The Alaska Department of Fish and Game recently released the Upper Cook Inlet 2026 salmon forecast.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.
All Upper Cook Inlet wild king salmon fisheries will be closed this year. The enhanced hatchery fisheries, which include the Ninilchik River, Kasilof River, Ship Creek, and the Nick Dudiak lagoon, will be open to king salmon fishing with restrictions. In addition, limited saltwater king salmon fisheries will also be open for harvest as well.
If you’re wonky about fish numbers, like I am, here are the forecasts for the Kenai River king salmon run.
The early run (May/June) forecast calls for 2,325 salmon. The optimum escapement goal (OEG) is 3,900-6,600.
The late run (July) forecast calls for 12,718 salmon. The optimum escapement goal (OEG) is 14,250-30,000 fish.
If there’s a positive takeaway from the 2026 Kenai River king salmon forecast, it’s that the numbers are improving.
It begs the question, have we hit the bottom and are now in a recovery phase?
Time will tell.
Let’s move on to the good, errr, GREAT fish news.
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is projecting a return of 7.6 million sockeye to Upper Cook Inlet. In their words, the run is “predicted to be excellent”.
Specifically, 4.45 million sockeye are forecasted to return to the Kenai River alone.
That’s a whole lot of fish.
It’s definitely a forecast that my doctor will approve of. During a routine physical last September, he told me to keep on doing whatever it is I’m doing.
I guess I’ll keep on not fishing for king salmon and keep netting over a thousand sockeye salmon in the summer….
See you next week.
2026 Sockeye Forecast?