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The news from Chitina just keeps getting worse for dip-netters.

Dip netting for red salmon in the Copper River is still reported to be slow and an extended closure of the commercial fishery in Cordova will result in decreased fishing time for dip-netters later this month, area management biologist Mark Somerville at ADF&G in Glennallen said.

The Chitina dip net fishery will remain open through July 13 but after that there will almost certainly be reductions in fishing time. The extended closure of Cordova’s commercial fishing fleet, which reached 13 days on Tuesday, triggered a reduction in harvest for the personal-use fishery, Somerville said.

As of Tuesday, the commercial fishing fleet had been shut down for 13 straight days and the sonar count at Miles Lake still had not caught up to preseason projections. The sonar counts did not go up as expected with commercial fishers out of the water.

“There’s nothing stopping them so we should see an increase,” Somerville said.

Starting July 14, dip netting will probably only be open three to five days a week so dip-netters will have to pay closer attention to the openings and expect more dip-netters when fishing is open.

“It could get more crowded when it is open,” Somerville said.

The openings will depend on sonar counts at Miles Lake but even the sonar counts jump up, fishing time will be restricted because of stipulations in the management plan concerning the extended closure of the commercial fishing fleet, Somerville said.

“There’s no upward trigger,” he said. “Once (the allocation) is reduced, you have to keep it that way through Aug. 31.”

Dip-netters who have not been to Chitina don’t need to panic, Somerville said.

“There will still be opportunity,” he said. “I don’t see it getting shut down.”

But dip-netters might not have as much time to catch their fish, he acknowledged.

“Right now, a lot of people are taking two, three and four days to get their limits,” Somerville said. “That might be an issue if it gets cut down to three days (a week).”

Dip netting at Chitina is still reported to be slow, charter operator Mark Hem reported on his hotline Tuesday morning. Fish are coming by in small groups at unpredictable times, he said.

“If you’re not there when they come by you do poor; if you hit them, you do fair to good,” Hem said on his recording. “I don’t believe this will change much through Saturday or Sunday.”

Hem said he will update his recording (823-2200) this weekend unless things change dramatically before then.

• • •

King salmon fishing on the Gulkana River has been decent when the water is clear and the water was clearing up on Tuesday, said Somerville.

A little more than 900 kings have been counted past a tower above Sourdough boat launch, 45 miles upstream from the mouth, and biologists predict there are more fish on the way before the fishery closes on July 19.

“Looking at past years we’ve had a spike of fish later in the season,” Somerville said.

• • •

King and red salmon fishing in the Klutina River improved noticeably this week, reports Dianne Nickel at Klutina Salmon Charters.

Charters report good king catches and anglers are catching reds from the shore in Copper Center, she said.

“The fillet tables were busy here all day long,” Nickel said on Tuesday.

• • •

Anglers in Valdez are reportedly catching pink salmon from Allison Point and Pixie lures are flying off the shelf at Reynolds Alaska Sporting Goods, reports someone who answered the phone at the tackle shop this week but was too busy to give a name.

“They have been catching them at Allison Point,” confirmed Billy Marr at Fish Central, a charter booking service in Valdez. “An hour or two before and after high tide is usually the best time.”

Anglers in boats in the Valdez Narrows have also been slamming pinks, Marr said.

“They’re in, not in huge numbers, but they’re here,” he said of Valdez’ annual pink invasion.

• • •

This is the final weekend of king salmon fishing in the Parks Highway streams north of Wasilla and biologists said there should be adequate numbers of kings for decent fishing. Biologists were contemplating closing the Parks Highway streams but anglers reported good success last weekend, said Dave Rutz at ADF&G in Palmer.

“The reports were getting is that fish are showing upin pretty good numbers,” he said.

King fishing in the Little Susitna River is somewhat slow but there should be fish all the way up to the Parks Highway by now, Rutz said.

There reported to be good numbers of kings in the Talkeetna River and anglers are still picking up kings at the Eklutna Tailrace south of Palmer.

The Deshka River remains closed due to a poor king return. The weir count through Monday was about 4,200 kings.

“We’re still hoping to put 8,000 through,” said Rutz.

• • •

The Kenai River is between king runs and as is typical for this time, fishing is slow, reports Robert Begich at ADF&G in Soldotna. The late king run typically peaks at mid-month, he said.

“It will pick-up as July progresses with some days better than others,” Begich wrote in an e-mail.

The same is true of the king situation on the Kasilof River, he said.

Fishing for red salmon in the Russian River is fair to good, Begich said. More than 24,000 fish have passed through a weir and the sanctuary area is open to fishing.

A respectable number of sockeye are returning to the Kasilof River, Begich reports.

The Kenai River sockeye sonar counter went in Tuesday so biologists will have a handle on how many reds are in the Kenai in the next few days.