As colder weather moved into the area, steelhead angler effort on the upper Salmon River continued to decline over the past week. Little effort was observed downstream of the Middle Fork in location code 14 or upstream of Salmon in location code 17. The majority of effort was observed downstream of North Fork in location code 15. Catch rates in location code 15 were the best observed so far this season with 6 hours per steelhead caught and 29 hours per steelhead harvested. Upstream of North Fork in location code 16, interviewed anglers averaged 14 hours per steelhead caught and 28 hours per steelhead kept. No interviewed anglers reported catching a steelhead from either below the Middle Fork in location code 14 or upstream of Salmon in location code 17.
Currently, the Salmon River is flowing at 2,020 cfs through the town of Salmon, which is 163% of average for today’s date. River visibility was cloudy at the start of the week but had improved considerably by the weekend and is currently clear. After bumping up into the low 40s during the Thanksgiving weekend, water temperatures dropped steadily over the week and are now in the mid-30s.
This will be the last upper Salmon River weekly steelhead report of the fall 2017 season. Reports will begin again at the start of the 2018 spring steelhead season.
(Report by Brent Beller with Idaho Fish & Game)
