SALMON FISHING -- Flows in the Clearwater and Salmon rivers are receding and Idaho Fish
and Game officials predict fishing conditions should vastly improve by the weekend.

Regional fisheries manager Joe DuPont said hot weather Saturday followed by rain on Sunday and Monday caused rivers to spike, turn brown and fill with logs and other debris. The high water made fishing nearly impossible just as the numbers of chinook passing Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River hit levels that make most anglers drool, writes Eric Barker of the Lewiston Tribune.

DuPont said the department will not propose increasing bag limits on the Clearwater River and its tributaries this week and instead will monitor the run strength and fishing conditions.

Read on for the rest of Barker's report.

Last week DuPont said the bag limit on the Clearwater could be raised
from one adult per day to two if fishing conditions were poor for a
prolonged period and threatened the state’s ability to harvest its share
of the chinook run. The number of chinook returning to Idaho hatcheries
over and above the amount needed for spawning is split evenly between
sport and tribal anglers. DuPont said the sport fishing share in the
Clearwater basin is likely to be about 4,300. Last week anglers caught
just 55 adults and one jack chinook.

The department has a goal of managing the chinook season so it will last
until July 4.
 

A harvest share of 5,000 is generally needed before bag limits are
increased to two fish per day. However, DuPont said if the weather
causes rivers to blow out a second or even third time, the bag limit
could be increased.
 

The sport harvest share on the Salmon River is expected to be about
8,500 and at least nine chinook have already returned to the Rapid River
Hatchery. DuPont said more than 90 percent of the hatchery chinook that
return to Rapid River Hatchery and hatcheries on the Clearwater River
have likely passed Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. Because of that
he does not expect the state’s harvest share to increase.
 

Fisheries managers in Washington will not propose reopening chinook
fishing on the lower Snake River near Clarkston and Little Goose Dam
this week. Cindy Lefleur of the Washington Department of Fish and
Wildlife at Vancouver said the department would monitor the harvest of
chinook below Bonneville Dam this week and determine next week if more
harvest will be allowed in eastern Washington.
 

“If there is anyway we can find some extra fish we want to try to open
up some areas above Bonneville. We are trying to sort through the
numbers and find out if we have some extra fish.”
 

The number of jacks counted at Bonneville Dam is the second highest
since 1980 and signals next year’s return of adult chinook is likely to
be healthy. Through Tuesday 32,414 jacks had been counted at the dam and
the counting season runs through June 15.
 

Jacks are chinook that return to fresh water after just one year in the
ocean. Most chinook spend two or three years at sea. Fisheries managers
use jack counts, combined with other factors, to predict the return of
adult chinook the following year. In general, a high jack return one
year is followed by a high adult return the next. The highest number of
jacks counted at Bonneville was recorded in 2009 and was followed the
next year by a return of more than 270,000 adults.