Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (11-04-2025)

Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for November 4, 2025, and the data discussed in this report were collected from October 27 through November 2.

Steelhead angler effort on the Upper Salmon River remained high last week with most bank anglers choosing to fish downstream of North Fork. Boat anglers were most concentrated between Salmon and Spring Creek. Angler effort upstream of Salmon increased slightly but remained relatively low.

Catch rates made another significant improvement and were around 15 hours per steelhead caught in all monitored areas. Anglers interviewed downstream of the Middle Fork Salmon River in location code 14 averaged 16 hours per steelhead caught, while those downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 15. Downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16, anglers also averaged 15 hours per steelhead caught, and upstream of the Lemhi River in location code 17, anglers averaged 13. 

Below is a figure we’ve been including in our weekly reports this fall that shows the cumulative number of Sawtooth Hatchery steelhead that have crossed Lower Granite Dam over the past 10 years. The figure is updated through November 2. Since last week’s report, another 528 steelhead destined for either the Pahsimeroi or Sawtooth hatcheries have crossed Lower Granite, with none detected since October 29. These additional fish increased the conversion rate between Bonneville and Lower Granite dams for steelhead headed to those hatcheries to approximately 76%, which is close to the five-year average of 80%. Now that it’s November, it’s unlikely we’ll see many more Upper Salmon River steelhead cross Lower Granite, so this will be the last weekly report to include this figure.

River conditions were good throughout the week, with average flows and clear visibility. Water temperatures climbed into the mid-40s over the weekend with the nice weather but have since gradually dropped back into the low 40s. As of today, the Salmon River is flowing at 1,280 cfs through the town of Salmon which is 96% of average for today’s date.

That’s all we have to share for this week’s update. If you have questions or would like additional information, please call the Salmon Regional Office at (208) 756-2271.