Yukon king salmon run beats forecast, but sport fishing stays closed all season

Yukon River king salmon are returning in better numbers than the state predicted this year, and anglers still will not get a line in the water for them. The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Aug. 7 Yukon fishing report says the run into the lower Yukon has exceeded the preseason forecast but remains below average, and that it is "very unlikely for any sportfishing activity to occur within the Yukon River drainage in 2026," according to the report prepared by Lisa Stuby.

The closure took effect Feb. 19 and runs through Sept. 30 unless superseded. Emergency Order 3-KS-Y-01-2026 covers the Yukon drainage; 3-KS-U-01-26 covers the Tanana drainage, which ADF&G manages separately. Both prohibit catch-and-release as well as retention. Under the order, kings hooked while anglers target other species "may not be removed from the water and must be released immediately."

The state closure sits inside a larger cross-border framework. Alaska and Fisheries and Oceans Canada signed a seven-year agreement in April 2024 that suspends directed commercial, sport, domestic and personal use Chinook fisheries on Canadian-origin fish in the mainstem Yukon River through 2030, and closes directed subsistence fishing unless the inseason estimate is projected to top 71,000 border-passage fish. Roughly 40 to 50 percent of Yukon kings spawn in Canada. ADF&G says the minimum border-passage objective has not been met since 2019, and Stuby's report says runs have been very poor since 2020.

Canada, announcing the agreement in May 2024, said it was negotiated with Yukon First Nation Governments and the Salmon Sub-Committee and allows a limited ceremonial harvest. Arctic Today reported that some Yukon River residents view the pact as adding years of lost opportunity during a salmon crash.

Kings are not the only closed fishery. The report says the summer chum sport fishery, shut down May 15 across the Yukon drainage outside the Tanana, reopened for 15 days after the run exceeded expectations, then closed again on July 22 because the fall chum forecast called for a poor run. Coho salmon, which typically enter the Yukon in August, were also forecast to run below escapement goals, and the report warns that restrictions or closures to that sport fishery may be forthcoming.

Stuby's report says sport restrictions may ease in future years only if inseason assessment shows escapement goals and subsistence needs will be met in Alaskan tributaries.