British Columbia fishing guide Dean Werk says he was getting calls last week from keen anglers wondering if this would be their year.

"Do you think there's going to be a salmon opening, Dean?"

Now they have the answer.

Amid bumper returns of millions of prized sockeye salmon, Fisheries and Oceans Canada issued a rare notice on Tuesday opening recreational fishing for the species on a stretch of the Fraser River for 11 days, from Friday until Sept. 1.

The joint Canada-US Pacific Salmon Commission predicts a sockeye run on the Fraser of 9.6 million fish, which would make it the biggest return since 2018.

Anglers can keep two sockeye per day from a non-tidal stretch of the river from the Mission bridge upstream to Hope.

Werk, who has spent decades on the river and wears multiple hats on

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