Pink salmon swamp Kodiak road-system rivers, crowding out sockeye and coho

Anglers heading out on the Kodiak road system this week for sockeye or coho are going to be fishing through pink salmon to get there. In the sport fishing report issued Tuesday, Kodiak Area Management Biologist Tyler Polum wrote that "Pinks are thick in most local rivers except the American," describing an unusually large even-year return that has shown up in the Buskin, Olds, Pillar and Monashka systems and in Chiniak, with a lot of bright fish around right now. The report puts no count on the run. For comparison, the Buskin River's pink run averages about 65,000 fish in a typical year.

The practical consequence is a harvest problem, not a scarcity problem. Sockeye continue to trickle into Saltery and Pasagshak, and Polum expects some through the end of the month, but both weirs have been pulled and the volume of pinks is making the remaining sockeye harder to find. A few coho are showing up around the road system, with Pasagshak the best bet; in most other rivers, according to the report, the pink runs have eclipsed them.

That sits on top of a rough stretch for Kodiak sockeye anglers. The department closed the Buskin River to sockeye sport fishing in June after a weir count less than 29% of the 10-year average, and restored the five-fish Saltery Cove limit on August 13 after 17,511 sockeye passed the Saltery River weir against a 15,000 to 35,000 goal.

Coho timing on Kodiak's road system varies year to year: Polum has written in ADF&G's Kodiak report that local coho peaks "can vary by up to 3 weeks annually." The coho bag limit drops to one fish on September 16 every year.

Kodiak's island-wide saltwater king limit remains one fish per day through September 15 under emergency order, with no annual limit. Polum can be reached at (907) 486-1879 and the ADF&G Kodiak Area Office at (907) 486-1880.