FAIRBANKS -- A North Pole man is missing and presumed dead after he slipped into the Copper River while dipnetting Thursday afternoon.
Lance Jorgensen, 28, a carpenter from North Pole, was fishing from shore at about 12:30 p.m. when he slipped and was pulled under the water by the current, according to Alaska State Troopers.
Mark Hem, the charter operator Jorgensen was with, gave the location as about two-thirds of the way down Wood Canyon.
Several boats and a helicopter searched unsuccessfully for him on Thursday. Troopers called off the search Friday because of the low probability that he is still alive, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
"If we thought there was a good chance he was alive it would be a different matter," she said.
Jorgensen was not wearing a life jacket.
His name has been added to the troopers' Missing Person Database.
Jorgensen was fishing with his father, who has been notified of the current status of the search, troopers said.
The Copper River personal-use dipnet fishery at Chitina opened earlier this month.
Open to Alaska residents only, it draws heavily from the Fairbanks, Mat-Su and Anchorage areas and enables Alaskans to harvest a lot of fish in one trip.
The catch limit is up to 30 sockeye salmon for households of two or more, and dipnetters often perch on rocks above the cold, muddy, fast-moving water.
By SAM FRIEDMAN
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner