Steelhead Go to Boise, Payette, Little Salmon

Anglers have an even better chance to catch steelhead trucked Friday to the Boise, Payette and Little Salmon Rivers. This may be the last time this season that the hatchery at Oxbow Dam is able to provide steelhead for the popular planting program. Fish and Game fisheries personnel are seeing a slowdown in the run to the Idaho Power Company-funded Oxbow Hatchery. This fall's steelhead run is expected to top 100,000 fish, about 55 percent more than the long-term average. Steelhead are made more easily accessible to anglers when runs provide more adult spawners than the hatcheries need. The Boise River from Glenwood Bridge to Barber Dam has now received 750 steelhead this fall with the planting on Friday of 250. Another 300 were trucked to the Little Salmon River where 300 had been planted earlier. The Payette below Black Canyon Dam near Emmett received 50 steelhead Friday.