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