Steelhead to be Stocked in the Boise River

Grab the heavy tackle - the big fish are headed for the Boise River. Approximately 300 hatchery steelhead will be stocked in the Boise, from Glenwood Bridge to Barber Park on Thursday, November 8. Additional stockings totaling up to 1,000 steelhead are possible. Besides a fishing license, anglers hoping to tangle with one of the four- to ten-pound hatchery steelhead need a $11.50 steelhead permit, good for 20 fish (hard-core steelhead anglers can purchase a second permit if desired). Barbless hooks are not required for Boise River steelhead angling. All steelhead stocked in the Boise River will lack an adipose fin (the small fin normally found immediately behind the dorsal fin). Boise River anglers catching a rainbow trout longer than 20 inches that lacks an adipose fin should consider the fish a steelhead. Any steelhead caught by an angler not holding a steelhead permit must immediately be returned to the water. Statewide steelhead limits are three fish per day, nine in possession, and 40 for the season (with the purchase of a second steelhead permit). The fish are excess A-run hatchery steelhead, returning to the Oxbow Hatchery fish trap below Hells Canyon Dam on the Snake River. Many of the returning steelhead will become part of the ongoing steelhead hatchery program at Oxbow Hatchery. "Because of the size of this year's hatchery steelhead run, Oxbow Hatchery personnel are confident that their fish quota will easily be met," Fish and Game anadromous fish coordinator Bill Horton said. "Additional hatchery fish returning to the fish trap - and there should be plenty of them - will be divided equally between Idaho Fish and Game, the Nez Perce Indian Tribe and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)." The Nez Perce Tribe plans to release their fish in the Little Salmon River at Riggins, while the ODFW is stocking their fish in Hells Canyon Reservoir, providing two more areas for steelhead angling. This year's strong hatchery steelhead run mirrors the great hatchery chinook run Idaho anglers enjoyed earlier this spring. Both came about because of two factors: High runoff that pushed these same fish to the ocean when they were tiny smolts, and improved ocean conditions that led to increased food availability and greater survival of these ocean-going (anadromous) fish. For more information regarding the Boise River steelhead release, contact the Fish and Game Nampa office at 465-8465.