Steelhead angler effort during the past week on the upper Salmon River was very low due to the cold weather that moved into the area on Tuesday. By the weekend, afternoon temperatures increased enough to allow a small amount of fishing.
All the angler interviews included in this week's report took place on Saturday and Sunday. Two anglers interviewed upstream of the Middle Fork in location code 15 reported catching three steelhead which resulted in an average catch rate of three hours per steelhead. No anglers reported catching a steelhead upstream of North Fork in location code 16, and three anglers reported catching three steelhead upstream of the Lemhi River in location code 17 which resulted in an average catch rate of two hours per steelhead. With the forecast predicting warmer weather for the upcoming week, we expect angler effort to increase considerably.
The Deadwater ice jam is still set up, and it actually progressed upstream due to the cold weather. We will make sure to issue a report to notify anglers once the ice jam does go out. The river had clear to slightly cloudy visibility throughout the week, and water temperatures were in the low 30s in all areas. Currently, the Salmon River is flowing at 767 cfs through the town of Salmon, which is 71 percent of average for today's date.
We would also like to continue to remind anglers that the Idaho Fish and Game Commission changed the steelhead daily bag limit for the spring 2022 steelhead season on the Salmon, Little Salmon, and Snake rivers to 2 fish per day, 6 in possession. These changes went into effect on January 1 and only apply to the to the 2022 spring steelhead season.