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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Spring chinook harvest ends Sunday in lower Clearwater

An angler holds a spring chinook caught in the lower Clearwater River of Idaho. (Reel Time Fishing)
An angler holds a spring chinook caught in the lower Clearwater River of Idaho. (Reel Time Fishing)

FISHING --  A section of the lower Clearwater River will close to salmon fishing at the end of fishing hours (8:30 p.m.) on Sunday, May 17, the Idaho Fish and Game Department has announced.

The Clearwater River will close to all chinook fishing from the Camas Prairie Railroad Bridge near Lewiston upstream to the Cherry Lane Bridge.

Says Idaho Fish and Game:

This Idaho closure is being implemented because the harvest quota for adult Chinook salmon has been met in this river section. Harvest quotas in different reaches within the Clearwater River drainage were developed using public input. Those quotas help ensure all communities throughout the watershed have opportunities to harvest salmon.

Chinook salmon seasons continue on the Clearwater River upstream from the Cherry Lane Bridge and the North Fork Clearwater; as well as the South Fork Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater, Lower Salmon River, the Little Salmon River, Lochsa River, and Snake River.

Joe DuPont says chinook are well distributed where fishing will remain open.

"It looks like our harvest share will be between about 5,800 and 6,500 adult fish for the Clearwater basin; for the Rapid River run it will be around 9,000 to 9,800 fish; and for Hells Canyon it will be around 1,300 to 1,500 fish," he said, noting that this year's harvest share will be the highest in the Clearwater River basin since 2004. 

"If you like to salmon fish, you better get out this year as it may be a few years before we see numbers like this again."



Rich Landers
Rich Landers joined The Spokesman-Review in 1977. He is the Outdoors editor for the Sports Department writing and photographing stories about hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, conservation, nature and wildlife and related topics.

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