As of Sunday, October 15th, anglers on the upper Salmon River are allowed to harvest two adipose fin-clipped steelhead per day with no length restrictions. Additionally, the possession limit was reduced to six steelhead, and the season limit remained unchanged at 20 steelhead per season.
Steelhead angler effort and success both increased over the past week as more steelhead began arriving to the upper Salmon River. Most anglers were observed fishing downstream of North Fork in location code 15, but the effort upstream of North Fork, in location code 16, increased as well. Effort was low downstream of the Middle Fork in location code 14, and no interviewed anglers reported catching a steelhead from this area. In location code 15, interviewed anglers averaged 54 hours per steelhead caught, and in location code 16, interviewed anglers averaged 20 hours per steelhead caught.
Currently, the Salmon River is flowing at 1,770 cfs through the town of Salmon, ID which is 138% of average for today’s date. On Sunday the river was clear, and water temperatures were in the mid-40s. - Brent Beller, Fisheries Technician II, Salmon Region