Frequently Asked Questions

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Steelhead anglers fish use a variety of techniques such as plunking, bobber and jig, fly fishing, side planer, back trolling, and side drifting. Since steelhead typically are not feeding as they wait to spawn, anglers like to use a variety lures, beads, yarn and/or flies that stimulate the steelhead to bite. Sometimes steelhead are aggressive and will take about anything put in front of them, and other times it requires more finesse. Many anglers believe that using bait or scent will increase the likelihood that a steelhead will bite. Popular baits include shrimp, sand shrimp, and cured eggs, and there are about as many different types of scents that anglers use as you can imagine.

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In banner years for returning steelhead, Fish and Game often bring adult hatchery steelhead to the Boise River to create an additional fishing opportunity. This generally happens in mid-November, depending on the counts and timing of steelhead returning to the trap at Hells Canyon Dam.

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Hunters are asked to choose between a trophy species (moose, mountain goat, or bighorn sheep) or deer, elk, and pronghorn when applying for controlled hunt tags. This rule was implemented to improve the drawing odds for moose, mountain goat, pronghorn and bighorn sheep. However, hunters who apply and don’t draw a trophy tag can submit an application for deer, elk or pronghorn in the second application period.

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Chinook salmon are often classified into three different groupings or “runs” – spring, summer or fall based on when they enter fresh water.  Spring Chinook salmon migrating to Idaho tend to enter the Columbia River from March through May, summer Chinook Salmon enter the Columbia June through July, and fall Chinook Salmon enter August through November.

In Idaho, most spring and summer Chinook salmon spawn from late August through September.  Fall Chinook salmon tend to spawn from late October through early December.  When spawning, the female will dig a hole in the gravel to lay her eggs.  This hole is referred to as a “redd” and the female will lay anywhere from 4,000 to 15,000 eggs depending on her size.  While the female lays her eggs, a male will simultaneously fertilize them with milt.  When done spawning, the female will cover up the hole with gravel to help insure the eggs are protected from predators.  When spawning is complete, both the male and female die.

The eggs hatch in the spring and the juvenile fish will live the next year in fresh water before migrating to the ocean.  The exception is fall Chinook salmon that only live a months or two in fresh water before beginning their migration to the ocean.  Chinook salmon from Idaho tend to spend one to five years in the ocean before returning to fresh water to spawn, with two years being the most common.  Chinook salmon, like other salmon species, have the ability to find their way back to the same stream and often the exact same place to spawn that their parents spawned.

Young salmon eat both aquatic and terrestrial insects when in fresh water. They turn to a diet of fish once they reach salt water. Adults retuning to spawn do not eat once they enter fresh water; they live off their fat reserves.

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Chinook anglers use a variety of techniques to catch salmon.  The most common techniques that shore anglers use includes plunking, bobber and jig, and side drifting.  Most boat anglers will back troll, plunk, and back bounce.  Since Chinook salmon are not feeding when they are in fresh water, anglers use a variety lures, beads, jigs, and yarn that stimulate them to bite.  Sometimes Chinook salmon are aggressive and will take about anything put in front of them, and other times it requires more finesse.  Many anglers believe that using bait or scent will increase the likelihood that a Chinook salmon will bite.  Popular baits include shrimp, herring, tuna, and cured fish eggs; and there are about as many different types of scents that anglers use as you can imagine.  There are many different sources of information on how to fish for salmon on websites.  You should always feel free to contact Fish and Game for tips on how to catch Chinook salmon.

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Because Chinook Salmon return to so many places in the state, it’s hard to say there is a best place to fish.  Much of this has to do with an angler’s preference in how they like to fish and how far they are willing to travel. 

If you want to fish where the best catch rates occur consider fishing closer to where the fish are released.  Recognize that these locations are also the most crowded and it is not unusual to fish shoulder to shoulder in these areas.  You can learn where these release locations are by calling the Clearwater or Salmon Fish and Game offices. If you don’t like crowds, there are many places where one doesn’t have to fish right next to another person.  However, these places tend to have lower catch rates.  If one does enough searching, at times you can find good fishing with little competition from other anglers. 

