Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (3-17-2026)

Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for March 17, 2026. The data discussed in this report were primarily collected between Wednesday, March 11 and Sunday, March 15. 

Most steelhead anglers began focusing their efforts closer to the Pahsimeroi and Sawtooth hatcheries last week. Angler effort declined considerably in all areas downstream of Salmon, ID, while increasing upstream of the East Fork in location code 19. Many anglers also continued to fish near the Pahsimeroi River confluence. High winds and precipitation made fishing difficult in most areas throughout much of the week, although the weather did improve on Sunday. 

The best catch rates and highest levels of angler effort last week were observed upstream of the East Fork in location code 19. Anglers interviewed within location code 19 averaged 5 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of the East Fork in location code 18 averaged 20 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 17 averaged 27 hours per steelhead caught. Angler effort was very low downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16, and none of the few anglers interviewed reported catching a steelhead. Anglers interviewed downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 10 hours per steelhead caught. Angler effort was also low downstream of the Middle Fork in location code 14, and anglers interviewed in this area averaged 13 hours per steelhead caught.

The river remained fishable in all areas throughout last week, with the best conditions found upstream of the East Fork. Over the weekend, the river had clear visibility in the uppermost areas and was cloudy in all other areas. Water temperatures ranged from the mid 30s near Stanley, ID to the low 40s below North Fork. Recent precipitation also caused flows to increase over the weekend, and with warm temperatures forecasted for this week, flows will likely continue to increase.

Another 59 PIT tags were detected last week at the array located upstream of Salmon, ID near Elevenmile (USE). This brings the total for the run year up to 269 tags. These new detections are shown in the updated figure below. Directions for looking up this data were included at the bottom of the fishing report from February 24, which can be found 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 Monday, March 16, the Pahsimeroi Hatchery has trapped 556 adipose-clipped steelhead. Return numbers for the Sawtooth Hatchery will be updated on the website following the first sort of the season, which is scheduled for this week.