Hi all,

Thanks again for your interest in Idaho’s Chinook fisheries and the upper Salmon River.

Since last weeks’ update, we’ve only seen 4 more PIT tagged Sawtooth fish cross Bonneville Dam. What that means is that the run continues to come in below the preseason forecast, but we are still forecasting a small harvestable surplus. We are currently estimating a harvest share of 276 adult Sawtooth Chinook.

Although this is a very low surplus, IDFG will be proposing a fishery in the upper Salmon River. The IDFG Commission will meet next week to review and discuss the proposal, which would be to open the Salmon River ~100 yards above Valley Creek, upstream to the posted boundary ~100 yards downstream of the Sawtooth Hatchery weir. The proposed fishery would open on June 20^th and run 4 days per week (Thurs – Sun). Proposed bag limits would be  4 Chinook, only 2 of which are adults.

As usual, if opened, we will be monitoring the fishery closely.  This would the lowest harvest share we’ve conducted a fishery on in the upper Salmon River, and given this harvest share, the fishery might not last long.  Obviously, we’d all like to see larger returns and more fishing opportunities, but I hope everyone gets a chance to get out there and hook into one of these amazing fish.

Thanks, and stay tuned for another update next week after the Commission meeting.

Best,

Greg

Greg Schoby | Regional Fisheries Manager | Idaho Department of Fish and Game