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Sport Fishing Report: July 13, 2020

Things are still picking up for many species. Reds are behind normal around the state and are just beginning to show up at McLee’s. A deepwater release mechanism is mandatory this year, please remember to put one on your boat and use it for rockfish!

Unalaska Bay/Dutch Harbor Road System

July 13, 2020

Regulation reminders:

· The bag limit for Unalaska Bay fresh and saltwaters is 5 salmon per day of which only 2 may be sockeye.

· Anglers are reminded that Town Creek (Iliuliuk) is closed to fish for sockeye year round.

· The saltwaters of Summer’s Bay are open to snagging, however, the freshwaters from the outlet of Summer’s Bay Lake to the ocean are closed to all sportfishing.

· All freshwaters of Unalaska Island are closed to snagging year round.

· Anglers are reminded that many of the creeks flowing into Unalaska Bay have closed waters for a portion of the drainage or all of the drainage in some cases. Be sure to keep an eye out for signs marking closed waters.

· The Southwest Alaska Sportfish regulation booklet has a complete list of sport fishing regulations for Unalaska Bay. It can be found in print in many locations or at: http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=fishregulations.sw_sportfish

Fishing reports:

·      Reds are still slow to arrive unfortunately with few catches reported near town. Summer Bay should be picking up by now and are hopefully just late!

·      McLee’s is slow too with about 3,300 fish counted at the weir, though some folks report still having ok catches in their gillnets.

·      Dolly fishing has been good, however, with fish being caught from most beaches. They should be heading into all local rivers too and easy to catch.

·      Halibut and crab fishing sound slow, but with waters warming up, catches may start to pick up as they move into shallower waters.

·      Don’t forget about rockfish and lingcod! Lingcod opened July 1 and rockfish are open year round.

·      As of January 1, 2020 all anglers fishing saltwaters from a boat in Alaska need to have a deep water release device on board and release any rockfish they aren’t keeping to 100 ft or the depth of capture, whatever is shallower.

·      See the ADF&G website for more information about deepwater release at this page: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm%3Fadfg%3DfishingSportFishingInfo.rockfishconservation

Tyler Polum is the Kodiak Area Management Biologist for the Sportfish Division of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
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