(Soldotna) – The Kenai River personal use dip net fishery will be open 24 hours per day, beginning 11:00 p.m. Friday, July 21 through 11:59 p.m. Monday, July 31, 2023.

The area of the Kenai River open to personal use dipnetting remains the same. Please review pages 13-15 of the 2023 Southcentral Alaska Sport Fishing Regulations Summary booklet for a complete description of the area open to dipnetting, along with harvest limits and permit requirements. Participants are reminded that retention of king salmon is prohibited. Any king salmon caught may not be removed from the water, must be released immediately, and returned to the water unharmed. Additionally, to participate in the Upper Cook Inlet personal use fisheries participants must be Alaska residents and have in their possession a current sport fishing license and an Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use permit. Nonresidents are not allowed to participate in personal use fisheries.

The Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon Fishery Management Plan allows ADF&G to increase the hours open to dipnetting in the Kenai River personal use fishery to 24 hours per day, if ADF&G is projecting a run size that exceeds 2.3 million late-run Kenai River sockeye salmon and anticipates the escapement goal (750,000 – 1,300,000 sockeye salmon) will be achieved.

Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use permit harvest and participation must be reported online no later than August 15 through the ADF&G harvest reporting webpage. Permit holders who fail to report will be denied an Upper Cook Inlet Personal Use Salmon permit for 2024 and are subject to a fine. If you did not use the permit or if you used the permit but did not catch anything you still have to report. Returning permits by mail or hand-delivery is no longer an acceptable means to report.

Please respect all private property adjacent to public beaches and follow applicable rules and regulations when on lands owned by the City of Kenai.

For additional information, please Acting Area Management Biologist Jenny Gates at (907) 262-9368.

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