Salmon Run Smaller But Season Likely

Chinook will not be coming back to Idaho in the numbers anglers have seen in the last two years, but they may be coming early. Anadromous Fisheries manager Sharon Kiefer told the Idaho Fish and Game Commission at its Boise meeting March 13-14 that the projected run of spring chinook over Lower Granite Dam is 43,300, compared to 75,000 last year and a 1991-2000 average of 13,400. Of these fish, 28,400 are estimated to be hatchery fish. The total summer chinook prediction is for 14,100 compared to 22,200 last year and a 10-year average of 4,500. The department projection is for a salmon season in the Little Salmon, Lower Salmon, South Fork Salmon and Mainstem/North Fork Clearwater River but not the Clearwater tributaries. A mid-April start to fishing is likely. The Commission approved a boundary change for the spring steelhead season that will enlarge fishing area. The 2002-2003 fishing rules currently lists the upper boundary on the Salmon River as Redfish Lake Creek. The boundary will be moved upstream to a posted boundary approximately 100 yards downstream from the Sawtooth Hatchery weir, about two miles of stream. Fisheries biologist Bill Horton presented an update on the spring steelhead run that showed 206,000 steelhead over Lower Granite dam to date, compared with 257,000 last year and a 10-year average of 96,000. The projected run is 220,000, with 51 percent hatchery A-run fish and 22 percent hatchery B-run fish. About 6,000-8,000 of these are predicted to be returning to Sawtooth and Pahsimeroi hatcheries.