Seasons on Clearwater, Salmon and Snake rivers begin in less than a month
LEWISTON – Idaho Fish and Game commissioners gave the nod Thursday to spring chinook fishing seasons on the Clearwater, Salmon and Snake rivers that will begin in less than a month.
Fisheries managers are predicting a modest return of hatchery-reared springers to Idaho rivers but one that is better than the depressed runs of the previous five years. Fishing will be open daily starting April 23 on sections of the lower Salmon, Little Salmon and Snake rivers, as well as the Clearwater River and its Middle and South forks. Fishing will be allowed four days a week – Thursdays through Sundays – on the North Fork of the Clearwater River.
Daily bag limits on the Snake River upstream of Dug Bar in Hells Canyon, the Clearwater River and its Middle and South Forks will be up to four hatchery chinook but only one adult fish. Adults are any chinook that are at least 24 inches long. The bag limit on the lower Salmon River and Little Salmon River will be four hatchery chinook per day with a maximum of two adults.
According to a news release from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, a preseason forecast calls for 39,631 spring chinook to return to Idaho rivers. That would be the best return since 2015 but about 5,000 short of the 10-year average.
John Cassinelli, the state’s anadromous fish manager, said there are some thinking the official forecast may end up being low. He noted preseason forecasts often overestimate returns when runs are in the midst of a downward trend and underestimate when runs are trending upward.
After bottoming out in 2019, hatchery and wild spring chinook returns have been rising modestly, even if they have yet to hit 10-year averages or the expectations of fisheries managers. Last year, researchers recorded some of the best conditions in the Northern Pacific Ocean they have seen in more than two decades. That could give a boost to this year’s return of Jack salmon and next year’s adults.
The return to Idaho is part of a larger run bound for the Columbia River. A collection of state, tribal and federal fisheries managers is forecasting 122,900 spring chinook bound for Columbia River tributaries above Bonneville Dam will make it at least as far as the mouth of the river this year. That number includes about 73,400 chinook that will be bound for the Snake River and its tributaries in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. That’s an increase of about 20,000 Snake River fish compared to last year. The forecast for Snake River-bound springers includes 60,200 hatchery-origin fish and just 13,200 wild fish. Wild spring chinook are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.