Hi everybody, it is time for my weekly spring Chinook Salmon update (6/7/2022). Good news! No new closures this week.
RUN UPDATE
Now that the migration of Idaho-bound spring Chinook Salmon past Bonneville Dam is essentially complete, I figured I would share with you the passage data in a different way. If you look at the figure below, it now shows the daily, cumulative number of adult Chinook Salmon that have passed over Bonneville Dam (through May 31) over the past 10 years. The red line represents what was counted this year, and as you can see, close to 150,000 adult were counted (March 15 – May 31). This is the third highest we have observed over the last 10 years. What is even more promising is that over this same time period 53% more jacks were counted than last year. Let’s hope this corresponds to adult returns next year similar to or better than what we observed in 2015.
The PIT tag estimates of spring Chinook Salmon that have passed over Bonneville Dam are about the same as I showed you last week (see Table below). The Clearwater River return’s adult harvest share is projected to be 6,048 fish (darker pink row), 3,739 for the Rapid River return (blue row), and zero for Hells Canyon (green row). At this point, we are just waiting to see how many of these fish survive their migration from Bonneville Dam to Idaho. If their survival is above average, harvest shares will increase, and if survival is below average, harvest shares will decrease. Right now it looks like survival for the Rapid River return is about average and the Clearwater River return is a little low. I also need to mention that our genetic analysis of fish passing Lower Granite Dam has now been completed, and the data shows that PIT tags are representing 70% or more of the run. As such, we will not be adjusting harvest shares based on this data.
FISHERIES
Clearwater River Basin Fishery
High, dirty water was the theme for last week in the Clearwater basin. This made fishing difficult especially when the river was full of debris. As a result, we saw the lowest catch total for a week (340 fish) since the fish arrived (see table below). The most fish were harvested in the North Fork Clearwater River (140 fish) although catch rates were tough at times. For perspective, last year during this same week, we estimated that anglers caught-and-released about 700 adults in four days of fishing in the North Fork. It seems that this high, cold, dirty water is delaying arrival of fish to the North Fork. Flows are forecasted to remain high through the week, so we don’t expect harvest to take off in any of the river sections. This means that we will keep all river sections open in the Clearwater River basin for at least another week.
Rapid River Run Fishery
I expected fishing to be good last week as flows were forecasted to steadily drop until Friday. This was why I was out there fishing for a few days. Despite the dropping flows, water clarity remained poor in the Salmon River which seemed to slow down fish migration. Just as fishing was starting to improve on Thursday, flows stared to come back up and catch rates plummeted. Overall catch rates were higher than 40 hrs/fish in all river reaches last week which is why harvest dropped of (see table below). The only place we saw harvest increase was in the Little Salmon River, and that is because there was twice as much effort as the previous week. Flows in the lower Salmon River are supposed to remain above 50,000 cfs for the rest of the week, so we don’t expect harvest to take off. As such, all river sections (except section 1 of the lower Salmon River) will remain open for at least another week.
Hells Canyon Fishery
We finally documented harvest of some fish below Hells Canyon Dam. We estimate that 34 jacks were harvested, and for the few people who fished there, the catch rates were really good (3 hrs/fish). Seeing we won’t being trapping fish at Hells Canyon Dam this year, jack fishing should remain good.
Summer Runs
Many people have been asking about whether we will be having summer Chinook Salmon fisheries this year. Based on counts at Bonneville Dam, it looks like enough will be returning to Idaho to provide fisheries. In fact, the Fish and Game Commission is meeting on June 14 to set seasons and limits for our summer Chinook Salmon fisheries. The only summer Chinook Salmon fishery I manage is the one returning to the Lochsa River. As such, if you have questions or want to receive updates on the other summer Chinook Salmon fisheries, I would suggest you e-mail Jordan Messner (jordan.messner@idfg.idaho.gov) if you are interested in the South Fork Salmon River fishery or Greg Schoby (greg.schoby@idfg.idaho.gov) if you are interested in the fisheries in the upper Salmon River.
Before I part, I want to mention that it was really nice spending time on the river with many of you. Hanging out with fellow anglers is part of the fun when salmon fishing, and it certainly helps pass the time when fishing is tough. Have a good week everybody.