Spring Chinook Salmon Fishing Update 5/13/2025: Rapid River Run, Hells Canyon, and Clearwater River Fisheries

Hi everybody.

Time for the weekly spring Chinook Salmon update (May 13, 2025). As a heads up, the commission met today and made changes to the fishery in the Clearwater River basin. Read below for more details.

RUN UPDATE

Spring Chinook Salmon daily counts at Bonneville Dam have peaked and are now starting to drop (see figure below). Additionally, catch rates in the tangle net test fishery near the mouth of Columbia River have also dropped which shows we are nearing the end of Idaho’s Spring Chinook Salmon return over Bonneville Dam. By this date (5/12/2025), Idaho’s spring Chinook Salmon returns over Bonneville Dam are typically about 80% complete which this data supports.

Cumulative daily counts of adult spring Chinook Salmon at Bonneville Dam shows this year’s return (red line) will likely exceed what occurred in seven of the previous 10 years (see figure below). Final cumulative counts will likely end up somewhere between what occurred in 2023 (dotted black line) and 2016 (dotted green line).

The table below summarizes PIT tag detections at Bonneville Dam through 5/12/25. This table shows that the Clearwater River return’s harvest share is projected to be 4,355 adult fish (darker peach row) which is up slightly from what was reported in my last update (4,035 fish). The Rapid River return (blue row) is projected to have a harvest share of 798 adult fish which is down from my last update (1,316 fish). Finally, the Hells Canyon fishery (green row) is projected to have a harvest share of 610 fish which also is down from my last update (764 fish). 

The Clearwater River basin’s projected harvest share (4,355 adult fish) is significantly higher than what we forecasted (1,144 fish) when seasons were set which is great news. As such, the commission met today (5/13/2025) to discuss if changes should be made. The commission ultimately decided to follow angler recommendations provided in the Clearwater basin’s harvest matrix (see table below) where it shows that when the Clearwater basin’s return is between 2,001 and 6,000 adult fish the fishery should be open 7 days/week (except for the North Fork which would remain at 4-days/week). Additionally, because the harvest share will likely exceed 4,000 adult fish, the commission also approved increasing the daily limit in the South Fork Clearwater River to 4 fish, only 2 of which may be adults. These changes occurred immediately which means if you want to go out and fish in the Clearwater basin (except North Fork) you can do it right now! Full details on the seasons and limits of Idaho’s spring Chinook Salmon fisheries can be found on IDFG’s website (https://idfg.idaho.gov/fish/chinook/rules).

Unfortunately, the Rapid River return is disappointing with the projected harvest share currently at 798 adult fish. There are several things we are monitoring that could increase this harvest share. First, there could be a late surge of fish which doesn’t seem likely but possible. Second, the survival of fish as they migrate from Bonneville Dam to Idaho could be higher than average. The survival rate for those fish migrating through the Columbia River has been a little higher than normal but not enough to make significant changes to the harvest share. Finally, PIT tags may represent fewer fish than they typically do. We refer to this as PIT tag representation (what portion of the run do PIT tags represent). Genetic data collected at Bonneville Dam suggests that the PIT tag representation could be low this year for the Rapid River return. We won’t have good data pertaining to this until around early June, but if PIT tag representation is lower than average (about 65%), we will increase our run size and harvest share up to account for this. Even if some of these things occur, I wouldn’t count on the harvest share for the Rapid River return increasing past 2,000 adult fish.

FISHERIES

Clearwater River Basin

We observed the first Chinook harvested in the Clearwater River basin last week. All total we estimated that 31 adult Chinook were harvested all in the lower Clearwater River (from Camas Prairie Railroad Bridge to Cherrylane Bridge). Next week I will begin providing a table that shows how many fish have been harvested in each river code so that you will have a feel for where you may want to fish and how long a specific reach of river may remain open. 

The Clearwater River is brown and flowing at about 40,000 cfs right now due to the recent rains we have received. However, the national water prediction service indicates flows are supposed to drop below 30,000 cfs by Saturday. I’m not sure how accurate that prediction is seeing it is supposed to rain off-and-on for the next week. I guess time will tell. Regardless, salmon counts at lower Granite Dam should fluctuate between 1,000 and 2,000 fish over the next week and provide good fishing opportunity assuming the river is fishable. Another thing I want to make you aware of is that there are around 7,500 adult Chinook between Ice Harbor and Lower Monumental dams (1st and 2nd dams on the Snake River). Adult fish can struggle to find their way past this dam when large volumes of water are being spilled to help with smolt survival as they migrate to the ocean. When adults stack up behind a dam, spill patterns can be adjusted to help with adult passage. If you are checking on dam counts, pay attention to this, as when they make these adjustments a large surge of fish will migrate upstream and when they hit Idaho it can provide some excellent fishing.

Rapid River Return

We also observed harvested fish in the lower Salmon River last week. Based on what we observed, we estimate that six fish were harvest all around Riggins. Flows in the lower Salmon River (at Whitebird) peaked at about 54,000 cfs yesterday and are starting to drop. The national water prediction service indicates flows are supposed to drop below 40,000 cfs by Thursday which should allow fish to pass the Slide Rapid and provide fishing opportunity in the lower Salmon River this week. 

Hells Canyon

We estimated that 14 adults and 8 jacks were harvested last week below Hells Canyon Dam. This fishery should only continue to improve especially since there will be limited trapping this year.

Have a great week!