MAIN SALMON RIVER – EARLY SPRING FISHING BELOW STANLEY
March 25 , 2010 Fishing Report
IT’S ALL ABOUT STEELHEAD THIS TIME OF YEAR!!
STEELHEAD UPDATE:
Fishing is beginning to pick up in the Upper River and there are definitely fish throughout the entire Main Salmon. Reports of amazing numbers of fish are coming up from the Salmon area and every day we are seeing more fish in the upper river. Numbers of anglers are also on the increase and a friendly smile goes a long way! The river is still quite low and wade fishing is definitely at its easiest at the moment. Try a nymph dropped off a skunk or just a leechy pattern on the swing.
Steelhead passed through Lower Granite Dam in record numbers this past fall and at last count the number was over 314,000. This dam is the upper most dam of the four Snake River dams that our fish must past through on their out migration and return trip to Idaho. We enjoyed a few of these fish on the upper river below Stanley last fall and this spring should be one of the best ever with record numbers of fish in the system!
SALMON UPDATE: Salmon season opened June 20 and closed July 26 this past summer of 2009. If you didn’t know it, last year and this year were the first Salmon seasons in over 30 years. Each year, Fish and Game determines the number of available Chinook Salmon that may be harvested. Word so far from Fish and Game for this year is this -”if we have a season on the upper river near Stanley, it is likely to only be a few days long.” Numbers are good for the river and a season near Salmon. Stay tuned!
General Information
Many of the fish we catch in our area are Westslope Cutthroat, native Rainbow trout and Bull Trout. These fish are native, natural fish and must be released. If you do not practice catch and release and prefer to keep fish, there are rainbows with missing adipose fins which can be kept. If you are fishing the Main Salmon River, please be sure to check the adipose fin and if the fish has one and is not a Mountain Whitefish or Brook trout, it must be released. Please handle it carefully, practice good catch and release techniques and let it go to catch another day. Consider fishing only with a single barbless hook to increase survival rates of the native fish and don’t keep the fish out of the water for over 20 seconds or, better yet keep them in the waterl. Hatchery stocked, catch and keep rainbow trout will be missing the adipose fin. Middle Fork tributaries are CATCH & RELEASE only.
Check the regulation book for exceptions and remember that many fish are protected and cannot be kept. The regulation book tells what can be kept and how to tell the difference.
Fishing Report courtesy of Silver Creek Outfitters.
800-732-5687 or email us at info@sawtoothfishingguides.com for an update.
