Fish and river runners are loving the abundance of water

RIVERS/LAKES —  This year’s glut of precipitation — 180-192 percent of normal through out the region — is going a long way to recharge lakes, and the heavy snowpack — averaging more than 125 percent of normal throughout the region — has barely even started toward a serious runoff.

We’re flush, so to speak.

A cool, wet April left the snowpack in Much of Idaho virtually untouched, leaving the prospect of huge runoff in the Snake River basin and elswhere, according to the Twin Falls Times .

A Montana meteorologist is predicting “sensational runoff” and flooding favorite fishing streams such as the Bighole, according to the Great Falls Tribune .

However, big water years usually translate into big returns of salmon and steelhead when the young getting a boost downtream during spring return in a few years as adults.