Anglers can't keep fish from mouth to junction of forks.
The drumbeat of king salmon restrictions in Southcentral continued Thursday, when the Alaska Department of Fish and Game announced that anglers cannot take any kings from the Anchor River north of Homer.
Across the region, dismal king returns have forced state fisheries managers to clamp down on anglers. Restrictions began in March, well before the first fish arrived, when managers closed or restricted angling on two well-known Kodiak Island rivers.
Since then, the situation has worsened, culminating with the closure of the popular Kenai River last week to king fishing for the rest of June.
In a way, the picturesque Anchor has been a bright spot among Southcentral fisheries this season. As of Thursday, 2,092 kings had made it upstream -- more than three times as many as had done so on the same date a year ago.
However, jittery fisheries managers are anxious to reach their minimum escapement goal of 5,000 kings on the Anchor, a number that they haven't achieved since 2008. As recently as 2005, more than 11,000 Anchor kings made it upstream to spawn.
"I was there yesterday," said Homer state fisheries biologist Nicky Szarzi on Thursday. "People were doing moderately well. There were fish in the river.
"King salmon runs to the Anchor River have only been estimated since 2004. This year's king salmon run is slightly behind the 2008 run through June 9 -- by 371 fish."
That year saw 5,806 fish make it upstream to spawn.
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. Saturday and continuing through the rest of the month, anglers cannot keep kings from the river mouth upstream to the junction of the river's north and south forks. By a previous emergency order, bait was banned in the Anchor, as well as in Deep Creek and the Ninilchik River.
In recent days, some anglers had noted improved fishing on the Anchor.
"It's a lot better this week than it was last week," Homer fishing guide Jim Lavrakas said Wednesday after a fishing trip. "Every 15 to 20 minutes there would be a hookup along the river."
Lavrakas, who landed a 32-pound fish, was among the successful anglers.
"Fishing has been good the last couple of weeks, especially the last week," said Brian Emard, owner of the Anchor River Lodge. "I was encouraged by the number of the fish coming in, but I'm not going to in any way second-guess the biologists. We've got to ensure the sustainability of the fishery, that's the No. 1 thing."
In the five days after June 3, an average of almost 200 fish a day had been counted moving upstream by state Fish and Game Department staffers -- a boost from earlier this season.
"It's definitely markedly better this year, but not great and not in the numbers we saw four or five years ago," Emard said. "We're not getting close to those numbers today. Last year was absolutely dismal."
About 3,500 kings made it upstream last year.
The Anchor is one of the few Kenai Peninsula streams in which biologists maintain in-river fish counts. Until this week, high water forced biologists to count Anchor River salmon with sonar, which produces screen images similar to an ultrasound.
"When the water is really high, physically we can't get in the river and put the weir in," Szarzi said. "Unfortunately, with the sonar, we can't always recognize the species on the screen. That's why it's more of an estimate."
The fish-counting weir that went in this week is distinctly low tech but more accurate. A technician at the weir counts every fish.
Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.
