Kenai sockeye run making late arrival?

Could it be the long-missing late run of sockeye salmon to the Kenai River is finally starting to arrive?

The last three days (Aug. 5-7) saw almost 120,000 sockeye pass the ADF&G counter on the lower river, topped by 55,768 fish Aug. 7.  That’s the second best day of the run, after 62,623 fish counted July 21–and after a depressing two weeks of less than 20,000 fish a day.

Most anglers agree it takes 20,000 fish a day to make flipping for Kenai sockeye marginally productive, and it really takes consecutive 50,000 fish days to make catching a limit realistic for average anglers.

The river has been shut down to keeping sport caught sockeye since Aug. 4, and commercial set net and drift net fishing has also been closed, in a last-minute effort to salvage the minimum escapement needed to preserve reasonable production for future runs.

To date 2018’s run has total 661,000 sockeye, less  than half of the 2017 season total and 280,000 less fish than the same date last year.

The closure has been hard on Soldotna-area retailers, hotels and restaurants who count on hordes of fishermen to make or break their year.  It’s unlikely even a late rush of fish, and an even more unlikely reopening of fishing, will salvage their 2018 season.