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Idaho Fish and Game Makes Changes to Spring Chinook Fisheries by Eric Barker Moscow-Pullman Daily News, June 11, 2025

The lower Salmon River is closed and won't reopen this season
Agency looks ahead to summer chinook seasons

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has made changes to the spring chinook fishing season on the Clearwater and lower Salmon rivers and is proposing summer chinook seasons on multiple rivers and to increase the seasonal bag limit for the fish.

The lower Salmon River is closed and won't reopen this season. The stretch of the Clearwater River between bridges at Cherrylane and Orofino and the North Fork of the Clearwater from its mouth to Dworshak Dam will close at 9 p.m. Friday.

Joe DuPont, regional fisheries manager at Lewiston, said in his weekly update Tuesday that anglers harvested an estimated 855 adult chinook bound for Rapid River hatchery last week. Most of those -- nearly 600 fish -- were caught from the stretch of the lower Salmon River between Time Zone Bridge and the mouth of Short's Creek. For the season, anglers have caught and kept an estimated 1,100 chinook from the lower Salmon River, just over the agency's harvest distribution goal for the river. DuPont said the closure reserves the remaining 649 adult fish in the state's harvest share for anglers on the Little Salmon River.

The harvest share estimate for the Rapid River run was upgraded from 1,250 last week to 1,943 this week. The number of fish from a specific hatchery run that is not needed for spawning is divided in two with each half (known as a harvest share) going to tribal and nontribal anglers.

In addition, the department sets harvest goals for different river sections in an attempt to make sure the catch is spread throughout areas open for fishing.

The Clearwater River has an estimated harvest share of 5,043. Although there are 1,769 adult fish still to be caught, the North Fork of the Clearwater and the Cherrylane-to-Orofino section are approaching their harvest distribution goals and will close Friday night.

The Snake River between Dug Bar and Hells Canyon Dam has about 200 fish remaining on its harvest share and will remain open for another week.

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission will meet Friday to consider bumping the spring/summer season bag limit from 10 adult fish to 20. It will also consider opening summer chinook seasons on the Lochsa, South Fork of the Salmon and upper Salmon rivers.

Related Pages:
Chinook Anglers Get Seven Days Per Week by Eric Barker, Moscow-Pullman Daily News, 5/14/25
Salmon Counts at Bonneville Allow Reopening of Sportfishing by Bill Monroe, The Oregonian, 5/7/25
Anglers Get a Brief Crack at Chinook by Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune, 5/2/25
As Chinook Run Surges, So Does Uncertainty by Eric Barker, Lewiston Tribune, 5/19/23