Lochsa, South Fork Salmon and upper Salmon rivers may have open period; spring season remains open on other rivers

LEWISTON – The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will consider approving proposed summer chinook fishing seasons on the Lochsa, South Fork of the Salmon and upper Salmon rivers during a special meeting Tuesday.

Fisheries managers for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are recommending seven-day-a-week seasons on those rivers. Each area would have a bag limit of four hatchery chinook per day, including a maximum of two adult fish.

Officials from the department were not available Wednesday to comment on expected returns of summer chinook.

Springer season chugs on

Catch targets, also known as harvest shares, for spring chinook in the Clearwater, lower Salmon and Little Salmon rivers remain nearly unchanged from last week.

Fisheries managers estimate anglers on the Clearwater River and its tributaries will harvest about 6,000 hatchery spring chinook this year. Anglers targeting hatchery chinook bound for the Rapid River Hatchery will catch about 3,700 adult chinook from the lower Salmon and Little Salmon rivers.

High river flows produced low harvest rates last week. Fishing areas on all three rivers, with the exception of the previously closed section from Rice Creek Bridge to Hammer Creek on the lower Salmon, are open through the weekend.

Through last weekend, anglers on the Clearwater River and its tributaries had caught 2,535 adult spring chinook, about 42% of the harvest share. Anglers on the lower and Little Salmon rivers have caught 1,121, about 30% of the harvest share.