When Chilkat River water levels drop, Alaska State Troopers will resume a search for a 36-year-old Haines man who may have been washed into the river June 17 while tending a subsistence fishing net near 25 Mile.

State troopers were notified 10:40 a.m. June 18 that Jason Allgood, a 38 Mile resident and customs and border protection officer, hadn’t shown up for his 7 a.m. shift that day at the Dalton Cache border station at 42 Mile.

On the morning of June 17, Allgood told a friend he’d planned to spend the rest of his day off fishing by himself. He’d also posted his plans on a Facebook page.

Trooper Ricky Merritt – who knew Allgood’s favored fishing spots – found his 2005 Kia Sedona van at about 11:40 a.m. the following day on the south side of the Chilkat River, just downstream of Wells Bridge, at its confluence with the Klehini River.

Merritt said troopers found Allgood’s van a half mile from his backpack, next to a staked subsistence net just upstream of the junction of four channels. Footprints at the scene suggested Allgood had changed out of tennis shoes and into boots. Troopers say he may have entered the river to work the net.

Merritt said Allgood’s tracks showed he had walked along the water’s edge — including wading through waist-deep sections of overflow, carrying his net, a cooler and his backpack — to reach the spot. “He definitely covered a distance to get there. He was dedicated to that spot.”

Based on discussions with friends and family members, troopers believe Allgood was wearing a pair of green chest waders.

“There were only one set of tracks going in, and none coming out,” Merritt said. Allgood’s tennis shoes, wallet, and digital camera were found in his backpack, on a sandbank adjacent to the river that was about four inches underwater Friday, apparently after water levels rose.

Fire crews joined troopers June 18 to search between the fishing site and 17 Mile. Four riverboats and a Coastal Helicopters chopper were involved in the search.

Using a probe and a grappling hook, searchers dragged the river in the 75-foot-wide section where the rivers meet up. The river at the net site is up to 25 feet deep, and there’s a backwash there that authorities describe as a “washing machine.”

“The river is doing a lot of weird things there. If you were to float it, the water’s at a standstill, but there’s a lot of current going into that spot,” Merritt said. The spot is a favorite fishing hole for many residents, troopers said.

The search was suspended at 4 p.m. June 19, then resumed June 20 after a noontime report that hip boots were seen floating in the river near 6.5 Mile. Searchers looked at that spot and south to Pyramid Island, using two riverboats and a Temsco helicopter. Two private airplanes aided the search, which was suspended at 4 p.m. About 30 people were involved in the search, including Division of Parks personnel, troopers said.

Merritt said a stretch of dry, cool weather had the potential to drop the river level one to two feet, which might aid recovery efforts.

Merritt said chest waders – a waterproof boot extending from the chest to the foot – may have played a part in pulling Allgood into the river – but said that was speculation.

“If you get chest waders filled up with water and add (river) silt into that, that would make a difference. You add cold water and shock and all that would be a contributing factor,” Merritt said.

Trooper Josh Bentz said the riverbanks and sandbars near the confluence are unstable and can give way when stepped on. A sandbar adjacent to the one where the net was attached collapsed when a searcher set foot on it.

Wife Jenifer Allgood this week said her husband was a longtime fly fisherman and outdoorsman who was in tremendous shape and was experienced wearing chest waders. “He had done that all over.”

Jason helped a friend tend a subsistence net in the river last year, but had only recently bought his own net, she said. “It was something new for him. We were trying it out.”

Jenifer and the couple’s three young children had left for a trip Outside to visit relatives the day before her husband went missing. She said it was rare when her husband went outdoors alone. “We always went as a family.”

Allgood had taken to the outdoors with enthusiasm. He posted photos of local wildlife on the Internet and phoned Merritt’s office every few weeks to discuss fishing or ask about regulations.

“He always wanted to talk about fishing and hunting. He wanted to go full stride and get into it,” Merritt said. Merritt said he came across Allgood with his family sport fishing for Dolly Varden last fall.

“He was a really good family guy. Most of the times I saw him, he was outdoors with his family,” Merritt said.

The Allgoods came to Haines from Rexburg, Idaho in Feb. 2008, following Jason’s training for work at the border station. For the past year, Allgood has served as Haines branch president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He also volunteered as a Cub Scout leader.