Steelhead Might be Stocked in the Boise River

If you're planning the traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving this year, you might want to rethink your plans. Fresh, smoked steelhead might be on the menu if the big fish are released into the Boise River next week. Plans call for approximately 300 hatchery steelhead to be stocked in the Boise River, from Glenwood Bridge to Barber Park on Thursday, November 9. If this year's hatchery steelhead run remains relatively strong, Fish and Game anticipates stocking up to a total of about 1,000 fish over the next few weeks. Besides a fishing license, anglers hoping to tangle with one of the four- to ten-pound hatchery steelhead need a $12.75 steelhead permit, good for 20 fish. 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 20 for the fall season. Please check your fishing rules; the Clearwater River steelhead limits are two fish per day, six in possession, and 20 for the fall season. The fish are A-run hatchery steelhead, returning to the Idaho Power Company-owned and funded 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 as part of Idaho Power Company's mitigation. "We're hopeful that this year's hatchery steelhead run will easily allow Oxbow Hatchery personnel to fill their fish quota," Fish and Game anadromous fish coordinator Bill Horton said. "Any additional hatchery fish returning to the fish trap will be divided equally among Idaho Fish and Game, the Nez Perce Indian Tribe and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife." For more information regarding the Boise River steelhead release, contact the Fish and Game Nampa office at 465-8465 or check the department's web site at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov.