Hi everyone, this is the second Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for the fall 2025 season, and the data discussed in this report were collected from October 6 through October 12. Angler effort increased modestly last week, with most of the effort observed downstream of North Fork in location codes 14 and 15. Despite more anglers hitting the water, we recorded only one steelhead caught during the middle of the week and did not encounter any anglers who reported catching a steelhead over the weekend.
Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (10-14-2025)
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We expect fishing to begin picking up soon, since it’s been roughly a month since we started seeing good numbers of Upper Salmon River steelhead cross Lower Granite Dam (see figure below). Although steelhead travel times from Lower Granite Dam to the Upper Salmon River can vary year-to-year depending on factors such as water temperature and flow, it typically takes them about four to five weeks to start showing up. Since last week’s update, an additional 2,250 steelhead have crossed Lower Granite Dam that are destined for either the Pahsimeroi or Sawtooth hatcheries. This has brought the Bonneville to Lower Granite conversion rate up to 61% for steelhead headed to those hatcheries. It is unclear at this point if this year’s conversion rate will approach the long-term average of 80%, but we expect more steelhead to continue passing Lower Granite in the coming weeks.
River conditions were good in all areas downstream of Salmon, ID, for most of last week. As of today (10/14), the river is cloudy downstream of Salmon due to the precipitation the area has received since Sunday evening. Water temperatures were in the low to mid-50s for most of last week and have now dropped into the upper 40s. Flows were stable, and the Salmon River is currently flowing at 1,190 cfs through the town of Salmon, which is 94% of average for today’s date.
That’s all we have for this week’s update. If you have questions or would like additional information, please call the Salmon Regional Office at (208) 756-2271.