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Chinook Anglers Get Seven Days Per Week by Eric Barker Moscow-Pullman Daily News, May 14, 2025

Idaho Fish and Game Commission gives OK
for expanded season and daily bag limit

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission expanded the spring chinook fishing season on the Clearwater River and its middle and south forks to seven days per week.

The commission also increased the daily bag limit on the South Fork of the Clearwater River from one adult salmon per day to two adults. The changes took effect immediately.

Fishing on the North Fork of the Clearwater River, the lower Salmon River and the Little Salmon River remain restricted to four days per week.

The changes were made at the recommendation of the Idaho Fish and Game Department and are based on the number of fish bound for Clearwater River hatcheries exceeding the preseason forecast.

Joe DuPont, regional fisheries manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston, said in an emailed update that the Clearwater River and its tributaries are expected to have a harvest share of about 4,355 -- meaning tribal anglers and nontribal anglers can each catch that many adult hatchery chinook. That is about four times the number called for in a preseason forecast.

Harvest shares attached to other Idaho fisheries are going in the opposite direction. The Rapid River run that fuels fishing on the lower Salmon and Little Salmon rivers is now estimated to be about 800, down from a preseason forecast of about 1,300. The harvest share for the Snake River in Hells Canyon has dropped from the preseason forecast of 760 to 610.

DuPont said the Snake River spring chinook run, as measured at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River, is likely 80% complete.

Spring chinook season on Snake near Little Goose Dam closes Friday

The spring chinook season on the Snake River near Little Goose Dam in Washington will close one hour after sunset Friday evening.

According to a news release from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, the closure will ensure the fishery does not exceed the harvest quota, estimated at about 400 adult fish.

Related Pages:
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