Reports of people catching their first salmon of the summer subsistence season are coming in from around the region.
Salmon are beginning to hit the nets of subsistence fishermen around the Bristol Bay region. A handful of people have pulled in Chinook on Kanakanak beach in Dillingham, and there are reports of at least one king caught in Koliganek early in the month.
Eddie Clark was fishing at Coffee Point near Egegik last week when he got his first salmon.
“[I] put the net out and got a dog on May 23. Then around May 25, got one red,” said Clark, who added that at least one person in the village caught a king.
On the west side of the bay, fishermen in Clark’s Point are also beginning to have some luck. Robert Wassily said his season did not start off with a bang, but he recently pulled in his first king of the season.
“I got one, probably, 15 [or] 20 pounder, so far,” Wassily said. “A couple other nets caught a couple more.”
In addition to Chinook, Wassily said he has heard of one sockeye, one chum, and some trout caught near Clark’s Point recently.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game office in King Salmon, on the other hand, says things are pretty quiet at this point on the East side of the bay.
Contact the author at mitch@kdlg.org or 907-842-5281.