Youth-only coho fishery set for Saturday at Homer's Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon

A section of the Nick Dudiak Fishing Lagoon will be reserved for anglers 15 and younger all day Saturday, Aug. 1, from 12:01 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. The reserved water sits across from the lagoon entrance on the Homer Spit. Anglers 16 and older may not fish there. The rest of the lagoon stays open to all ages.

In comments responding to public information on Southcentral Alaska's youth-only fisheries, some Homer-area and visiting adult anglers said the all-day closure blocks access to the lagoon's most productive section during a short season of tightly managed salmon runs.

Alaska Department of Fish and Game staff will be on site from 2 to 5 p.m. to help young anglers fish for coho salmon. Loaner rods will be available first come, first served. The bag and possession limit is six coho of any size. Other regulations, listed on page 68 of the 2026 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary Booklet, remain in effect. Staff recommend herring, cured salmon roe under a bobber, or a spinner.

Youth days take place twice each summer, on the first Saturdays in June and August. Staff and volunteers also teach casting, knot-tying and fish biology. Anglers 15 and younger need no sport fishing license, but they do need a harvest record card. Holly Dickson, assistant area management biologist in Homer, is the contact at 907-235-8191.