Anchorage Daily News

Copper River dipnetters can get their nets wet for the first time this season Thursday night.

Because of a building run of salmon, the Chitina Subdistrict will open for 72 hours from 8 p.m. Thursday until 8 p.m. June 8.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game sonar at Miles Lake counted 34,942 salmon May 19-25. That remains well under the preseason projection of 54,350 salmon for the period, but enough for biologists to open the fishery.

Officials will continue to track the return and adjust future openings depending on the strength of the run. Rules include:

• A bag limit is 15 salmon per season, one of which may be a king, for a household of one. Households of two or more get 30 salmon, including one king.

• A 2008 sport fishing license and a free Chitina personal use permit are required.

• Steelhead cannot be kept and must be returned unharmed.

• Any harvest must be immediately recorded on the permit.

• Tails of any fish landed must be clipped right away.

Only Alaska residents may participate.

Free access to the Copper River is available where the eastern boundary of the 300-foot-wide O'Brien Creek Road easement reaches the high-water mark on the west bank of the Copper River.

Boat launch and fish wheel access to the Copper River is available via an easement located upstream of the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge on the east bank of the Copper River.

Public access and boat launching is also available downstream of the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge on the east bank of the Copper River within a Department of Transportation right of way.

Upland property on both banks of the Copper River is private. Vehicle and foot access to the river remains restricted along these private lands and at O'Brien Creek.

Area landowners have started a fee-based permit system allowing public access over their private lands along the Copper River. Not all private land is posted. A brochure, which describes private land locations in the area, is distributed with the permit.

The Department of Transportation has replaced the O'Brien Creek Bridge, which was washed away by flooding two years ago, with an ATV bridge. The road beyond O'Brien Creek sustained extensive landslide and wash-out damage in the 2006 flooding and remains closed from that point.

Fish and Game urges boaters launching from the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge to beware of fish wheels in the area.

Camping space is limited. Public camping is available at the Department of Transportation wayside on the east bank of the Copper River by the Chitina-McCarthy Bridge and waysides along the O'Brien Creek Road right of way. There's a private campground at the Chitina Airport.

DETAILS: Find further information, including fishery descriptions and summaries, maps of the subdistricts, a listing of vendors that carry permits, links to the Copper River sonar numbers and emergency orders.

www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/region3/ areas/ucus/chitina/chitina.cfm

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