Grab your Steelheadin’ gear! Idaho Fish and Game’s annual South Fork localized broodstock program will relaunch next week! Started in 2010, the program utilizes volunteer anglers to collect adult hatchery steelhead returning to the South Fork Clearwater River. Steelhead caught by anglers will be placed in holding tubes in the river. Steelhead meeting hatchery requirements are then collected by program staff and taken to Dworshak National Fish hatchery and the Clearwater Fish Hatchery where they are then spawned. The resulting new generation of steelhead will then be released back into the South Fork to begin their journey to the ocean. By spawning fish that have successfully migrated and returned to the South Fork, the program seeks to enhance a steelhead population more locally adapted to the South Fork. This program provides a great way for anglers to engage and contribute to a more robust, localized steelhead population in the South Fork Clearwater River.
Annual South Fork Clearwater River Localized Broodstock Collection Program Starts Feb. 2
Tubes will be distributed along the South Fork Clearwater River beginning Monday February 2, 2026. Broodstock collection will be 7 days a week, between daylight hours until April or until broodstock goals are met, whichever happens first. Participating anglers MUST sign a volunteer form to handle fish to be placed in tubes. Program staff will be available at tube sites to get volunteer anglers signed up. If you would like to participate in the program and we don’t find you first, please come find us!
Anglers will catch and place all steelhead in tubes that they do not wish to harvest (adipose clipped) or cannot harvest (unclipped adipose fish). Both adipose clipped and unclipped steelhead will be tubed, but only steelhead that are determined to be hatchery origin will be kept for the program. All presumed wild fish will be released.
To safely place fish in tubes, tubes should be completely submerged under water but in areas easily accessible by program staff. Use the provided line to attached tubes to the shore and place tubes in areas with slow current that are not silty or muddy. Fish should be placed in the tubes so that they are facing upstream. Only one fish should be placed into a tube at a time. We typically distribute two sizes of tubes, please use the smaller tubes when possible for smaller fish, reserving the larger tubes for the truly jumbo size. Please do not relocate the tubes to another location. Also, once a fish has been placed in a tube, it may not be removed or harvested by an angler. Fish and Game staff will be moving up and down the river collecting data and eligible fish for the broodstock program, if you see us and want to participate, wave us down and we will get you signed up.
We appreciate all the anglers that participate in the Southfork localized broodstock program. You are vital component of the programs continued success, and it couldn’t be done without your help and cooperation. We will see you out on the river. Get those lines wet!
