Spring Chinook Salmon Fishing Update 6/18/2024: Rapid River Run, Hells Canyon, and Clearwater River Fisheries

Hi everybody.

It is time for my weekly spring Chinook Salmon update (June 18, 2024).  There is one more closure for this week – the entire lower Salmon River is now closed. Please read the Rapid River Run Fishery section below if this is an area you like to fish. 

HARVEST SHARES

The harvest share table below has been updated with the most recent PIT tag data collected at Lower Granite Dam. The adult harvest share for the Clearwater River Return fishery is 4,526 adult fish (darker peach row), 2,407 for the Rapid River run fishery (darker blue row), and 812 for the Hells Canyon fishery (green row).

FISHERIES

Clearwater River Basin Fishery

Last week, we estimated that 372 adult Chinook Salmon were harvested in the Clearwater River basin fishery.  Over 200 of these fish were harvested around Dworshak and Clearwater hatcheries (Sections 2 and 3). Catch rates were good in river Sections 2 and 3 (6-7 hrs/fish) whereas people had to work harder to catch a fish in the Middle Fork Clearwater River (15 hrs/fish) and the South Fork Clearwater River (20 hrs/fish). Fishing effort dropped everywhere except for the South Fork Clearwater River where it remained steady. 

All totaled, we estimate that 3,848 fish have been harvested in this fishery. Our harvest share is 4,526 adult fish, which means we have 678 fish remaining. If you look at the blue portion of the table above, you will see all the river sections that are still open (Sections 3-8) have over 100 fish remaining before their harvest distribution goals are met. However, I do want to bring to your attention that fewer than 50 fish have been trapped at Kooskia Hatchery (in Clear Creek). We aren’t sure why, but people are investigating. The reason I bring this up is because this hatchery typically collects over 1,300 adult fish to help meet our broodstock goals across the basin. If we don’t start collecting more fish there soon, it may be necessary to shut down portions/all of this fishery relatively quickly to ensure we meet our broodstock goals. We will let you know as quickly as possible if any decisions are made, but for now all river sections will remain open through at least this Sunday (June 21). Don’t forget, river sections 1 and 2 (main Clearwater River downstream of Orofino Bridge) are currently closed to all salmon fishing.

Lochsa River Summer Run Fishery

The commission met last week (June 12) and set the season for the Lochsa River summer run fishery. This season will start this Thursday (June 20). The fishery will be open seven days a week, have a daily limit of 2 adult fish, and allow harvest of adipose clipped and unclipped fish. For more details on the seasons and limits, please visit this website: Salmon Seasons and Rules. We expect around 900 hatchery fish will be returning to the Lochsa River this year. 

Rapid River Run Fishery

We estimate that 441 adult fish were caught from the Rapid River Run fishery last week (see Table below). Most (325) were caught in the Little Salmon River. Catch rates were fairly good (7-11 hrs/fish). All totaled, we estimate that 1,657 adult fish have been harvested, which leave 750 fish before we reach our harvest share. 

We estimate that 1,051 adult fish have been harvested from all river section in the lower Salmon River. This amounts to 44% of the harvest share. The goal is to harvest 55% of the harvest share in the lower Salmon River. However, based on past data, if we left the lower Salmon River between Time Zone Bridge and Shorts Creek open for another week, for every 10 fish harvested one would be an upper Salmon River fish. Because the upper Salmon River Chinook Salmon returns are so poor this year, the lower Salmon River between Time Zone Bridge and Shorts Creek has been closed to all salmon fishing. Hopefully these efforts will help these upriver hatcheries meet their broodstock goals. That means the only area that will reopen this Thursday will be the Little Salmon River. We will count on anglers fishing the Little Salmon River to obtain the remainder of the harvest share (750 more fish). I expect fishing will be good when it reopens this Thursday.

Hells Canyon Fishery

We estimate that 41 adults and 21 jacks were harvested last week below Hells Canyon Dam (see Table below). Catch rates were good at 8 hrs/fish. The reason harvest dropped is because fewer people were fishing. As of last Sunday (June 16, 2024), we estimate that 654 adult fish have been harvested which leaves 157 more before we reach our harvest share. As such, this fishery will remain open for at least another week. 

Have a good week.