2025 South Fork Salmon Fishery Starts June 19

Happy Friday Everyone!

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission met this morning via conference call to set seasons for Chinook Salmon fisheries on the Upper Salmon River, the Lochsa River, and the South Fork Salmon River. They also increased the season limit from 10 adults to 20 adults, based on an increase in the number of adult Chinook Salmon that have come back to Idaho, relative to preseason forecasts. Read on for more information about each of these Commission actions. 

Upper Salmon River Fishery: 

The Upper Salmon River fishery will open on Thursday, June 19th, 7 days per week. The daily limit is four (4) Chinook Salmon, only two (2) of which may be adults. 

Lochsa River Fishery: 

The Lochsa River fishery will open on Saturday, June 14th, 7 days per week. The daily limit is four (4) Chinook Salmon, only two (2) of which may be adults. 

For more information about the Upper Salmon and Lochsa fisheries, click this LINK

South Fork Salmon River Fishery:

The South Fork Salmon River fishery will open on Thursday, June 19th, 7 days per week. The daily limit is four (4) chinook salmon – only one (1) of which may be an adult. 

Harvest Share:

Although South Fork fish are not done migrating over Bonneville Dam, the harvest share estimate thus far is 800 adults. However, this still may change depending on how well fish convert through the hydrosystem. We will continue to track the number of tagged fish coming over Lower Granite Dam to fine-tune our harvest share estimate in-season. I will provide weekly updates from here on out to let you all know what our harvest share target is on the South Fork fishery as the season progresses. 

Season Structure:

During season-scoping meetings in February, we were predicting a harvest share of around 530 adults on the South Fork Salmon for 2025. Based on the harvest matrix that you all helped us construct (Figure 1), we anticipated having a 4 day per week fishery with a 1 adult per day limit. We asked anglers at the February meetings if they felt this was an appropriate strategy, and 58% of the respondents said yes. However, those anglers also said that if the run came in significantly different than forecasted, they would support adjusting the season structure as appropriate, based on the harvest matrix below. Currently, the run is predicted to come in higher than forecasted, so based on that harvest matrix, we proposed to the Commission a 7 days per week fishery with a 1 adult per day limit. As the run over Lower Granite continues, if the harvest share estimate is reduced to significantly fewer than 750 adults, we may consider reducing fishing days to 4 days per week. Make sure to keep an eye on our website and stop in at the fishery check-station for announcements in-season. 

Timing:

The first PIT tagged South Fork adult crossed over Lower Granite Dam on May 19th, and based on PIT tags, 1,542 adults destined for the South Fork Salmon have come over Lower Granite Dam since that time. On average, it takes about 2 to 3 weeks for fish to travel from Lower Granite Dam to the South Fork fishery area. So, based on the PIT interrogations displayed below (Figure 2) there should at least be a few hundred fish within the fishery boundaries when the season opens on June 19th. There are a few PIT tagged fish in the South Fork system already. This fishery typically starts out a little slow, but picks up considerably by the end of June. With less than 1,000 adults in our harvest share and the fishery open 7 days per week, I can’t guarantee this fishery will still be open by July 4th, so don’t wait! 

Fishing Boundaries:

Many folks have been asking if the fishing boundaries are going to change this year. The answer is yes - but only slightly. We made a change in 2022 to move the sport fishery boundary up to Jakie Creek Bridge. This adjustment has helped tribal anglers get earlier access to fish, and improve their ability to get their harvest share - this isn’t something we intend to change. However, several anglers during February scoping meetings made a suggestion that we will be implementing in 2025. The way the boundary was instituted (the bridge being the lower boundary) anglers have not been able to fish the entire hole below the bridge. Starting this season, we are moving the boundary down from the bridge approximately 50 yards, so anglers can fish that entire hole. Fishing boundaries for the South Fork Salmon River are now stated as ‘from the posted boundary 50 yards below Jakie Creek Bridge near Reed Ranch Landing Strip upstream approximately 23 miles to the posted boundary approximately 100 yards downstream from the Idaho Fish and Game South Fork Salmon River weir and trap’. The lower boundary of the fishery for 2025 is shown in the photo below. The sign says “FISHING FOR CHINOOK SALMON CLOSED DOWNSTREAM OF HERE”. 

Season Limit:

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission also increased the season limit for Chinook Salmon adults from 10 to 20 today. When we initially set the season limit at 10, we were expecting roughly 32,000 Chinook Salmon over Lower Granite Dam in 2025. We conveyed to you all that typically when the cumulative run over Lower Granite is less than 50,000 adults, season limits will be 10. However, the overall Idaho run has come in better than expected this year (thanks to the Clearwater), so we recommended to the Commission that the season limit be increased to 20. For those of you who have already harvested 9 or 10 adults and thought your season was pretty much over – now you’re only halfway there! For the rest of you – there’s still lots of time and plenty of opportunity to fill the freezer!

Little Salmon River Fishery:

Fishing on the Little Salmon River has picked up considerably. This fishery is running 4 days per week (Thursday – Sunday) until harvest share is reached. We currently still have about 600 adults remaining in our harvest share. We’ll run the harvest estimates on Monday, and let you all know if we need to make any changes to ensure we don’t exceed our harvest share. Rapid River Hatchery personnel are likely to start recycling jacks into the fishery this weekend.  If you’re itching to get out and catch a salmon, head down to Riggins before it’s too late!