Title 5 . Fish and Game

Chapter 52 . Personal Use Fishery

Section 22. General provisions for seasons, bag, possession, and size limits, and methods and means for the Upper Copper River and Upper Susitna River Area

5 AAC 52.022. General provisions for seasons, bag, possession, and size limits, and methods and means for the Upper Copper River and Upper Susitna River Area

(a) Unless otherwise specified in 5 AAC 52.023, or by an emergency order issued under AS 16.05.060 , the following are the seasons, bag, possession, and size limits, and method and means that apply to sport fishing for finfish in the Upper Copper River and Upper Susitna River Area:

(1) in all flowing waters, only unbaited, single-hook, artificial lures may be used;

(2) in all lakes, except Paxson Lake and Summit Lake, bait and artificial lures may be used; in Paxon Lake and Summit Lake a hook and bait may be used only as follows:

(A) from April 16 - October 31, only unbaited, single-hook, artificial lures may be used;

(B) from November 1 - April 15, only single-hooks may be used; bait may be used;

(3) king salmon: may be taken only from January 1 - July 19, as follows;

(A) 20 inches or greater in length; bag and possession limit of one fish; annual limit of four fish; a harvest record is required as specified in 5 AAC 52.024; a king salmon 20 inches or greater in length that is removed from the water must be retained and becomes part of the bag limit of the person originally hooking it;

(B) less than 20 inches in length; bag and possession limit of 10 fish;

(C) a person may not remove from the water a king salmon that the person intends to release;

(4) salmon, other than king salmon: may be taken from January 1 - December 31, as follows;

(A) greater than 16 inches in length; bag and possession limit of three fish;

(B) 16 inches or less in length; bag and possession limit of 10 fish;

(5) rainbow/steelhead trout: may be taken from January 1 - December 31; bag and possession limit of two fish, of which only one may be 20 inches or greater in length;

(6) burbot: may be taken from January 1 - December 31; bag and possession limit of five fish; no size limit;

(7) Arctic grayling: may be taken from January 1 - December 31; bag and possession limit of five fish; no size limit;

(8) Dolly Varden/Arctic char: may be taken from January 1 - December 31; bag and possession limit of 10 fish; no size limit;

(9) lake trout: may be taken from January 1 - December 31; bag and possession limit of two fish; no size limit;

(10) other finfish not specified in (3) - (9) of this subsection: may be taken from January 1 - December 31; no bag, possession, or size limits;

(11) whitefish may be taken from October 1 - March 31 by spear or bow and arrow; an arrow must have a barbed tip and be attached by a line to a bow;

(12) suckers may be taken from January 1 - December 31 by spear or bow and arrow; an arrow must have a barbed tip and be attached by a line to a bow;

(13) in the upper Copper River and Susitna River drainages, a person using an ice house that is not removed from the ice at the end of a day after fishing from the ice house, must register that ice house with, and be issued a permit from the department for that year; a registered ice house must have the person's permit numbers displayed on one side and on its roof in numbers at least 12 inches high that are plainly visible; the department may designate time, area, and other conditions on the permit;

(14) the use of set lines is prohibited.

(b) For the purposes of this section, "bow" means a long bow, recurve bow, compound bow, or crossbow.

History: Eff. 5/4/94, Register 130; am 5/5/94, Register 131; am 4/11/97, Register 142; am 7/8/99, Register 151; am 3/16/2000, Register 153; am 5/11/2003, Register 166; am 3/30/2006, Register 177

Authority: AS 16.05.251