Upper Salmon River Chinook Update: 7/27/2022
Hi everyone, below is the weekly upper Salmon River Chinook update:
Angler effort throughout the upper Salmon River fishery was about half of the previous weeks’ estimate, but catch rates remained similar. The majority of angler effort (~70%) was upstream of the East Fork Salmon River. We estimated that 10 adult hatchery Chinook were harvested downstream of the Pahsimeroi River (season total of 67), and 41 adults were harvest upstream of the Pahsimeroi River (season total of 437). Hatchery jacks made up the majority of the overall harvest, with an estimated 71 jacks harvested upstream of the East Fork. Below is the breakdown of angler effort and catch by river section in the upper Salmon River fishery.
Upper Salmon RiverPreliminary Harvest Estimates July 18 - July 24, 2022 |
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| Clipped Adults | Clipped Jacks | Total | Angler Hours | Hours Per Kept Fish | Unclipped Salmon Released | |
| North Fork Salmon River to Lemhi River | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | - | 0 |
| Lemhi River to Pahsimeroi River | 10 | 8 | 18 | 797 | 44 | 0 |
| Pahsimeroi River to East Fork Salmon River | 13 | 0 | 13 | 320 | 25 | 2 |
| East Fork Salmon River to 100 yards downstream of Sawtooth Weir | 28 | 71 | 99 | 2,605 | 26 | 77 |
| Weekly Totals | 51 | 79 | 130 | 3,736 | 29 | 79 |
| Season Totals | 504 | 294 | 798 | 20,307 | 25 | 244 |
Sawtooth Hatchery
To date we’ve harvested an estimated 437 adult hatchery Chinook from the Sawtooth return, which is still under our harvest share of nearly 700 fish. With the recent decrease in angler effort, it’s likely we won’t reach our harvest share by the end of this weekend, so we’ll likely be able to keep this portion of the fishery open until at least into early of next week.
Through 7/24, Sawtooth hatchery has trapped 1,412 hatchery adult Chinook.
Pahsimeroi Hatchery
Similar to previous weeks, harvest has been minimal downstream of the Pahsmieroi. To date, we’ve harvested 67 adult hatchery Chinook downstream of the Pahsimeroi, which is well short of our 600 fish harvest share. It is likely that this section of the fishery will remain open into the first week of August.
The Pahsimeroi hatchery has trapped 1,004 hatchery adult Chinook through 7/22.
For the most up to date hatchery trapping numbers, check IDFG’s Hatchery Returns webpage.
Hatchery staff at both facilities will continue to recycle Chinook into the fishery as they are available.
From here on out, I expect catch rates and angler effort to remain similar, with jacks comprising the majority of the catch.
As always, keep an eye on the Chinook Salmon Seasons and Rules webpage for details on the current seasons and rules information, as things can change quickly.
As I mentioned in last weeks’ update, there's a new wildfire burning northwest of Salmon, so for those of you fishing the areas between North Fork and Salmon, watch out for increased firefighter traffic and smoky conditions. More information on the fire can be found here: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/8249/
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