Kodiak's silver limit drops as its king limit rises

Two of Kodiak's salmon limits changed Wednesday, in opposite directions. Anglers on the road-system rivers can now keep only one silver salmon a day, down from two. And saltwater trollers can again keep two king salmon a day, for the first time since April.

The tighter silver limit runs through the end of the year, and applies everywhere except the stocked runs at Pillar and Monashka creeks and Mill Bay and Mission Beach, which stay at two a day, along with the Saltery Cove drainage.

The kings are the bigger story. The state had capped the limit at one fish since April, part of a Gulf-wide restriction, after a badly weak return: only 93 king salmon reached the Karluk River last season against a spawning goal of 3,000 to 6,000. The Karluk and Ayakulik drainages remain closed to king fishing entirely for the year. Where fishing is open, the restored two-a-day limit comes with an annual cap of five.

Silvers are in all the road-system rivers, but the water is exceptionally low and warm, and fishing is best early in the day, the area biologist reported. The best numbers were at Pasagshak, the Olds, Buskin and Pillar Creek, and he doesn't expect much to move until rain comes.