Some people like to fish from boats whereas others like to fish from shore.  In general, the smaller rivers tend to provide the most shore fishing opportunities, and the larger rivers tend to provide more boat fishing opportunities.  If you like shore fishing consider the South Fork Clearwater, Little Salmon, South Fork Salmon, and upper Salmon rivers.  If you want to fish from a boat consider the Clearwater and lower Salmon rivers.

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Each application is entered into the drawing one time regardless of group size.

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The deer do not need supplemental feed to survive.  Typically when deer are fed they concentrate in the area of feeding denuding the vegetation close by and passing disease through contact at the feeders.  Also, deer when being fed tend to keep the youngest from the feeders and frequently cause them to starve or become injured.  Supplemental feeding no matter the time of year is not something we recommend.  Is it legal?  So long as you aren't hunting off them yes.  Is it a good thing to do?  No.

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Hello,
The Riverstone Pond is owned by the City of Coeur d'Alene.  Unfortunately, they do not allow public fishing.  We have approached the City to let them know we are willing to stock the pond in exchange for it being opened up to fishing, but they have had concerns about doing this.  We'll continue to work with the City in the future to see if something can be arranged, but for now it is not open to fishing.
Thanks for the question.
Andy Dux
Regional Fishery Manager

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Thanks for the questions.  Question 1) will I ever get the report?  We will make an interim and final report available online on our website when they are completed.  It takes a long time to organize the hair, send to UI lab for analysis, anlyze the data, and write a final report.  However, we are sincerely thankful for all the assistance people have provided in sending the hair to us.  We have had much greater response than anticipated which will increase our abilities to understand historical conditions of moose.
Question 2.  Is this a study to show that wolves are not the cause of moose disappearance in central Idaho?  The idea of science and research is to look at causes based on data and the scientific method, not what we think is going on based on a hunch.  We have lots of ideas of what is going on with moose but we have little research to prove anything.  This hair research will not prove anything but will give us a needed piece of the puzzle and provide us a glimpse into what micronutrient condition the moose were in when they were increasing in numbers compared to condition they were in when declining.  Catttle producers have known forever that certain micronutrients are critical in pregnancy and calf survival and health, and the ability of animals to put on weigh, avoid diseases and succumbing to parasites, and thrive.  That is why they supplement with mineral blocks.  We have little research on what micronutrient levels are necessary for health, pregancy, and calf survival in our wild ungulate populations.  We assume they are getting what they need in the wild.  However, their bodies do crave salt and minerals and when they are available, they use them. 
We have areas of Idaho where moose are declining and there are no wolves.  We have moose and elk increasing where there are wolves.   And we have moose and elk decreasing where there are wolves.  If I were to put it in human terms, if you are weak from disease or sick from an infection, you would be much easier for someone to knock off your feet and beat up right?  Same with predators taking down prey.  If a moose is weak from malnutrition, has a few parasites or diseases, it cannot defend itself as well from a wolf or predator and will become easier prey when if it was healthy it would have survived.  All that said, we believe wolves can and do have impacts in some areas on some ungulate populations.  Thanks to 100s of radio collars on elk this year we discovered that twice as many elk are killed by cougars as are killed by wolves, and as many are dying of malnutrition as are being killed by wolves.  The wolf question is important but claiming every decline is caused by wolves would be denying all the fluctuations in ungulate populations we had prior to having wolves or where we don't have wolves, and missing on the root causes of many declines.  We want to look at the entire picture including wolves but not just the impacts wolves have. 
Also, we are interested in looking at the history of minerals in vegetation and soils that resulted from the Mt. Saint Helens eruption in 1980.  We are curious to see if the influx of minerals in the ash plume may have benefited ungulate populations during the 1980s and 1990s.  We might be able to see differences in these minerals over time and within the plume areas.  We are trying to keep an open mind and put more information together.  We are assuming and history shows that there are a multiple of causes that regulate and limit populations. 
I hope that answers your questions.

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You cannot purchase a resident limited deer controlled hunt tag and a resident general season deer tag in the same season. However, if you draw the limited deer controlled hunt tag in unit 18 and purchase the resident deer controlled hunt tag, the only other general season deer tag you may purchase would the Res-Nonres general season deer tag, at the nonresident price provided the quota has not been sold out. The Res-Nonres general season deer tag could be the regular deer tag or the white-tail deer tag.