Hey Everyone.
It was a great four days on the Little Salmon River! River flow has dropped considerably so the river is fishing really well, and harvest rates are as good as they’ve been all year at just under 8 hours per fish kept. The table below shows our daily harvest estimates for the past four days of fishing on the Little Salmon River.
Due to a decrease in effort this interval compared to the previous two intervals, there was a slight decrease in overall harvest compared to the previous week. However, we still estimated over 200 adults harvested over the 4-day fishing interval, and another 25 jacks. The next table (below) shows you how this past interval stacks up with the entire season on the Little Salmon River so far.
As you can see, catch and harvest rates have gotten better and better throughout the season and are currently about as good as they get. And with the recent decrease in effort, there is plenty of room out there to fish. So if you haven’t gotten the chance to take some fresh salmon home yet this year, there is no better time than now.
The lower Salmon River fishery closed at the end of fishing on June 16, leaving the remainder of the Rapid River harvest share for the Little Salmon River fishery. Currently, the Rapid River harvest share is 2,408 clipped hatchery adults. In total, 1,046 of those fish (43% of the total harvest share) were harvested in the lower Salmon River before it closed, which means our targeted harvest for the Little Salmon River fishery this year is 1,362 clipped hatchery adults (this will end up being 57% of the total harvest share). So far this season, the Little Salmon River fishery has harvested an estimated 830 clipped hatchery adults, which means we still have another 532 clipped adults to go in our harvest share.
Based on how much harvest share remains and the fact that effort has been declining, I expect the Little Salmon River fishery may remain open for another two fishing intervals. However, if effort increases this weekend we may reach that harvest share sooner – there are certainly fish to be caught out there! Stay tuned for next week’s update.
Rapid River Hatchery Trapping Update
As of today, June 25th, Rapid River Hatchery is reporting 1,709 clipped adults in holding. This means they still need another 685 adults in the trap to reach their broodstock goal of 2,394 adults.
Last week, hatchery personnel recycled 474 clipped jacks back into the Little Salmon River for the fishery. Some of those fish were certainly caught during the last fishing interval, but plenty of them remain in the river for anglers to catch. This week, they plan on recycling another 300 jacks or so.
Good luck out there!
