Russian River Sanctuary opens Thursday as sockeye goal met

One of Alaska's most popular sockeye fisheries — the kind that draws shoulder-to-shoulder "combat fishing" crowds to the Kenai Peninsula — is opening ahead of schedule. The Russian River Sanctuary Area opens to sport fishing at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, June 18, and stays open through July 14, after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game projected the early run will make its spawning goal.

The call rests on the weir. Since the counter went in June 3, 7,512 sockeye had passed by June 16 — enough for Area Management Biologist Phillip Stacey to conclude the early-run escapement goal will be met and order the early opening under the Emergency Order. The result is bonus days on a stretch normally held back to protect those first fish upriver.

The good news is sharpened by what's happening a few miles away. On the same road system, king salmon are in such trouble that ADF&G has closed the fishery outright: the Kenai's early run is shut through June 19 and its late run from June 20 through August 15, with not even catch-and-release allowed. On the Kasilof, anglers may keep only hatchery kings with clipped fins through June 30 and must release every wild one. One species is running strong enough to open early; the other is too fragile to fish at all.

Trout fishing has been good in the run-up, with beads, small flesh flies, nymphs and dries all producing. ADF&G urges anglers to read the full emergency order and its map first, since the sanctuary's boundaries carry their own rules. Daily weir counts are posted on the ADF&G fish counts page; Stacey can be reached at the Soldotna office, 907-262-9368.