Volunteers Needed to Help Collect Steelhead Brood Stock

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is seeking volunteer anglers to help collect adult hatchery steelhead for brood stock on the South Fork Clearwater River beginning February 24. The goal of the brood stock collection is to increase hatchery returns to the South Fork Clearwater River by using a more locally successful stock of parent fish. Last spring, volunteers assisted Fish and Game personnel collect 209 hatchery origin steelhead for brood stock. This effort produced nearly 300,000 smolts that will be released into the South Fork Clearwater River this spring. The goal is to collect 200 hatchery steelhead by March 9. Considering that approximately 5,000 hatchery adult steelhead are projected to head toward the South Fork Clearwater River, removing 200 fish for brood stock should have little or no impact on anglers' chance of catching fish. For more information or to sign-up as a volunteer, please contact the Fish and Game Clearwater Region Office in Lewiston at 208-799-5010.