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Chinook Salmon Stream Into Idaho by Greg Moore Idaho Mountain Express, May 14, 2015

Chinook Salmon Stream Into Idaho

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is predicting a slightly better than normal chinook salmon fishing season this spring on the upper Salmon River.

The Fish and Game Commission will consider seasons on the upper Salmon and South Fork of the Salmon rivers during a meeting in Lewiston on May 20.

Sam Sharr, the department's anadromous fisheries coordinator, said the department is forecasting that about 2,100 chinook that originated at the Sawtooth hatchery will make it back to Idaho this spring, a few more than the approximately 1,800 that returned last year.

With the low snowpack and runoff this year, fish are rapidly migrating upstream after they cross Lower Granite Dam. By May 13, about 65,000 chinook had crossed the dam on the Snake River in Washington, the last of four on the river before they reach Idaho. The run appears to have peaked in early May at about 7,500 fish per day. That's about the same as last year's peak, though it occurred about 10 days earlier.

Anglers can stay up to date with in-season fish counts at Bonneville and Lower Granite dams, harvest information, hatchery returns and interactive season maps by checking the department's website at www.fishandgame.idaho.gov/fish/chinook.