Southeast trollers pull in record king salmon catch in January

Despite the rough weather, Southeast trollers recorded a record chinook salmon catch for January in the winter troll fishery, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The January catch totaled 7,200 kings, well above the previous record of 4,800 in 2016.

“I knew it was good but didn’t realize we were that far above the previous high,” said Grant Hagerman, Fish and Game Southeast troll biologist in Sitka.

But “it’s not all roses,” Hagerman said. The fish are smaller on average, and the prices are below the five-year average. “We’re hovering around $9, which is still pretty good, and we’re at about $8.32 for the seasonal average, but that fluctuates,” Hagerman said. Prices have peaked historically around Valentine’s Day, he added.

Comparing January catches, trollers last year caught 4,100 chinook last year.

For Sitka-based trollers, the average catch per boat this year was 26 kings, compared to the five-year average of nine.

“What that metric tells us is that there’s an abundance of fish right now, the abundance of the mixture of stocks here for January is up and is looking good,” Hagerman said.

The winter chinook season opened Oc. 11 and will continue through March 15.

Fishermen so far have caught 24,000 kings this season, including 1,600 Alaska hatchery fish which don’t count toward the 45,000 non-Alaska hatchery guideline harvest level (GHL) set to comply with U.S.-Canada treaty limits.

“If fishing continues to be good in February, March and even April, they could potentially catch the winter GHL, which they haven’t done since 2016,” Hagerman said of trollers.

Fish and Game said the number of permits fished for the winter troll season this year is 189, up by 34 boats from last year.

The winter catch of kings has been a “a nice bump” for trollers, Hagerman said. “The 2023 summer coho season wasn’t bad, but there’s a lot of residents who hang their hat on what goes on in winter. so even though the price has been down, and the sizes down a bit, there’s definitely more fish out there than we’ve seen the last few years.”

He said the winter troll season gives Fish and Game “the earliest indication of a very general coast-wide health of chinook. ... It’s an indication stocks harvested in the winter troll fishery are coming in fairly strong, so hopefully other stocks along the coast will be too.”