27 January 2010
Ice flows down the river most days now, so steelhead fishing is erratic until spring. There will be days--or afternoons--through the winter that portions of the river will be ice-free, and we can put a boat on, but those days are unpredictable. Many of the launch ramps are blocked with ice. Ice jams build up in the winter, and when the weather moderates and the river cuts through the jam, there will be shore ice several feet thick. We float through an ice canyon. As the winter progresses and the likelihood of slush ice diminishes, the Fish and Game and BLM will remove ice from the ramps so that we can get boats in and out of the river. Usually in late February or early March we can begin fishing again, and continue into the beginning of April. Spring fishing can be very good, but requires short-notice coordination of fishing conditions. Check the fishing report on our web page.
We had a good run of steelhead this fall, and I expect good numbers of fish this spring. Ice was late this fall, holding off until after Thanksgiving, but water temperatures during November was consistently below 40 degrees--so I think that that retarded the migration to this section of the river, and that the bulk of the run is still downstream--let’s hope for good fishing conditions next spring. This fall Stephanie took steelhead fishermen a number of days, often running a “girls boat” when we had couples while I took the guys. Seemed to work out well for everybody--I’m sure over the years some wives have gotten damn tired of hearing their husband and me talk all day about hunting elk.
There was a good run of salmon last summer, enough that there was a season in the Salmon -Stanley area--only the second time since the 70s. I had no time to participate, as we were busy with Middle Fork trips at the time. The Salmon issue continues to be very controversial, complex and confusing. While we had a good run of fish this year, other parts of the west coast were in bad shape. There really haven’t been obvious changes in management in the Salmon River that would account for the dramatic increase in fish. We hear about favorable or unfavorable ocean conditions affecting fish numbers, and of course ocean harvest is a big consideration. There is serious talk of removing dams on the Snake River, which a few years ago would have been inconceivable. That would surely help, but I don’t believe resolve, our salmon problems.
