Here comes the wall of fish....
- Thread starter BigDipper
- Start date
Just be careful guys. This count does not mean a wall of fish by itself. The test boat could have just hit one pocket of fish and there is no strength with it. If the fish were caught across all stations and catches stay up for the next few days that would be encouraging. Also the drift fleet catch from yesterday will tell a lot about the strength of the Kenai return.
At this time of year fish coming across the line tend to move quickly to the river (2-4 days) so if there is strength out there (which I suspect there is) it may translate to good fishing for a number of days instead of one or two big days. Hard to tell right now. With the all the commercial gear fishing yesterday ADF&G should make a run projection of the OTF data for the year (somewhat compromised by not fishing a couple of days) today and we will see if Kenai is on forecast or not.
Stay tuned but again one day of OTF does not mean much at this point. Hope for a few days of high catches.
Nerka--
Point taken. And thanks for pointing that the fish move a little faster this time of year. I recall a friend who is a drifter telling me before that the later in the year it gets, the faster they move to the river. Didn't realize we were to that point in the season, but we are to the 20th now.
I would also point out that yesterday's index points were spread out amongst the stations pretty well:
4 -- 1
5 -- 50
6 -- 16
6.5 -- 63
7 -- 64
8 -- 10
This is going to get interesting in the next week. The drift fleet catch for yesterday was 275 fish per boat. That is terrible and only 442 boats (some with double permits). If Kenai was strong in the district the drift fleet should have taken 600-800 fish per boat. Also, the commercial catch from the beaches fishing was just 60,000 fish which means no strength on the beach. Right now I suspect ADF&G is thinking closure on Thursday for the commercial fleet (with the exception of some small fishery for Kasilof).
If this was a normal year one could really get into a funk about the return but then the OTF boat hit some fish across all the stations but not sure what they are doing today. However, the drift fleet fished the southern line yesterday and did not do well so if Kenai is late and on forecast it is really really really late. Cannot rule that out at that point given other areas of the State but something needs to change quickly for this to happen. The clock is ticking.
So if ADF&G closes that means they will wait on escapement and movement of fish to the river. But if the close the commercial fleet for Kenai sockeye conservation they probably have to do something with the PU fishery and downriver sport fishery.
If this was a normal year one could really get into a funk about the return but then the OTF boat hit some fish across all the stations but not sure what they are doing today. However, the drift fleet fished the southern line yesterday and did not do well so if Kenai is late and on forecast it is really really really late. Cannot rule that out at that point given other areas of the State but something needs to change quickly for this to happen. The clock is ticking.
So if ADF&G closes that means they will wait on escapement and movement of fish to the river. But if the close the commercial fleet for Kenai sockeye conservation they probably have to do something with the PU fishery and downriver sport fishery.
This number given the other index of 204is pretty encouraging. I would think if there is strength to the Kenai run this weekend could be pretty good. I suspect the commercial fishery will fish on Saturday but that should not stop a major movement of fish. These fish want to get to the spawning ground on time so I suspect they should be moving quickly to the river from the inlet. If I lived locally I would be watching every tide and go when the volume is obvious on the beach.
AlaskanSD
New member
How does one access the OTF numbers again? Do you have to call for reports from the boats/buoys? Thanks for the reminder.
