Spring Chinook Salmon Fishing Update 6/4/2024: Rapid River Run, Hells Canyon, and Clearwater River Fisheries

Hi everybody.

It is time for my weekly spring Chinook Salmon update (June 4, 2024). Hopefully, you have heard that the Salmon River between Rice Creek Bridge and Time Zone Bridge is now close to all Chinook Salmon fishing. I will briefly discuss this closure in the Rapid River Run Fishery section below. 

RUN UPDATE

The return of Idaho’s spring Chinook Salmon over Bonneville Dam is now complete. If you look at the figure below you will see that over the past 10 years we have had five years when the return over Bonneville Dam was better than this year and five years when it was worse.

If you look at the table below, you will see our updated harvest share projections as of 6/3/24. There are some changes that I want to make you aware of. First, the Clearwater River Return adult harvest share has dropped down to 4,291 fish (darker peach row). It was at 4,593 fish last week. The reason for this decline is we have now analyzed the genetic data collected at Lower Granite Dam that more accurately estimates the returns for each of the release groups shown in the table below. What we have learned from this data is that the estimates for two of the smaller return groups were significantly higher than the actual return. The data in the table below now corrects for those overestimates and is why the harvest share dropped for the Clearwater River Return. The table below shows the  Rapid River Return harvest share is 2,201 adult fish (darker blue row) which is up from last week’s 1,878 fish. The reason the harvest share went up is because this group of fish survived better than expected as they migrated from Bonneville Dam to Lower Granite Dam. Unfortunately, the genetic data collected at Lower Granite Dam shows that PIT tags for the Rapid River Return group are not significantly underestimating the return size. As such, we will not be adjusting the harvest share up based on this data. Finally, the harvest share for Hells Canyon also went up to 766 fish (last week it was at 690 fish). This increase was also due to higher-than-expected survival as they migrated to Idaho.

FISHERIES

Clearwater River Basin Fishery

Harvest picked up everywhere in the Clearwater River basin last week except for the Clearwater River downstream of Cherrylane Bridge (Section 1). We estimated that 1,165 adult fish were harvested with fish being caught from the mouth of the Clearwater to the South Fork Clearwater River (See Table below). Catch rates were good (7-14 hrs/fish) in most areas. The exceptions were Section 1 and Section 5 (Middle Fork Clearwater) where catch rates were > 30 hrs/fish based on the people we interviewed. The area where we estimated the most harvest occurred (560 adult fish) was river Section 2 (Cherrylane Bridge to Orofino Bridge). This brings the total harvest for Section 2 to 893 adult fish or 20.8% of the harvest share. Typically, we would close this river section as its adult harvest distribution goal (19%) has been exceeded (see blue section in table below). However, it seems likely that some of the upper river sections (Sections 4-8) will not reach their harvest distribution goals. When you combine how many fish are left in the harvest distribution goals in these five upriver sections, they total almost 1,000 adult fish. As of last Sunday (June 2, 2024), we estimate that 119 fish have been harvested in these five rivers sections. For that reason, we will keep river Section 2 open for another week to harvest some of these fish. However, don’t be surprised if you see a quick closure next week for river Section 2. I also want to point out that we estimate 390 adult fish have been harvested from the North Fork Clearwater River (Section 3) which leaves 468 fish before it reaches its harvest distribution goal (20% of harvest share). It wouldn’t surprise me if harvest continues to pick up in the North Fork. If this occurs, it could get close to achieving its harvest distribution goal. In the meantime, all river sections except Section 1 will remain open for the remainder of the week. 

As I indicated above, river Section 1 (Camas Prairie Railroad Bridge to Cherrylane Bridge) closed last Friday (May 31, 2024) to ALL Salmon Fishing. About 34% of the harvest share was obtained in this river section before it was closed which is right about its harvest distribution goal of 35% (see blue section in table above). 

Rapid River Run Fishery

Last week, we observed harvest throughout the entire Rapid River Run fishery (see Table below). We estimated that 621 fish were harvested with the most fish being caught in the lower Salmon River between Hammer Creek boat ramp and Shorts Creek (River Sections 2 and 3). Catch rates were decent to good in the lower Salmon River (8-14 hrs/fish) whereas it was a little slow on the Little Salmon River (17 hrs/fish). I expect catch rates to improve as more of these fish push upriver towards Rapid River.

If you look at the blue section above, you will see our harvest distribution goal for the lower Samon is to receive 55% of the harvest and the Little Salmon to receive 45%. Right now, we have 520 fish to go before the lower Salmon River reaches this goal. It wouldn’t surprise me if we get close to this goal by the end of this week. If so, this could be the last week to fish in the lower Salmon River. Unfortunately, when the returns are small and catch rates are good, often all that can be expected is two weeks of fishing once the fish arrive. 

As many of you know, we have closed down the lower Salmon River from Rice Creek Bridge to Time Zone Bridge to all Salmon fishing. This closure was mostly about protecting upper Salmon River fish as they migrate up the Salmon River. This is especially important this year due to the small return that is expected. For more details on this closure you can click on this link (lower Salmon River closure).

Hells Canyon Fishery

Once again, fishing below Hells Canyon Dam remained good! Last week we estimated that 206 adult fish were caught and catch rates were 8 hrs/fish. We estimate that 537 fish have been harvested to date which leaves 228 fish in our harvest share. As such, this fishery will remain open for at least another week. I suspect that catch rates will drop as we opened the trap this week. However, we collected the fish we need, and the trap will likely be closed for the remainder of the season.

Enjoy yourself!