Idaho's Steelhead Update 8/28/2024

Hi everybody. With Idaho’s fall steelhead season about to kick into full gear, I figured now would be a good time to put out a fall steelhead update. In this update, I will be discussing Idaho’s early and late steelhead returns and what you could expect during the upcoming harvest opener.  

Idaho’s Early Summer Steelhead Run (fish destined for the upper Salmon, Little Salmon and Snake rivers)

Right now, most Idaho bound steelhead that have passed over Bonneville Dam are early run summer steelhead that are destined for the upper Salmon, Little Salmon, and Snake rivers. These fish pass over Bonneville Dam on average about a month earlier than fish destined for the Clearwater River basin. Evidence suggests that about 75% of this run has passed over Bonneville Dam (as of August 28) which gives us a good understanding for what you can expect during this year's fishery. 

To help portray how this year’s return compares to previous years, I have put together the figure below. This figure was developed using PIT tag detections collected at Bonneville Dam over the past 13 years. In this figure, the solid red line shows the number of fish that have passed over Bonneville Dam to date (through August 27), and the dotted red line shows the number of fish we project will cross the dam (assuming 75% of the run is complete). This data shows that over 21,000 hatchery steelhead destined for the upper Salmon, Little Salmon, and Snake rivers have passed over Bonneville Dam as of 8/27/2024 with the run projected to reach around 30,000 fish. If this occurs, the run would be similar to what occurred in 2016 which is better than the previous seven years.

One of the interesting things we are seeing this year is the continuation of the pattern where one year the run is dominated by 1-ocean fish and the next year it is dominated by 2-ocean fish. This is a year where the 2-ocean fish are dominating the return. In fact, this year the proportion of this return that is represented by 2-ocean fish may end up being the highest we have seen since we started using PIT tags to track returns. Currently 93% of Idaho’s early steelhead run is represented by 2-ocean fish. The previous high was 87% which occurred in 2016. This means you can expect to catch larger steelhead than normal when fishing the Salmon, Little Salmon, and Snake rivers this year. Based on reports from anglers, these steelhead are around 7-12 pounds. 

One of the things we keep track of is how many of the steelhead in this early run are destined for traps where we can collect them for broodstock. If not enough fish are returning to these places to meet broodstock goals, we will need to make our regulations more restrictive. The figure below compares how many fish we project will make it to our traps in the Snake and Salmon rivers this year (2024) to previous years (using PIT tags detected at Bonneville Dam). The blue portion of the bars show the number of steelhead that spent one year in the ocean and the yellow portion shows how many spent two years in the ocean. Those bars with text above them were the years when we applied more restrictive regulations to ensure that we would meet broodstock needs. Now that we have had more experience managing these fisheries with smaller returns, we recognize that we were probably overly restrictive during some of the years. Limit restrictions probably aren’t necessary when over 12,000 fish destined for our traps pass over Bonneville Dam. With over 21,000 of these fish projected to pass over Bonneville Dam this year, we are well within the safe zone. That means these fisheries will be able to occur with our normal regulations (3-fish daily limit). For more details on the steelhead regulations please refer to this link: https://idfg.idaho.gov/fish/steelhead/rules.

Idaho’s Late Summer Run (Clearwater River Basin Fish)

You may recall that last year I mentioned the hatchery steelhead return to the Clearwater River basin could be really good this year (steelhead update Oct 2023). Well, the data coming in suggests this is going to be a great year! To give you a feel for what I mean, I have put together the figure below that shows the run timing of Clearwater hatchery steelhead over Bonneville Dam since 2010 (using PIT tag data). In this figure, the red line displays this year’s return, and the red dotted line is the projection assuming the run is early (14% complete as of August 27). This data shows that currently about 7,000 Clearwater hatchery steelhead have passed over Bonneville Dam, and if the run is only 14% complete, this run will end up at around 47,000 fish. That would be the largest return we have seen since we started using PIT tags to track returns. This projection may be a bit optimistic if you consider that last year was the earliest run timing we have seen since 2010. If this run is as early as it was last year (22% complete), around 30,000 Clearwater steelhead would end up passing over Bonneville Dam. Regardless, the data suggests this year’s return of hatchery steelhead to the Clearwater River basin is going to be good. This means no limit restrictions will be necessary to achieve broodstock goals. 

Steelhead Fishing

The steelhead harvest fishery opens on September 1 in the Snake, Salmon, Clearwater (below Memorial Bridge), and North Fork Clearwater rivers. Then on Sept 10 the rest of the Clearwater River opens to harvest. The harvest opener should be decent in comparison to recent years. The 4,300 steelhead that have passed over Lower Granite Dam to date (from June 15 to August 27) ranks as the fourth most when compared to the previous 10 years. No PIT tagged hatchery steelhead bound for the Clearwater River basin have passed over Lower Granite Dam yet, so don’t expect to catch those jumbo 15 pound plus steelhead. Typically, these fish don’t show up in the Clearwater until early to mid-September with peak passage over Lower Granite Dam occurring in October. 

As I indicated earlier, there will be no need to make changes to any of our steelhead regulations this year to ensure broodstock goals are met. For those of you who are not familiar with the steelhead regulations, you can view them by visiting this webpage:  https://idfg.idaho.gov/fish/steelhead/rules.

Good luck fishing!