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The unofficial word from Chitina is that dip netting for red salmon in the Copper River is good but not great.

Despite reports late last week that fishing was finally taking off, it wasn’t as good as many dip-netters expected, reported Mark Somerville at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in Glennallen.

Many dip-netters were disappointed at how much work and how long it took to catch fish, he said.

“If you’re going to limit out you’re looking at at least 12 hours,” Somerville said, adding that dip-netters drifting from boats were having more success than those on shore.

Charter operator Mark Hem of Hem’s Charters reported that dip netting was good on Monday but slowed down slightly on Monday night. He rated the fishing as good to excellent on his latest hotline update on Tuesday morning. The river is at a good level and fishing should stay good the rest of this week and into next week, Hem said.

An influx of dip-netters lured by the prospect of catching an extra 10 salmon as a result of this week being declared a supplemental period has resulted in crowded conditions, especially on weekends. On Tuesday, there was still a long line of dip-netters waiting for charters.

“Be prepared to wait,” Hem said on his hotline.

The supplemental period ends on Sunday and dip netting will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, Somerville said. Dip netting will open again at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

The number of fish passing the sonar counter at Miles Lake is down to about 5,000 a day and fishing will begin to tail off in the second week of August, he said.

“I don’t think you’re going to see (success) increase,” Somerville said. “It’s as good as it’s going to get right now.”

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Not much word on king salmon fishing in the Chena and Salcha rivers but the run should be past its peak and water conditions aren’t real conducive to fishing after rain muddied the water.

Counters on both the Chena and Salcha were washed out earlier this week because of poor visibility.

The king count on the Chena River was up to 2,839 through Tuesday and on the Salcha it was at 2,568.

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King salmon fishing in the Gulkana River closed on Saturday but king fishing is open in the Klutina River through July 31 and charters are still reeling in a good number of kings, reported Diane Nickel at Klutina Salmon Charters in Copper Center.

There should be a surge of reds hitting the Klutina soon, too, she said.

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Bad weather has slowed the halibut fishing in Valdez, where local angler Lorena Jenkins still leads the derby with a 244.2-pound halibut.

There are lots and lots of pinks to be had, though, said Billy Marr at Fish Central in Valdez. It doesn’t matter what color Pixie lure you use, you’re probably going to catch fish, he said.

It’s still to early for fishing for silvers off Allison Point but anglers are picking up silvers farther out in Valdez Narrows. Seiners have their nets out and are catching some silvers with a gob of pinks.

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An early, and what appears to be strong, run of silver salmon in the Mat-Su Valley could help make up for the lackluster king run. There are good numbers of coho in most Valley streams, said Dave Rutz at ADF&G in Palmer.

“It’s early but it’s good,” Rutz said of the silver fishing. “The Little Susitna River is doing really good; they’re picking up at the Parks Highway streams all the way up to Montana Creek; the Deshka (River) is passing quite a few through the weir,” Rutz said. “They’re good-sized silvers, too.”

Commercial fishermen are also reporting good success, he said.

“It looks like it’s going to be a good year,” he said.

There are also pretty good numbers of sockeyes showing up in Susitna River drainages, Rutz said.

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A flood of red salmon poured into the Kenai River in the past week. About 200,000 fish — an average of about 30,000 a day — entered the river and shore anglers are reporting good success. It takes about a full day to catch a limit of three reds, said Robert Begich at ADF&G in Soldotna.

Fresh reds should hit the Russian River sometime this weekend and sockeye fishing on the Russian should improve dramatically.

King salmon fishing in the Kenai River has been good to excellent and should remain that way until the king season closes on July 31. More than 16,000 late-run kings have passed a sonar counter in the river.

Sockeye fishing on the Kasilof River is reported to be fair and the bag limit for reds in the Kasilof was raised from three to six a day on July 17.

Dip-netters have been having moderate success dip netting at the mouths of the Kenai and Kasilof rivers, depending on the influx of fish. Dip netting can range from fair to excellent from one day to the next. The Kenai River dip net fishery closes at

11 p.m. on July 31.