Salmon Season Over in Idaho

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has closed the Chinook salmon season on the South Fork of the Salmon River effective at the close of fishing Thursday, July 13, only two weeks after it opened. Fishery managers expect the state's quota of 350 to 400 catchable hatchery fish in the South Fork will be reached by the end of the day Thursday. Tuesday morning, Fish and Game Director Steve Huffaker signed the order closing the salmon season based on the harvest forecast. As of Monday, July 10, anglers had caught and kept close to 300 fish, but they were catching about 50 fish per day and thus, rapidly closing on the quota, said Sharon Kiefer, anadromous fish manager for the Fish and Game. The summer Chinook salmon season on the South Fork opened June 29, based on a forecast that 2,500 to 3,100 summer Chinook raised at the McCall Fish Hatchery would return to Idaho. But the runs size turned out smaller than forecast and fewer than expected fish have returned to the South Fork. After the McCall hatchery broodstock goal of 1,300 fish is met, the state's share of the harvestable surplus is about 350 fish. Fishing hours are a half hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset, local time. The limit is one fish daily, three in possession and 10 for the season. Anglers may use barbless hooks only. Only hatchery raised salmon marked with a clipped adipose fin may be kept. Wild Chinook are federally protected as a threatened species and must be released unharmed. Thursday's closure means the end of salmon fishing in Idaho this year. The South Fork is the only river still open for salmon. Even as the salmon season closes, however, steelhead catch-and-release opportunities are open in some parts of the state. On the Clearwater River, the fall season catch-and-release opened July 1. The fall steelhead season on the Clearwater, from the mouth to Memorial Bridge, opens August 1 and runs through December 31. For additional details on steelhead fishing consult the fishing regulations brochure available at all license vendors and Fish and Game offices or online at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.