Steelhead fishing improved again this week on the upper Salmon River. The majority of angling effort was observed either near the Pahsimeroi confluence or upstream of the East Fork in location code 19. Effort in other areas of the river was low. One harvested fish was recorded downstream of North Fork in location code 15, which averaged 70 hours per steelhead caught or kept. No steelhead were reported caught by interviewed anglers downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16. Upstream of the Lemhi River in location code 17, interviewed anglers had good success and averaged 15 hours per steelhead caught and 22 hours per steelhead kept. Upstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 18, interviewed anglers averaged 26 hours per steelhead caught and 38 hours per steelhead kept. Interviewed anglers upstream of the East Fork in location code 19 had the best catch rates of the season up to this point and averaged 6 hours per steelhead caught and 14 hours per steelhead kept.
Currently the Salmon River is flowing at 2,810 cfs through the town of Salmon, ID which is 226% of average for today’s date. River temperatures on Sundaywere in the low to mid-40s, and the river’s visibility was clear upstream of the East Fork and cloudy in all areas downstream. As of March 30th, the Sawtooth hatchery had trapped 139 adult hatchery steelhead, and as of March 31st, the Pahsimeroi hatchery had trapped 2,131 adult hatchery steelhead.
(Report by Brent Beller of Idaho Fish and Game)
