If you look at the blue section above, you will see our harvest distribution goal for the lower Samon is to receive 55% of the harvest and the Little Salmon to receive 45%. Right now, we have 520 fish to go before the lower Salmon River reaches this goal. It wouldn’t surprise me if we get close to this goal by the end of this week. If so, this could be the last week to fish in the lower Salmon River. Unfortunately, when the returns are small and catch rates are good, often all that can be expected is two weeks of fishing once the fish arrive. 

As many of you know, we have closed down the lower Salmon River from Rice Creek Bridge to Time Zone Bridge to all Salmon fishing. This closure was mostly about protecting upper Salmon River fish as they migrate up the Salmon River. This is especially important this year due to the small return that is expected. For more details on this closure you can click on this link (lower Salmon River closure).

Hells Canyon Fishery

Once again, fishing below Hells Canyon Dam remained good! Last week we estimated that 206 adult fish were caught and catch rates were 8 hrs/fish. We estimate that 537 fish have been harvested to date which leaves 228 fish in our harvest share. As such, this fishery will remain open for at least another week. I suspect that catch rates will drop as we opened the trap this week. However, we collected the fish we need, and the trap will likely be closed for the remainder of the season.