Steelheading Heats Up

Despite wintry conditions and low water temperatures, steelhead anglers are stacking up fish on the Salmon River below North Fork and on the Clearwater. Fish and Game check station workers at North Fork saw 178 anglers and 90 steelhead over the weekend. Anglers were averaging 11 hours per fish; anything under 20 hours per fish is considered good fishing. Hours per fish were the same on the Clearwater River where the water temperature was around 36 degrees and conditions were murky. Ice shelves lined the edges of the Salmon River, creating treacherous walking for anglers. Water temperatures in the mid-30s meant steelhead were less than aggressive. Still, angling success equaled some of the better fall fishing figures on both rivers. The Salmon River near Riggins produced steelhead at a rate of about 20 hours per fish. Hatchery steelhead are moving up the Salmon River to the Pahsimeroi and Sawtooth hatcheries where human-assisted spawning will take place later this spring. More than 256,000 steelhead have been counted over Lower Granite Dam in this run, more than double last season's run and more than three times the 10-year average. Spring steelhead season limits were raised to three per day with nine in possession to allow anglers a bigger share of the huge run.