Area Sport Fishing Reports
Petersburg/Wrangell
June 3, 2022
With the heavy snow pack and delayed melt this spring, rivers, and lakes are now swelling with snowmelt due to the recent warm weather and summer sunshine.
King Salmon
Opportunity for Alaska hatchery-produced king salmon is now open in the Anita Bay and Blind Slough-Wrangell Narrows terminal harvest areas. Anglers report good success in the first few days of these fisheries.
Blind Slough-Wrangell Narrows king salmon regulations:
- Bag and possession limit is 2 king salmon, 28 inches or greater in length, and 2 king salmon, under 28 inches in length;
- No annual limit.
Anita Bay king salmon regulations:
- Residents: the bag and possession limit is 2 king salmon greater than 28” in length, with no annual limit.
- Nonresidents: the bag and possession limit is 1 king salmon greater than 28’ in length. The nonresident annual limit is 3 king salmon.
The majority of the management area remains closed to retention of king salmon through June 14. The mouth of the Stikine River (District 8 and a small portion of District 7 near Wrangell) is closed to retention for an additional month, through July 14. The advisory announcements describing these regulations and maps of the area can be found by following the links on the right-hand side of this webpage for advisory announcements.
Rockfish
Rockfish can be found year-round in marine waters and can be a great addition to your catch this time of year. Rockfish are managed by species groups with different bag and possession limits depending on the species. A helpful species identification guide is available on the ADFG website. Please see current emergency orders for a full description of these management actions. Anglers are reminded that a rockfish release device is now required to be used whenever releasing rockfish and the release device must be on board your vessel whenever sport fishing in marine waters.
Demersal shelf rockfish
Yelloweye is closed to retention for all anglers.
Residents: a daily bag and possession limit of one (excluding yelloweye)
Nonresidents: closed to the retention of all Demersal shelf rockfish species
Pelagic rockfish
A daily bag limit of 5 and possession limit of 10 in the Petersburg/Wrangell/Kake area.
Slope rockfish
A daily bag and possession limit of 1.
Halibut
Anglers have been reporting good success rates for this time of year. Typically, halibut catch rates increase as we progress through the summer and peak in the early fall.
Lingcod
The sport fishery for lingcod is now open. Nonresident anglers are reminded that size limits are different between northern and southern Southeast Alaska. Please refer to the advisory announcement addressing lingcod to review the regulations for the area you intend to fish. For residents, lingcod regulations are the same across Southeast Alaska with a bag limit of 1 daily and 2 in possession with no size limit.
Check out the new gofishak interactive map to discover popular fishing locations and information on species run timing, fishing gear selections, and boat and angler access tips!
