Fish on: Idaho Fish and Game Commission OKs steelhead harvest

Idaho anglers will be able to catch and keep hatchery steelhead starting Sunday.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Friday approved a proposal from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to open steelhead harvest on the Snake, Salmon and Little Salmon rivers, plus the Clearwater and its north, south and middle forks.

Anglers will be able to keep up to two hatchery steelhead per day but must release all steelhead longer than 28 inches on the Clearwater River and its tributaries and on the Snake River downstream of Couse Creek.

A push from Commissioner Dan Blanco of Moscow to reduce the bag limit to one fish a day on the Clearwater River was not adopted by the rest of the commission. Blanco took the position of many anglers, especially those who fly-fish on the Clearwater, that the return of wild B-run steelhead is too low to support the added pressure that catch-and-keep seasons typically attract. Idaho fisheries managers are expecting about 1,400 wild B-run steelhead to return to the Clearwater Basin this fall and about 7,400 B-run hatchery fish.

Wild steelhead in the Snake River basin are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act and anglers must release them unharmed. Even so, a small percentage of the fish that are caught and released die from the experience. A federal permit allows Idaho fisheries to incidentally kill 3.2 percent of protected wild steelhead, and state officials say doing so will not harm the population.

Even so, Blanco argued that given the low numbers of wild fish it would be prudent to adopt a lower bag limit, which would limit fishing pressure and reduce incidental mortality.

“It’s a conservative approach, I admit, but sometimes if you error on the side of conservative you usually end up pretty well,” he said.

Some of his colleagues worried reducing the bag limit to one fish daily on the Clearwater would push more anglers to the Snake and Salmon rivers.

“I think one on the Clearwater and two elsewhere will put undue pressure on those fisheries,” said Commissioner Brad Corkill of Cataldo.

Catch-and-keep steelhead fishing normally opens Sept. 1 on the Snake, Salmon and Little Salmon rivers. The department adopted an emergency rule in August that closed steelhead harvest statewide because of low numbers of fish counted at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. Since the closure, steelhead numbers, while still low, have improved to the point that Idaho fisheries managers said harvest can be allowed without jeopardizing hatchery production or wild fish numbers. They expect about 25,000 fish that began their lives in Idaho hatcheries to return to the state’s waters. Another 15,000 wild fish, mostly smaller A-run steelhead, are expected.

The commissioners first considered the proposal Oct. 2 but opted to put off the decision for two weeks. They said the delay would give anglers a chance to comment on the harvest season and allow biologists to further monitor steelhead numbers.

More than 1,200 people commented on the proposal, with a slim majority favoring sticking with catch-and-release rules. Kerry Brennan, owner of the Little River Bait and Tackle shop at Riggins, said the decision to open steelhead harvest will be good for businesses in his town.

“We can go ahead and plan on a few more people coming our way and I can get some stuff ordered for the tackle shop,” he said.

Those opposed to a harvest season included advocacy groups like Trout Unlimited.

“We are disappointed,” said Michael Gibson, Idaho field coordinator for Trout Unlimited at Boise. “The department claims to have sufficient protections in place for wild fish but we aren’t convinced. Wild steelhead returns, especially B-runs, are dismal this year and we need every fish possible to make it to their spawning grounds.”

Washington also will open a catch-and-keep season on a portion of the Snake River starting Sunday. On Wednesday, state fisheries officials approved a plan to allow anglers to keep two hatchery steelhead per day upstream of the Idaho-Washington state line. Rules require anglers to release all steelhead 28 inches and longer between the Washington-Idaho border and Couse Creek. The Snake River from its mouth to the Idaho-Washington state line will remain closed to steelhead harvest.