The upper Salmon River continued to fish well this week. The majority of angler effort was located near Stanley in location code 19 or near Ellis in location code 17. These two areas also had the best catch rates for the week. Effort in other areas of the upper Salmon River was low.
No interviewed anglers reported catching a steelhead downstream of the Lemhi River in location codes 16 or 15. Interviewed anglers upstream of the Lemhi River in location code 17 averaged 14 hours per steelhead caught and 24 hours per steelhead kept which were similar rates to the previous week. Interviewed anglers upstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 18 averaged 46 hours per steelhead caught and did not report harvesting a steelhead. Interviewed anglers upstream of the East Fork in location code 19 averaged 10 hours per steelhead caught and 13 hours per steelhead kept.
Currently the Salmon River is flowing at 3,100 cfs through the town of Salmon, ID which is 221% of average for today’s date. Water temperatures on Sundaywere in the upper 30s near Stanley and in the low 40s near Ellis with cloudy river visibility throughout the weekend. As of Thursday April 6th, 2,580 adult hatchery steelhead had returned to the Pahsimeroi Hatchery, and as of Monday April 3rd, 1,046 adult hatchery steelhead had returned to the Sawtooth Hatchery.
Report by Brent Beller – Idaho Fish & Game
