On Tuesday, the number of king salmon past the Deshka River weir exceeded the 7,533 total that passed of all last year.

While the prospect of attaining state biologists' minimum escapement goal of 13,000 fish is dim, who knows? Just weeks ago, biologists were projecting only 5,600 kings would reach the spawning grounds and already thousands more than that have returned.

Last year, the final king swam past the weir on Aug. 20.

This year, Fish and Game closed the Deshka to sport fishing on June 13, earlier than it did in 2008. Kings have continued to move upstream in modest numbers, with an average of 547 fish per day swimming past the weir since the closure.

"Right now," said Dave Rutz, area sportfish biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, "it looks like the restrictions added another 4,000 fish to the escapement. We're obviously going to be more than last year, maybe 11,000 fish.

"It'll be good to put that many more fish onto the escapement area."