Steelhead fishing in the Salmon area was much better today than recent days.  Several guides reported good catches this evening, including at least one boat limiting out.  ‘Bout time.

Over the weekend, the water conditions were good, and the river was busy. Good fishermen who knew the water did pretty well–others, not so much. There was rain and wind overnight and today, not a pleasant day to be out. The river is a little off below the Lemhi at mid-day, temperature 41 degrees.

Today a friend was out for most of the day with a fly rod, hooked four steelhead and landed two of them. Water clarity isn’t perfect, but improving. Visibility was about 20 inches at the end of the day, when the valley melt had peaked. A ways upstream from Salmon, clarity is better. River temperature […]

The Salmon River near Salmon is beginning to clear. At mid-day today visibility above Salmon , above the Lemhi River, was 18 or 20 inches. Downstream below the Lemhi it was about a foot. Temperature was 39 degrees. Morning air temperature was low 20s, so melt slowed. One of my steelhead guides was out this […]

River conditions in the Salmon area are improving a little. Downstream of Salmon, below the Lemhi River, it still isn’t good. I could just barely, sort of, make out a rock at 10 inches at mid-day today. Upstream of Salmon, visibility was 15 inches, looked like it was pretty close to fishable. Temperature was 42 […]

This morning the Salmon River near Salmon was 40 degrees. A bright pop can disappeared at 9 inches of depth.

The Salmon River near Salmon had about 6 inches visibility at mid-morning, river temperature about 37 degrees. Sky is clear, so by late afternoon river temperature will probably exceed 40 degrees. Air temperature this morning was mid-20s, so overnight runoff was stopped, but as the day warms, snowmelt will resume. The river would take a […]

This morning the Deadwater ice jam downstream from North Fork went out. The river is 38 degrees at mid-day, visibility 10-12 inches max downstream from the Lemhi. Lots of low snow to melt yet.

Ice has been removed from the Bobcat Gulch and North Fork ramp. The 4th July take-out is not a developed ramp, and does not get cleaned, but a person could drag a boat out there with a long rope and then load it. So–the river is ice-free and available down to North Fork. The ice […]

The Fish and Game Department has cleared the ice from the Red Bluff boat ramp north of Salmon. The river was free of floating ice, which surprised me a little, as it was only 15 degrees in late afternoon, snowing all day. A boat was pulling off the river at Red Bluff when I checked […]

Yesterday BLM removed ice from the Tower Creek boat ramp north of Salmon. The Red Bluff ramp is F&G and hasn’t been opened yet. Yesterday was in the 40s with a lot of snow slushing up, run-off on roads, etc, after a night that did not freeze. The river seemed very slightly off-color. Last night […]

There have been a few fishermen out for steelhead in the Salmon vicinity lately, but the ice has not let go yet. Warmer nights have meant little slush ice running, but the Deadwater ice jam still extends upstream to above 4th of July creek. The river is open past the Tower Creek and Red Bluff […]

The Salmon River in the Salmon area is beginning to open up. Warmer weather last month began to chew away at the Deadwater ice jam, but the cold snap the first week of February brought ice again. Temperature dropped to 20 below last week, and ice jam increased back toward Salmon several miles. Warmer temperature […]

Warmer weather in the past week chewed away at the upper end of the ice jam. By mid-week the upper end of the ice jam was at the Red Bluff ramp. The Tower Creek ramp was ice-blocked, even though the river was open. Cooler mornings the last day or two has slush running down the […]

In the Salmon area, the Deadwater ice jam is pretty solid up to Tower Creek. Cold weather in early December brought the jam upstream to between Tower Creek and Morgan Bar, but recent warmer weather has cut it back down to around Tower Creek. The river has been clear of floating ice in several recent […]

This morning the Salmon River near Salmon is running slush ice again. There has been ice for the last several mornings, but yesterday afternoon the river cleared. Ice is forming in the eddies at the ramps, complicating getting a boat out.

Heavy ice flowing this morning in the Salmon area.