by Joe DuPont
Hi everybody.
It is time for another weekly update for the Clearwater Region’s spring Chinook Salmon fisheries (May 20, 2025).
RUN UPDATE
Idaho’s spring Chinook Salmon returns over Bonneville Dam are now over 90% complete (as of May 19, 2025) which means we can say with confidence that this year’s return (red line in figure below) will come in over what was forecasted and will exceed returns in seven of the previous 10 years.
To understand how many of these fish are returning to Idaho’s fisheries, we need to look at PIT tag detections which are summarized in the table below (through 5/19/2025). This table shows that the Clearwater River return’s harvest share is projected to be 4,772 adult fish (darker peach row) which is up from what was reported in my last update (4,355 fish). The Rapid River return (blue row) is projected to have a harvest share of 792 fish which is about the same as I provided in my last update (798 fish). Finally, the Hells Canyon fishery (green row) is projected to have a harvest share of 608 fish which also is about the same as I provided in my last update (610 fish).
I want to point out in the table above that 9,232 adult fish are projected to pass over Bonneville Dam this year that were released at Clear Creek (stream feeding Kooskia Hatchery). This PIT tag projection is about 2,000 more adult fish than we have ever seen returning to this release site since I have been a fisheries manager (since 2008). We aren’t sure why fish released at Clear Creek did so well on their journey to the ocean and back, but it is good to see. Based on the large return of fish to Clear Creek and because in the past three years the fisheries in the Clearwater basin upstream of Orofino Bridge have not achieved their harvest distribution goals, the commission will be meeting this Thursday (May 22, 2025) to discuss increasing the daily limit to two adults in all river reaches upstream of Orofino Bridge. This limit change is being recommended to the commission so that anglers can harvest more of the fish returning to Clear Creek. As a reminder, a lower portion (around 32%) of the Clearwater River return is destined to the North Fork this year than we typically see. Harvest distribution goals were developed assuming that around 50% of the fish would return to the North Fork. Because the North Fork is our primary broodstock collection area for the Clearwater basin, we will not be increasing limits downstream of Orofino Bridge and it may be necessary to shut down fisheries around Dworshak Hatchery short of their harvest distribution goals.
FISHERIES
Clearwater River Basin
With harvest picking up in the Clearwater River basin, I decided it was time to start adding the table below that summarizes where and how many fish we estimate have been harvested on a weekly basis. Because this is the first time I have shared this table this year, I will point out how it is organized. First, notice the top yellow rectangle. This shows what we are projecting our harvest share will be for this fishery (currently 4,772 adult fish). This table is organized so that it shows how many fish we estimate have been harvested each week in each river location code. The river location codes shown in this table (white row just above the large yellow area) are the same river location codes you enter on your paper or e-tag salmon permit when you harvest a fish. If you are unsure where these locations codes are, details are provided at the bottom of the table. The large yellow area is where I will be entering how many fish we estimated have been harvested each week. For example, last week (May 13-18) we estimated that 369 adult fish were harvested in river location codes 3A-B (Camas Prairie Railroad Bridge to Cherrylane Bridge). If you look to the right of the yellow area, you will see we estimated a total of 397 fish were harvested last week and 4,344 fish remain in our harvest share. If you look just below the yellow area, you will see the total number of fish we estimate have been harvested in each river location code and what percentage of the harvest share this represents. The blue box at the bottom shows the harvest distribution goals for each river code. These numbers are important as this is what we will be looking at to determine when to shut down the different river codes. For example, you will see that the goal for river code 3A-B is for 35% of the harvest share (or 1,670 fish) to be harvested in this section of river. Currently, we estimate that 401 fish have been harvested from this river code and 1,269 fish remain. Pay attention to this because when we get close to one of the goals, you can expect that river location code to close soon.
As shown in the table above, most of the harvest in the Clearwater River fishery occurred around Lewiston, but we observed harvest in the North Fork Clearwater River and in the Clearwater River upstream of Orofino Bridge. I expect this week people will begin catching fish in River Code 6 (Middle Fork Clearwater). Catch rates averaged 27 hrs/fish last week which is not great, but I expect they will only improve as more fish move into the system.
Rapid River Return
Weekly harvest by river location code for the Rapid River return fishery is summarized in the table below. We estimate that last week 24 adult fish were harvested with all but two of them being harvested from River Code 10 (Rice Creek Bridge to upper Twin Bridge). Catch rates were on the slow side at 23 hrs/fish. Flows in the Salmon River are predicted to remain below 30,000 cfs for the remainder of the week, so catch rates should pick up as more fish move into the fishery. As a reminder, with this low of a harvest share, don’t expect this fishery to remain open long. Just to give you feel of what I mean, based on the current harvest share (792 fish), we would try to allocate 436 fish (55%) to the lower Salmon River. There are three river codes in the lower Salmon River. If you split up harvest evenly between the three river codes, each would get 145 fish. That means if over 100 fish are harvested in River Code 10 this week, this section of river could potentially close next week.
Hells Canyon
We estimated that 68 adults and 8 jacks were harvested last week below Hells Canyon Dam (see table below). Catch rates were 17 hrs/fish. This fishery should continue to improve as more fish make it to the Dam.
Have a great week!