By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Local sport anglers have enjoyed a high degree of success in pursuit of king salmon this year, though charter numbers have fallen sharply due to the pandemic, a Department of Fish and Game official said today.
“I would say it (fishing) has been better in terms of catch rate and also the bag limit has been higher,” said Troy Tydingco, ADFG area management biologist for sport fish.
Since June 15 the bag limit for king salmon is three. The season opened with a king bag limit of one.
As for charter fishing, however, Tydingco noted a serious drop.
“We are at about 20 percent of where we typically are this time of year, just for guided effort. And that has started to increase. We were basically shut down until people had the option to come up and get tested,” he said.
Free testing for COVID-19 is now available at the Sitka airport for new arrivals.
As for solid fishing spots, Tydingco said that offshore tends to be best.
“Especially those that can get out offshore, Vitskari was particularly good this year for a while… Biorka has been a little more spotty, the Cape has been a little bit more good,” he said.
All these sites are west of Sitka in fairly open waters.
With the commercial troll fishery opening today, Tydingco said the sport catch can be expected to drop.
“We typically see a dip in angler success after July 1. A lot of time we see a dip and then it builds back up, but the overall trend is king salmon (sport fishing ) harvest declines over the course of the summer,” he said.
