Just three days before it would end by regulation, the waiting period to fish in the Naknek-Kvichak and Egegik districts has been waived, and strong catches continue in much of Bristol Bay.
DILLINGHAM: The48-hour waiting period to transfer into the Naknek-Kvichak, Egegik, Ugashik and Nushagak Districts ends by regulation July 17, but it's waived as of Tuesday for the Naknek-Kvichak and Egegik District. Fishermen can't transfer into the Togiak District after fishing any other district until July 27.
Catches declined slightly on Monday, but are still among the highest of the season with 1.8 million fish caught that day, bringing the baywide catch to about 22.8 million, with the total sockeye run estimated at 33.7 million fish.
The Naknek-Kvichak and Egegik transfer wait ended Tuesday after rivers in those districts hid the midpoints for their escapement goals.
Naknek-Kvichak Area Manager Travis Elison said Naknek-Kvichak has had strong catches and escapement counts for the past several days.
"We've had three days in a row with over 100,000 up the Naknek, and we've been fishing two tides a day in either the Kvichak or the Naknek section, and so, it's good to see now, but yeah it's definitely one of the latest runs we've seen, at least in recent years," Elison said Tuesday.
Monday's escapement for the Naknek was 110,226 fish, bringing the total escapement to 1.3 million. The Kvichak escapement on Monday was 571,242 for a season total of 4.5 million. The district's catch July 13 was 1.1 million fish, with a season total of about 8.9 million.
From aboard the F/V Crimson Hunter, where he said he was getting hits, Skipper Braden Williams said fishing had been pretty good for a couple days in the Naknek-Kvichak District, although it'd tapered off a little bit in the past day.
Yesterday's escapement to Egegik was 51,756 sockeye, bringing the season total to about 1.3 million fish. The harvest there is estimated at 288,000 reds yesterday, for a season total of about 6 million.
Catches also continue in Ugashik, with 291,000 fish caught yesterday, for a season total of about 3.5 million. Ugashik District Area Manager Paul Salomone said Monday that the river was going to exceed the pre-season forecast, which predicted a total run of 3.7 milllion fish. The total run was estimated at 4.3 million on Tuesday. Monday's Ugashik escapement was estimated at 29,000, with a season total of 732,486.
Nushagak District wait time has not yet been waived, although the numbers are climbing. The Wood River also saw a strong push of fish on Monday, with 121,968 counted, brining the season total to 1.3 million. The Nushagak count was 35,356, bringing the season total to 624,368, and the Igushik count was 7,242, for a season total of 232,750. The district's catch yesterday was 206,000, bringing the season total to 4.1 million fish.
Togiak has had the poorest returns so far this season. Togiak Area Management Biologist Matt Jones said Monday that the forecast for was one of the lowest in the past several decades, and the escapement so far has been lower than hoped.
Monday's count was about 2,316 sockeye, bringing the season total to about 9,294. Catches have also been low, with about 10,000 fish caught on Monday, for a season total of 82,494. Jones said the low catches are also worrisome, because they indicate that there may not be many fish headed into the districts.
KDLG's Dave Bendinger contributed to this story.