Brood collection has started to pick up, but Fish and Game needs 252 breeding pairs from the South Fork of the Clearwater River to meet its goal of providing adult steelhead for its hatchery program. So far, with the help of over 130 anglers, they caught and held in tubes 49 steelhead and sent 41 of those to the hatchery (26 females and 15 males).
Fish and Game still needs anglers' help to collect about 226 pairs of steelhead. The program will continue until broodstock goals are met, or until early April, whichever comes first.
Water levels on the South Fork Clearwater River have increased to 1,000 cfs since Feb. 22-23 and have been steadily dropping. Generally, this rise and fall of water levels draws fish in from the main river and there's relatively good fishing with the declining water levels.
In fact, since Feb. 23, 62 tagged steelhead have moved into the South Fork. The river downstream from Harpster is clearing up and water conditions are relatively clear above Harpster. Anglers are now catching fish upstream of Harpster. Remember, Fish and Game cannot meet its hatchery production goal of 252 breeding pairs without the help of anglers.
Fisheries managers depend on anglers to collect these fish because no weirs are operated on the South Fork to trap steelhead. These fish are collected to develop a localized steelhead broodstock for the South Fork. In theory, these fish will develop adaptations that will allow them to return at a higher rate to the South Fork compared to steelhead collected downstream at Dworshak Hatchery.
So, if you decide to give fishing on the South Fork of the Clearwater River a try, you can help Fish and Game and future steelhead fishing by collecting some important steelhead broodstock.
Here more information about the South Fork broodstock program.
