To the south, the famous Kenai River has gone from being shuttered to facing the prospect of actually exceeding its escapement goal as state biologists late Monday stripped away most angler restrictions. Beginning today, kings less than 46 inches or more than 55 inches can be kept.

And up north, the popular Deshka River was in the midst of the fishing equivalent of a ninth-inning, game-winning rally. The sputtering Deshka king fishery, which last week state biologists predicted was likely to close, is alive after more than 2,000 kings rushed past the fish-counting weir Sunday.

"It's a relief to me," said Fish and Game area management biologist Dave Rutz from Palmer.

"What we're going to do is continue watching the Deshka number. We're going to keep watching it through Friday, and if we get 300, 400 or 500 fish a day, we're not going to have to do any restrictions."

All together, 4,530 kings are past the Deshka weir -- with 79 percent of them swimming by in the last four days.

"It certainly could be a late run, or it could be truncated run," Rutz said. "We'll just have to see how it goes."

Not since 2005 have so many Deshka kings been past the weir by June 13. That year, some 31,150 made it upstream to spawn, more than double the minimum escapement goal of 13,000 fish.

Bait is now banned on the Deshka, making angling less efficient.

"I'm getting some guides telling me that fishing right now on the Deshka is better than it's been the last four years," said Shane Tesar of Three Rivers Fly & Tackle in Wasilla. "And Montana Creek has been fantastic too."

The story was similar on the Kenai. In the last six days, 3,249 kings have passed the department's sonar at river mile 8.6. -- or 66 percent of the run to date.

Biologists seek at least 5,300 kings swimming upriver to their spawning grounds to ensure healthy future runs. They are on the brink of attaining that goal with 4,925 upriver.

June 30 is when count of early-run kings ends.

"Typically, 52 percent of the run has entered the river by this date," area management biologist Robert Begich said in a press release. "If the run proceeds at the current rate, the department is projecting a run of approximately 7,000 to 11,000 king salmon,"

The high end of that range is above the department's "optimum-escapement goal" of 9,000 fish.

"If run strength continues to improve," Begich noted, "liberalization of the fishery may occur."

Again.

Many Kenai River fishing guides were cheered by the news, but not all.

"Wow, man, I'm going to be an ogre and say what I think," said Paul Zobeck of Grand Slam Salmon Fishing Charters in Soldotna. "My concern is that we went from a dreary all-out prediction and a closure -- which seemed reasonable to me -- to this.

"I hope biology is in place for this. I have a great deal of respect for people managing with facts, because people complaining won't create escapement. I'm 100 percent in the Fish and Game camp, because they deal with biological facts."

Still, he worries that Fish and Game's minimum escapement goal of 5,300 fish for the early Kenai king run is too low. The smaller Anchor River, he notes, has a similar goal of 5,000 fish -- but not two king runs like the Kenai, where the late king run goes from July 1 through early August and is typically the larger of the two.

Zobeck said he was on the water Saturday and saw lots of fish caught, including one by a woman on his boat.

"As a businessman I've already sent out my e-mail and communications and I had all of my trips walk away. I'm a little bit on a yo-yo."

Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.