Boise, Payette Rivers to Get More Steelhead

The Boise River's already red-hot steelhead fishing will get another boost on November 17 when several hundred additional hatchery steelhead are stocked in the river. That same day, and for the first time this fall, the Payette River below Black Canyon Dam will be stocked with the four- to ten-pound ocean-going rainbows. A large portion of the hatchery steelhead returning to the fishtrap below Hells Canyon Dam became part of a steelhead hatchery program at Oxbow Hatchery. However, an adequate number of adult fish have been collected for the program this year, making the release of surplus hatchery steelhead possible. As in weeks past, hatchery steelhead will also be released into Hells Canyon Reservoir and in the Little Salmon River where they are more readily available to anglers. In addition to a fishing license, a $11.50 steelhead tag is required to fish for, and harvest, steelhead. For more information regarding the steelhead release, contact the IDFG Southwest Region office in Nampa at 465-8465.