Salmon River steelhead fishing has been in a slump the last two or three years. Local fisheries biologists put a lot of blame on changing ocean conditions. Ocean temperature cycles affect steelhead and salmon. We apparently have been in an unfavorable cycle for several years, though I’m told the cycle seems to be in an […]
Salmon River snowpack above average in early December: This morning the snowpack in the Salmon River drainage is 110% of average. Earlier it was nearly 200%, after some early storms, but, though diminishing between storms, is still strong. However, it is very early to mean a great deal. Last year at this point our snowpack […]
Ice is flowing down Salmon River in the Salmon area. First ice of the season was last Wednesday, much later than usual. I usually regard ice-free river beyond the 10th of November as bonus time. I have seen ice by the 1st of November on occasion–though the early ice usually doesn’t last long. There are […]
Steelhead fishing is improving in the Salmon area, in spite of the time of year. In many years slush ice is flowing, at least some days, by this time, but yesterday the river was 42 degrees and clear. The volume of the Salmon River at Salmon is about 20% greater than average. Over the years, […]
A catch-and-keep steelhead harvest has been allowed in the Salmon River, beginning on 15 October. The limit will be two hatchery fish per day, one less than recent limits. Apparently increasing numbers of steelhead in the system led Idaho Fish and Game Department to modify the earlier catch-and-release-only regulation. River temperature yesterday at mid-day was […]
Middle Fork Salmon dates for 2018 were available this morning for the post-control season. Aggipah River Trips received the 5th and 16th of September. Dates during the control season, during June, July, and August, are permanently assigned. In that period, we have June 2, 11, and 20, July 2, 11, 20, 29, and August 7 […]
Catch and release fishing for steelhead will be the rule on the Salmon River this fall, according to Idaho Department of Fish and Game. Apparently we are still seeing the effects of the hot spell the end of June of 2015. River volume was low for that time of year, and temperatures were unseasonably hot. […]
The Salmon River snowpack is significantly above average the end of March. Reporting stations in the headwaters of the Middle Fork indicate about 150% of average snowpack for this date. This would suggest that there will be higher than average river flows this summer. Not a guarantee–a warm, dry spring could still change things. The […]
Steelhead fishing is a good news/bad news story in the Salmon Idaho area. Good news is that the Deadwater ice jam has broken out, apparently yesterday, so the steelhead fishing should resume. BLM and IDFG have just finished knocking ice out of all the ramps upstream and including North Fork, except for Bobcat. (The Forest […]
The ice jam in the Salmon River near Salmon is beginning to break up. The last barrier in this section of the Salmon River is the Deadwater ice jam just below North Fork–the first to form in the fall, the last to break out in the spring. Today the upper end of the ice jam […]