Upper Salmon River Weekly Steelhead Summary Report (3-19-2017)
By angelamontana

Posted: March 20, 2017

Steelhead angler effort on the upper Salmon River increased again compared to the previous week, but poor river conditions continued to impact the fishery. High temperatures during the week and then rain over the weekend resulted in increased river flows and poor visibility in all areas downstream of the East Fork. The majority of anglers were observed fishing downstream of North Fork in location code 15 and upstream of the East Fork in location code 19.

No interviewed anglers reported catching a steelhead downstream of the Middle Fork in location code 14 or upstream of North Fork in location code 16. Interviewed anglers downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 321 hours per steelhead caught and 481 hours per steelhead kept. Interviewed anglers downstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 17 averaged 55 hours per steelhead caught or kept. Interviewed anglers upstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 18 averaged 83 hours per steelhead caught or kept. Anglers fishing upstream of the East Fork in location code 19 had the best success over the weekend. Interviewed anglers in location code 19 averaged 21 hours per steelhead caught and 26 hours per steelhead kept.

Currently the Salmon River is flowing at 3,000 cfs through the town of Salmon, ID which is 263% of average for today’s date, and water temperatures are in the low to mid 40s. As of Thursday March 16th, the Pahsimeroi Hatchery has had 395 hatchery steelhead return to the trap. Additionally, the Sawtooth Hatchery has its trap in as well and has reported trapping steelhead.

(Report via Brent Beller * Idaho Department of Fish and Game)
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