one. Without a stamp, any king caught must be released. Department creel samplers are working the docks and Blind Slough, asking anglers about their catch.

King salmon fishing is winding down and the region is past the peak of the king salmon run, Rice wrote. Coho catches are being recorded in the area, and the department expects more each week.