Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (03-25-2025)

Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for March 25, 2025. The data discussed in this report was collected between Monday, March 17th and Sunday, March 23rd.

The steelhead fishing remained good last week in most areas along the Upper Salmon River. Last week was the first time this spring that we observed a large increase in angler effort near Ellis, ID and upstream of the East Fork. Angler effort downstream of North Fork remained high, but effort in that area was lower than what has been observed the past three weeks, especially over the weekend.

Catch rates continued to vary by location code, but overall, catch rates were good to excellent in most areas. Anglers interviewed downstream of the Middle Fork in location code 14 averaged 8 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 7 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16 averaged 24 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 17 averaged 14 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of the East Fork in location code 18 averaged 9 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed upstream of the East Fork in location code 19 had the best average catch rates observed last week at 3 hours per steelhead caught.

River conditions were once again great throughout the week. The river had clear visibility in all areas over the weekend, and flows remained stable. Mid-day water temperatures on Sunday ranged between the upper 30s near Stanley, ID to the mid-40s downstream of North Fork. The weather forecast is calling for some warmer days and nights above freezing this week. Given this forecast, there is a chance that we will see river conditions begin to change in the downstream areas later this week.

During the last week, we continued to see increases in the number of PIT-tagged steelhead detected at the PIT tag array upstream of Salmon, ID near Elevenmile. Below is the updated figure showing detections at that array. Directions for querying this data were included in the March 11th steelhead fishing report which can be found by clicking here.

The last thing to mention in this week’s report is hatchery returns to the Pahsimeroi and Sawtooth fish hatcheries. Both facilities have now started their spawning operations. As of Friday, March 21st, the Pahsimeroi Hatchery had trapped 527 adipose-clipped steelhead. The Sawtooth Fish Hatchery sorted their trap for the first time on Monday, March 24th, and approximately 390 adult steelhead were in the trap. The exact number of adipose-clipped steelhead trapped will be updated soon on the IDFG Steelhead Hatchery Returns webpage.