Clearwater Region

Here's your task: Clip millions of tiny fins off young salmon and steelhead so they can be identified as hatchery fish when they return from the ocean. Do it in a few months and at nine different hatcheries from Springfield to Orofino.

A poor return to the South Fork of the Salmon River means anglers will miss a year of Chinook fishing on the popular river, but anglers can still get a crack at the fish.

The state record for Tiger Trout stood at 17.5 inches before Free Fishing Day on June 10. By the end of the day, it had been broken not once, not twice, but three times at Deer Creek Reservoir during the fishing events sponsored by IDFG and the Pierce/Weippe Chamber of Commerce.

Resident hunters wanting to purchase a general season elk tag in a ‘capped’ zone will want to review this year’s seasons and rules booklet for changes on how tags will be sold in July.

Around 2,500 catchable-sized Tiger Trout were stocked in Deer Creek Reservoir yesterday, June 7th. Deer Creek has an overabundance of introduced Golden Shiners that compete with trout for food and space. To combat the Golden Shiners, Idaho Department of Fish and Game started stocking Tiger Trout in 2014 hoping they would eat Golden Shiners and help keep their numbers down.

The reopened spring fishing season will target jack Chinook in the Clearwater River and adult and jack hatchery Chinook in the Salmon and Little Salmon rivers. Fishing will be limited to Thursday through Sunday weekly. 

Anglers should soon know the fate of the 2017 spring Chinook run, and how much longer the spring fishing season will continue.