The Yukon River fall chum run is coming in stronger than forecast. Alaska Department of Fish and Game manager Jeff Estensen says 490,000 chums had passed a state sonar counter near the mouth of the river as of Aug. 8. Estensen says that’s better than the historic average of 340,000 chums for that date, and bodes well for the overall return.
Estensen says the second pulse of the fall chum run moved up the lower river in recent days. The run can include as many as five pulses. Estensen says there’s likely more effort going into catching fall chums in light of this summer’s poor king salmon return on the Yukon.
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Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.
