Wild king salmon sport fishing regulations for 2026 took effect across Southeast on Wednesday. In most inside waters of the northern panhandle, including Juneau, the season opens June 15.
Daniel Teske is a Juneau area management biologist for sport fisheries at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He said the regulations for kings, also called Chinook salmon, haven’t changed much this year.
“It’s pretty much the same thing as last year, except the upper Taku Inlet is going to be open a couple weeks earlier because things have been looking good in terms of forecasted returns and recent returns,” Teske said.
He said the department projects 33,200 king salmon will return to spawn in Taku Inlet this year. Teske said the 2025 return was one of the largest the department had seen in the area in around 20 years, at more than 40,000 fish, and that’s a sign that longer closures the department imposed in past years have been working.
When wild king fishing opens in mid-June, Alaska residents can keep two fish of 28 inches or longer per day.
Keeping wild king salmon is prohibited from April 1 through June 14. That restriction is the same as last year, and Teske said it’s meant to keep the population on an upward trend.
“The wild stock, although they’ve been improving, we still want to provide some protections as they transit through the salt waters back to their home rivers,” he said.
The other closure in the northern panhandle is the northern section of Seymour Canal on Admiralty Island from April 1 to July 31.
Teske said hatchery king fishing will be open from June 1 to August 31. DIPAC, the hatchery in Juneau, typically releases kings in Lena Cove, Auke Bay, Fish Creek Pond and Gastineau Channel.
Specific hatchery king salmon regulations haven’t been announced for the Juneau area yet. Regulation updates are available on the ADF&G website.
