Hi everybody, it is time for my weekly spring Chinook Salmon update (5/31/2022). For those of you who like to fish the lower Salmon River, be sure to read the fishery update for the Rapid River return as there is a closure that will be occurring there this week.

RUN UPDATE

The migration of Idaho-bound spring Chinook Salmon past Bonneville Dam is now pretty much over. As such, the vast majority of Chinook Salmon passing over Bonneville Dam from here on out will be destined for places other than the Clearwater, Rapid River or Hells Canyon fisheries. The total count for adult Chinook Salmon at Bonneville Dam (March 15 to May 30) is 145,539 which is the best since 2015, and the third best when compared to the past 10 years. It is certainly nice to have more fish returning than recent years, but don’t forget, we are far from our goals.

The PIT tag estimates of spring Chinook Salmon that have passed over Bonneville Dam are summarized in the table below. This table shows that the Clearwater River return’s adult harvest share is projected to be 6,030 fish (darker pink row), 3,749 for the Rapid River return (blue row), and zero for Hells Canyon (green row).

FISHERIES

Clearwater River Basin Fishery

Catch rates certainly improved last week up until the river blew out over Memorial weekend. Before Memorial weekend, catch rates averaged 14 hours a fish which is good for some areas. The best catch rates were documented in section 5 (Middle Fork Clearwater River around Clear Creek) at 9 hrs/fish. Last week we estimated 953 fish were harvested with 572 of those fish being harvested from section 1 (downstream of Cherrylane) – see table below. If you look at the blue section below you will see that we only have 317 fish left before section 1 reaches its target of 30% of the harvest share. If we had normal flow conditions, we would easily use up those 317 fish and a closure would be necessary this week. However, flows are forecasted to remain high in the Clearwater River and slowly increase. Yesterday and today few anglers have been fishing, and as such, we think these 317 fish will make it through the weekend. However, after the weekend, don’t expect the fishery to remain open much longer in section 1. All the other river reaches are far from achieving their goals. This means all river reaches in the Clearwater River basin will remain open to fishing for spring Chinook Salmon through this coming weekend. 

Rapid River Run Fishery

Harvest picked up last week throughout the entire fishery with 829 fish estimated being harvested (see table below). Where it was really happening was in section 1 of the lower Salmon River (Rice Creek Bridge to Hammer Creek ramp). In section 1, we estimate 480 fish were harvested with catch rates averaging 7 hrs/fish - this is excellent. What this means is the lower Salmon River is approaching its 50% of the overall harvest share (see section in blue). Once it reaches this target, we will close it down to ensure the Little Salmon River will get 50% of the harvest share. To prolong the fishery in the lower Salmon River and reduce harvest of fish destined for the upper Salmon River, we have decided to close section 1 of the lower Salmon River (Rice Creek Bridge to Hammer Creek Boat Ramp) at the close of fishing hours on Thursday (June 2, 2022). That means starting Friday (June 3, 2022), you will only be able to fish for Spring Chinook Salmon upstream of Hammer Creek. Fishing in the Little Salmon River was fairly slow last week, but I suspect it will start picking up.  

Hells Canyon Fishery

We still have not observed any fish being harvested downstream of Hells Canyon Dam. I thought a few jacks would have been harvested by now – maybe this will be the week.

Now that you are all up-to-speed on what is happening with our spring Chinook Salmon fisheries, I am heading out to fish for a few days. I hope to see you on the river.