The state has put a preliminary tally of 56.2 million on this year’s total Bristol Bay sockeye salmon run. That’s about 35 percent bigger than the preseason forecast of 41.5 million. The harvest for now stands at 37.5 million, which is 10 million more than was expected.
Audio transcript: All of Bristol Bay’s managed rivers have met or exceeded their escapement goals, several district records were broken, and it seems quite a few fishermen logged their best seasons ever. Among those is Kurt Baumgart, who fishes the Ryne B in the Nushagak District. He’s not sure if he’ll ever see another summer like 2017.
“I’d like to,” he says, with a laugh. “It was phenomenal. I’ve never seen that much fish in the Nushagak or anywhere in the Bay. They were all the way from Schooner’s Channel to West Channel, just anywhere you went, you could put your net out and load up.”
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