ALASKA OUTDOOR JOURNAL - AOJ's Weekly Commfish Road Map For Personal Use Dipnetters

Those Alaskans who participate in one or more of the Personal Use Dip Net Fisheries on the Kenai Peninsula find themselves having mixed results of success from one trip to the next. It just depends on your luck or how much you understand about the Cook Inlet Sockeye Management Plan and when commercial fishing may impact the numbers of fish that would be available to those dipping from the beaches or the boats.

This weekly chart will provide a visual presentation of what periods of each week the commercial fishers CAN NOT fish, which hours and days they are normally scheduled to fish and what hours of the week are open for possible extended fishing time allocated by ADFG Emergency Orders. During this second phase of the management plan there is a total of 60 HOURS of Mandatory Closure time which the commercial nets can not fish. There is also a MAXIMUM allocation of 51 HOURS of Additional Commercial Fishing Time that may be used at the discretion of the Department of Fish and Game to manage for the proper escapement goals of each stream.

This chart is updated, more or less, DAILY to reflect any Emergency Order issued to add extended fishing time to a scheduled opening or announce a new additional fishing period. RED is no commercial fishing. YELLOW is normal scheduled fishing days. GREEN is Emergency Order announced periods giving additional commercial fishing time. If you decide to do your dipnetting during periods when commercial fishing occurs there are greater chances of having fewer fish available in your own fishery. This is particularly true in the early half of the run and late in the run when numbers of fish are in decline. Use this information to your benefit.

PLEASE READ the Sockeye Management Plans & Calculations so you will understand how the plan works and what are the variable factors we must adjust to as dippers.

NOTE: During JUNE & first week of JULY the KASILOF RIVER SOCKEYE District is the only area that will be open to commercial fishing on beach sites for set nets. Kenai River district commercial fishing doesn't open until JULY.

NOTE: The Tuesday Closure Window is FIXED (when it is shown after JULY 9th). It is always 0001 Tuesday to 2359 Tuesday.

**The 36 Hour FRIDAY Window FLOATS a little. It typically begins at the end of Thursday's fishing period which could be extended extra hours by Emergency Order. So the 36 Hr. window starts counting when Thursday commercial fishing ends but NO LATER than 7AM FRIDAY. In that latter scenario the closure would extend to 7pm on Saturday before any additional commfishing can be announced.

Good Luck, Good Dipping, & Drive SAFELY both ways, Klondike Kid