Russian River

Sockeye salmon fishing is in full swing on the Kenai Peninsula. Anglers in Cooper Landing recently shared their thoughts and anticipations about the season so far.

New opportunities open with the middle and upper Kenai

Fish and Game say they’re opening up the area a month early because the sockeye are coming in strong.

The popular campground has been closed since August. KDLL visited on opening day to learn about the work that happened during the closure.

The U.S. Forest Service applied for another 20-year withdrawal of the Russian River watershed, which exempts a 3,000-square-mile area of Chugach National Forest from mining claims. The purpose is to protect fishing and recreation on the river.

The late run has already met the lower end of Fish and Game's sustainable escapement goal of 44,000 to 85,000 fish. As of Monday, the department counted 47,644 sockeye at the weir on Lower Russian Lake.

“The main purpose is to fix that wall, to shore it up, and essentially to prevent the road from washing into the Kenai River,” Jesse Labenski of the Forest Service said. “That is the big, main point right there, that would be pretty catastrophic for the fishery, not to mention the people that would end up stuck on the other side of the road.”

Tomorrow, anglers on the Russian River will be able to catch up to six sockeye a day and be in possession of 12 — an increase from the current bag limit of three sockeye and possession limit of six.

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