June 2, 2021 — The Copper River commercial fishery in Cordova, Alaska, has had three 12-hour fishing openers. Between weather, ice upriver, and cold water temperatures, catches have been a bit on the skinny side — as the high price per pound has reflected.
Those are the reasons so far, as opposed to chalking it up to a poor run like last year. Having said that, the 2021 predictions are not stellar.
The cumulative sonar count of fish up the Copper River through May 24 was 4,813 fish versus a projected 39,911 salmon.
The May 24 12-hour opener brought in 2,000 kings and 32,700 sockeye salmon compared with an anticipated harvest of 56,100. Though the kings were few and far between, they are such bright, beautiful fish. Kings are bright silver with black spots and the reds are silver with an iridescent blue green back.