Right now, flows in the lower Clearwater (at Spalding) are at about 27,000 cfs (40,000 cfs if average for this time of year) and are forecasted to slowly drop over the next week. What this means is that when the Chinook Salmon reach the Clearwater River, they are going to migrate faster and more off of shore than anglers are typically used to. Fish have already shown up at Kooskia hatchery, and I suspect it won't take long for fishing around Dworshak to get good.

Rapid River Run Fishery

We finally observed the first Chinook Salmon being harvested in the lower Salmon River (see table below). There weren’t a lot of people fishing, but those we interviewed had good catch rates (< 10 hrs/fish).  Flows dropped more than expected last week (below 50,000 cfs) which allowed fish to escape past the Slide Rapid. Flows are expected to come up for a few days and then drop down to below 40,000 by this weekend. When this happens, expect fishing to get good in the lower Salmon River. Unfortunately, because the Rapid River fish have been delayed at the Slide Rapid, many of the Sawtooth fish have caught up. As such, don’t expect the fishery below Hammer Creek (section 1) to stay open very long.