On the Yukon River, the summer chum salmon have been a little late showing up, but the Alaska Department of Fish and Game reports that they are beginning to enter the lower river during strong tides. The Yukon River’s king run is about the same as last year's, and managers are continuing to authorize reduced subsistence harvests to ensure that enough salmon swim upriver to spawn. The subsistence fishing schedule is being reduced to half the scheduled regulatory windows, and gillnets are being restricted to 6-inch or smaller mesh.
In District 1 of the Yukon River, the next subsistence opening is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Friday, June 21. It will run until 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 22. There is also an opening scheduled for Tuesday, June 25 at 2 p.m., which ends Wednesday, June 26 at 8 a.m.
There are two 18-hour subsistence openings farther up the Yukon River in Districts 2 and 3. They run Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Wednesday subsistence opening began at 2 p.m. on June 19 and ends Thursday, June 20at 8 a.m. The Saturday, June 22 subsistence opening begins at 2 p.m. and ends Sunday, June 23 at 8 a.m. It will be followed by another subsistence opening on Wednesday, June 26 at 2 p.m. that will close on Thursday, June 27 at 8 a.m.
For a current listing of fish openings on the Yukon River, call the toll-free fishing schedule hotline at 866-479-7387.