Upper Salmon River Steelhead Update - 11/21/2023

Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for November 21st, 2023. The data for this report was collected between Monday, November 13th and Sunday, November 19th. 

Steelhead angler effort along the Upper Salmon River started to decline during the past week, but catch rates continued to improve. The majority of angler effort was located between the Middle Fork confluence and Salmon, ID. Angler effort upstream of Salmon, ID also increased.

Catch rates were very good throughout most of the week. Anglers interviewed downstream of the Middle Fork confluence in location code 14 averaged 16 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 10 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16 also averaged 10 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of the Pahsimeroi River in location code 17 averaged 8 hours per steelhead caught.

Fishing conditions were excellent throughout the week. The river’s flow and temperature continued to slowly decline (figures below), and the visibility was clear all week. Colder overnight lows are forecasted for later this week, but overall, the forecast looks favorable for late November. Currently, the Salmon River is flowing at 1,880 cfs which is 98 percent of average for today’s date, and water temperatures are near 37°F. 

We would like to continue to remind anglers that the City of Salmon has started a construction project at Island Park in downtown Salmon, ID. This project required the city to temporarily close all of Island Park through the middle of December. For more details, please follow this link, and for questions, the public is asked to contact the City of Salmon at (208) 756-3214.