Salmon Forecast Good At Dworshak

A record number of chinook salmon could return to Dworshak National Fish Hatchery on Idaho’s Clearwater River this spring.

But Idaho Fish and Game Department biologists are waiting for counts of fish to pick up at Lower Granite Dam before they make recommendations for fishing seasons.

Fishing is likely to open in early May on the Clearwater as well as on the Little Salmon River.

Last year, fish managers recorded the highest returns of immature chinook salmon to Dworshak since the spring chinook hatchery program was begun in the early ‘80s.

Returns of these “jacks” usually indicate the size of adult runs to follow the next year. Using the accepted formula, the hatchery is expecting about 9,000 springers to return to the Clearwater’s North Fork. Only 1,200 salmon are needed at the hatchery for eggs.

“This is a data point we’ve never seen before,” said Ed Schrieber, Idaho fisheries biologist in Lewiston. “We’re pretty sure there will be enough salmon for a fishery, but we don’t know whether the jack returns were a fluke or what. The returns to the Kooskia hatchery farther upstream were dismal.”

Although several spring chinook fisheries have been opened on the Clearwater in the past, only two have produced returns large enough for good fishing. This could be the third.

The number of chinooks moving over Lower Granite Dam typically picks up in early May. Fishing could be good when the season starts.

If the forecasts hold true.