King salmon sport fishing opened Monday in Juneau’s hatchery harvest areas.
Those areas include Gastineau Channel, Fritz Cove, Auke Bay and Lena Cove. Hatchery area rules are in effect through the end of August. The daily limit is four kings, or Chinook, of any size.
Daniel Teske, the Juneau area management biologist for sport fisheries at Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said anglers can keep any Chinook caught in hatchery areas.
“You don’t have to make any determination of whether or not it’s a hatchery fish or not — but chances are it is going to be a hatchery fish,” Teske said.
Katie Harms is the executive director at Douglas Island Pink and Chum, or DIPAC, Juneau’s hatchery organization. She said hatchery Chinook five years old and younger lack an adipose fin, located between the dorsal and tail fins. That’s because the hatchery clipped it off, at the request of ADF&G, to distinguish hatchery-released salmon from wild salmon for research under the Pacific Salmon Treaty.
Harms said she predicts the hatchery return will be pretty good this year.
“We’ve been seeing trends with better marine survival than we’ve seen in some of the recent history,” Harms said.
DIPAC forecasts around 8,000 hatchery Chinook will return to the Juneau area, based on smolt released in Gastineau Channel, Fish Creek, Auke Bay and Lena Cove.
King salmon fishing outside of the hatchery zone remains closed until June 15.
Teske said that when boaters catch a king within the hatchery zone, they must off-load it before fishing outside of the zone to ensure they’re following area rules.
The 2026 sport fishing regulations booklet and updates are available on the ADF&G website.
