River conditions on the upper Salmon River improved over the past weekend, but higher than average flows and reduced visibility still limited the majority of angling effort to the area just downstream of the Sawtooth Hatchery. No angler interviews were obtained downstream of Salmon, ID in location codes 15 or 16. Angling effort was low upstream of the Lemhi River in location code 17, and interviewed anglers in this area averaged 4 hours per steelhead caught and 7 hours per steelhead kept. Interviewed anglers in location code 18, upstream of the Pahsimeroi River, did not report catching a steelhead. Upstream of the East Fork in location code 19, interviewed anglers averaged 4 hours per steelhead caught and 12 hours per steelhead kept.
Currently the Salmon River is flowing at 2,980 cfs through the town of Salmon, ID which is 176% of average for today’s date. The river’s visibility was cloudy downstream of Stanley, ID over the weekend, and water temperatures were in the mid-40s.
As of April 12th, 4,674 adipose clipped hatchery steelhead have returned to the Pahsimeroi Hatchery, and as of April 15th, 2,895 adipose clipped hatchery steelhead have returned to the Sawtooth Hatchery.
Report by Brent Beller * Idaho Department of Fish and Game – Region 7
