Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (03-10-2026)

Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for March 10, 2026. The data discussed in this report were primarily collected between Wednesday, March 4 and Sunday, March 8. As a reminder to anglers, the early breakup of the Deadwater ice jam on February 10, along with the mild winter, has resulted in the timing of this spring’s fishery being ahead of average by at least three weeks.

Steelhead anglers continued to fish the entirety of the Upper Salmon River last week, and anglers were interviewed from below the Middle Fork Salmon River to Stanley, ID. The highest levels of angler effort were observed over the weekend from the Pahsimeroi River confluence upstream to the Stanley area in location codes 18 and 19. Angler effort downstream of Salmon, ID declined slightly from the previous week, but many anglers were still fishing in those areas.

Once again, the best average catch rates were found upstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location codes 18 and 19. Anglers interviewed downstream of the East Fork in location code 18 averaged 6 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed upstream of the East Fork in location code 19 averaged 3 hours per steelhead caught. Few interviews were obtained from anglers fishing below the Middle Fork in location code 14, and those anglers interviewed averaged 55 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 18 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16 averaged 29 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 17 averaged 25 hours per steelhead caught.

River conditions varied throughout the week as several weather systems moved through the area, but on most days the river remained clear upstream of the East Fork and cloudy below. Based on the weather forecast, this pattern will likely continue through the upcoming week. On Sunday, water temperatures were in the low 40s in all areas.

During the past week, many PIT tags were detected at the PIT tag array upstream of Salmon, ID near Elevenmile (USE). Since the previous report, another 74 tags were detected, bringing the total detections for the run year up to 210. The figure below is updated to include the recent detections. Directions for querying this data are included at the end of the fishing report from February 24, which can be found by using this link.

The last thing we would like to include in this week’s report is an update on steelhead returns to the hatcheries. As of Friday, March 6, the Pahsimeroi Hatchery has trapped 161 adipose-clipped steelhead. Numbers for the Sawtooth Hatchery will not be updated until that facility begins sorting its fish trap. Once that occurs, we will include their numbers in each weekly report for the rest of the season.