Saltery Cove sockeye limit goes back to five fish Thursday

Anglers fishing the Saltery Cove drainage on Kodiak can keep five salmon a day again starting at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 13, after the Alaska Department of Fish and Game restored the sockeye bag and possession limits to five fish. Both the daily bag limit and the possession limit are five salmon other than king salmon, and the limit runs through 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31. Those five may be any combination of sockeye, chum or pink salmon, with no more than two coho.

The number behind the change: 17,511 sockeye had passed the Saltery River weir through Aug. 10, just past the lower end of the 15,000 to 35,000 escapement goal for Saltery Lake. The department notes that roughly 90% of the run has typically cleared the weir by this date, and that the escapement goal has been exceeded in most of the last 10 years and has now been achieved this season. Restoring the limit, the department said, is in support of increasing harvest opportunities.

This marks a reversal from a tight July. Alaska News previously covered the department's move to expand closed waters in the Saltery Creek subsistence fishery, effective July 30, when only 7,454 fish had been counted against the same goal.

Area Management Biologist Tyler Polum framed the season as thin but sufficient. "The 2026 sockeye run at Saltery Cove is much smaller than recent years but is on track to achieve the middle of the escapement goal of 15,000 to 35,000 fish," Polum said. "Restoring the bag limit to 5 sockeye salmon is warranted and will provide anglers additional harvest opportunity."

The five-fish limit taking effect Thursday is smaller than the limit anglers saw in a stronger year. ADF&G raised the Saltery Cove sockeye limit to 10 fish per day in July 2024, after early-season counts showed enough escapement momentum to support the higher harvest. This year's run has just passed the lower end of the escapement goal range, and the department expects it to reach the middle of that range.