Chinook Return To The Boise

It’s been 40 years or more since chinook salmon last swam in the Boise River.

The big, powerful fish disappeared from the river that runs through the state’s capital city in the 1950s, when the Hells Canyon dam complex blocked their migration eastward from the ocean.

But this week, Boise anglers are out along the river, fishing for chinook.

Because of an unusually good year for hatchery-raised chinook salmon, the state Fish and Game Department has opened a special fishing season on the Boise. So far, about 300 of the fish have been trucked in and planted in the urban river, and more are coming.

Each of the fish was raised in an Idaho hatchery, then traveled as a small smolt all the way to the ocean. After maturing there, the fish migrated back to Idaho, where they were collected in traps and brought back to the river of their ancestors.

They’re mostly 30 to 34 inches long and weigh an average of 15 pounds.

Chuck High has lived in Boise for 11 years, but the only salmon fishing he’s done has been in Oregon.

The Boise auto touch-up specialist sometimes fishes for trout along the river, but hadn’t made it out fishing this year until this week.

Despite hot temperatures and lots of rafters and splashers in the water, High waded out to a sandbar behind Boise State University on Thursday afternoon and gave it a try, “just for the fact that they put the salmon in.”

Bill Hutchinson, state fish manager, said wild chinook salmon are an endangered species. But the combination of excellent out-migrating conditions in 1995, when there was lots of water in the rivers; high numbers of young smolts released from hatcheries that year; and strong survival to adults among that year’s hatchery fish led to a rare surplus.

“We’ve never stocked them in the Boise River prior to this,” he said.

The Boise has the perfect conditions for the fish: cold water flowing out of Lucky Peak dam above, and ideal flows for fishing. Anglers are being allowed to catch up to two a day, and 18 for the season. Hutchinson expects about 500 fish to be planted in the river by the time the operation’s through.

“It takes a special type of knack to feel the fish, they’re not real easy to catch,” he said.

But anglers have been flocking to the river this week to try, and some are catching them already.

“I think the mystique is the chinook salmon,” Hutchinson said. “They migrate all the way back to Idaho, so they’ve got some sort of just fascination with people because they’re able to go to the ocean and back in two years. Plus, they’re huge, and they fight very well.

“They’re just really big and powerful. And they’re very good eating.”

For Boiseans, it’s a rare chance to try for the large fish that once were a common sight, flashing by in the river.

“Our run projections for returning adults does not look good in the future,” Hutchinson said. “I doubt we will have this again at least until after the turn of the century.”

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MEMO: North-South Notes runs every other Saturday. To reach Betsy Z. Russell, call 336-2854, send a fax to 336-0021 or e-mail to bzrussell@rmci.net.