Salmon anglers will have to wait to fish for hatchery chinook in Admiralty Inlet.

That season, which was supposed to start Sunday, Nov. 1, in Marine Area 9, has been postponed to protect a large number of juvenile chinook in those waters, according to a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife release Friday.

Starting Sunday, chum will be the only salmon that anglers will be allowed to keep in Marine Area 9. The daily limit will be two.

“We’re seeing more young chinook out there than we’ve seen in over a decade,” said Ron Warren, the WDFW fisheries policy lead. “They’re too small to retain under state rules, so we’re postponing the chinook fishery.”

The department will continue to monitor Marine Area 9 and could open the area for a brief hatchery chinook fishery around Thanksgiving, Warren said.

Admiralty Inlet is scheduled to close to salmon fishing Nov. 30 and then will be open Jan. 16 through April 15.

“The action we’re taking today should allow us to keep the winter chinook fishery going longer when the area reopens in January,” Warren said.