Upper Salmon River Chinook Fishery update - 6/25/25

Hi everyone,

The Upper Salmon River fishery opened last week (6/19/25), and we estimated that 17 hatchery adult Chinook Salmon and 4 hatchery jack Chinook Salmon were harvested during the first four days of the fishery. There were also 4 hatchery jack Chinook Salmon that were caught and released. Angler effort was very low during the opening weekend, which I assume was related to the weather conditions (fresh snow in Stanley on Sunday) and this being the front end of the run. We estimated that anglers fished for 368 hours between Thursday and Sunday, for an average catch rate of 15 hours per Chinook caught and 18 hours per Chinook kept.

RUN and HARVEST SHARE UPDATE

Below is a table showing the pre-season forecast and current (as of June 24th) PIT tag estimate at Bonneville Dam for adipose-clipped adult salmon returning to the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. With 2,400 Sawtooth Hatchery adults crossing Bonneville Dam, the run is essentially done so we do not expect these numbers to change much. Below I’ll summarize how the run has crossed Bonneville Dam and then we’ll start focusing more on the number of Sawtooth Hatchery adults that have crossed over Lower Granite Dam. 

Passage of the Sawtooth stock over Bonneville has been spread out over nearly 7 weeks, with our first PIT tagged fish crossing on May 2nd, and the most recent fish crossing on June 19th (figure 1 below). The first group that crossed in May represents about half of the run. There was about a week lag with no PIT tagged Sawtooth Chinook crossing Bonneville until June 6th, then the second half of the run showed up. If you remember, this was the time range when we were debating if we’d even be able to have a fishery – then similar to last year, a late push of fish showed up and we were able to move forward with a season proposal. This demonstrates how dynamic our Chinook runs can be, how challenging it can be to set seasons, and why at times we just have to wait until we have more data.

When looking at how the Sawtooth run is crossing Lower Granite Dam, as of June 24th we’ve seen roughly half of the Sawtooth hatchery adult Chinook (1,327) that crossed Bonneville make it over Lower Granite as well (figure 2 below). Survival from Bonneville Dam to Lower Granite Dam has been above average so far (currently 82% vs. 79% average). There are still about half of the Sawtooth run (11 PIT tags) yet to pass over Lower Granite Dam, so the PIT tag estimate and the harvest share will change over the next couple of weeks, depending on the survival and passage at Lower Granite as those fish make their way upstream. Using the average conversion rate, we are currently estimating the harvest share for the Upper Salmon River Chinook fishery at 466 (table 1 below). If conversion drops (as it tends to do for later arriving fish), I would expect our harvest share to dip somewhere under 400 fish. I’ll keep you posted in these weekly updates as we learn more about survival between Bonneville and Lower Granite dams for the later arriving portion of the run.

Ultimately, there have been fish caught during the opening weekend of the fishery, river conditions are good and fish are entering the hatchery (more on those two topics below), the time to fish is now!! 

RIVER CONDITIONS

The Upper Salmon River is currently flowing at about 1,400 cfs (measured at the gauge below the Yankee Fork) which is about 53% of the long-term average. With the below average flows, we expect fish to make it upstream into the fishery and Sawtooth Hatchery rather quickly. The river is running clear within the fishery area, and we expect fishing conditions to remain good during the upcoming week. 

HATCHERY TRAPPING

Sawtooth Hatchery staff checked their trap for the first time of the season yesterday (6/24) and collected 112 adult hatchery Chinook salmon. Hatchery trapping numbers will be updated throughout the summer on the IDFG Hatchery Returns webpage, so make sure to bookmark that page if you want to stay up-to-date with the trapping totals.

RULES 

The Upper Salmon River fishery is open 7 days per week and will remain open until harvest share is reached, wild fish impacts are reached, or until August 10th, whichever comes first. The fishery is open from the posted boundary approximately 50 yards upstream of the Yankee Fork Salmon River upstream to the posted boundary approximately 100 yards downstream of the weir and trap at the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. Fishing hours are from 5:30am to 10:00 pm MDT. The daily limit is four (4) hatchery Chinook salmon per day, only two (2) of which may be adults (over 24 inches). For the full season rules, please click here.

If you have questions, comments, or would like to be added to my email update list, please reach out to me at: greg.schoby@idfg.idaho.gov or at the Salmon Regional Office at (208) 756-2271.