Two Kasilof dipnetters cited for dipnetting's most common mistake

Twelve minutes was all that separated two citations on the Kasilof River's north beach Saturday evening — both for the same slip-up, and the one troopers say trips up more dipnetters than any other: forgetting to write down the fish. A 19-year-old from Noatak and, minutes later, a 22-year-old from Wasilla were each cited for failing to record their sockeye on their personal-use permits. Both are presumed innocent.

It's an easy mistake, and an easy one to avoid. Under Alaska's rules, you have to record each salmon in ink on your permit before you move it from the water or tuck it out of sight — not later, back at the truck. You're also supposed to log every trip, even the skunked ones, writing a zero if you come home empty. Miss it, and it's a $100 fine, with no argument about whether you meant to: these are strict-liability citations, so "I forgot" isn't a defense.

The Kasilof dipnet season, one of the ways thousands of Alaska families stock the freezer each summer, runs from late June through early August, around the clock. The paperwork follows you home, too — permit holders who don't report their catch online by Aug. 15 lose the right to a permit the next year. Troopers say failing to record the catch, or to clip both tips of the tail fin, is the single most common error they see on the Kenai and Kasilof.

The same evening brought another citation nearby, on the Ninilchik River, where a 45-year-old Anchorage angler was cited for using a treble hook where an emergency order allows only a single, unbaited one. That charge, too, is an accusation, not a conviction.