Upper Salmon River Chinook update - 7/3/2024

Hi everyone, the Upper Salmon River fishery was open last week from June 26 to June 30 (Thursday to Sunday). Salmon angler effort increased considerably, and we estimated that anglers spent 1,328 hours targeting Chinook Salmon during the second week. Additionally, we estimated that anglers harvested 28 hatchery adults and 14 hatchery jacks and released three hatchery jacks and four wild adults. Anglers averaged 27 hours per salmon caught and 32 hours per salmon kept.

RULES

Nothing has changed since last week's update regarding the fishery rules, but we are planning on continuing to include this paragraph in all upcoming reports to make it easier for anyone unaware of the rules to find the information.

The Upper Salmon River fishery is open 4 days a week (Thursday - Sunday), and it will reopen each Thursday until harvest share is reached, wild fish impacts are reached, or until August 10th, whichever comes first. The fishery is open from 100 yards upstream of the Valley Creek confluence to the posted boundary approximately 100 yards downstream of the weir and trap at the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. Fishing hours are from 5:30am to 10:00 pm MDT. The daily limit is four (4) hatchery Chinook salmon, only two (2) of which may be adults (over 24 inches). For the full season rules, please click here.

RUN and HARVEST SHARE UPDATE

The table below was included in last week's report, and it shows the pre-season forecast and current (as of July 1st) PIT tag estimate at Bonneville Dam for adipose-clipped adult salmon returning to the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery. We did not detect any additional Sawtooth adult salmon at Bonneville Dam during the past week, so the numbers in the table have not changed. Since we are not anticipating any more changes to this table, this will be the last report where we show estimates from Bonneville Dam. Instead, we will focus on what has crossed Lower Granite Dam.