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Idaho's Spring Steelhead Season Opens by Staff Times-News, Jannuary 9, 2014

JEROME -- For some anglers, the best thing about New Year's Day is the start of the spring steelhead season, which opened Jan. 1.

Anglers need a 2014 fishing license and steelhead permit.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game said spring steelhead season is open on the:

• Salmon River from its mouth to the posted boundary 100 yards downstream of the Sawtooth Fish Hatchery weir, near the town of Stanley.

• Little Salmon River from its mouth to the U.S. 95 Bridge near Smokey Boulder Road.

• Snake River from the Washington state line at the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers upstream to Oxbow Dam.

• Clearwater River mainstem and Middle Fork Clearwater River from its mouth to Clear Creek.

• North Fork Clearwater River from its mouth to Dworshak Dam.

• South Fork Clearwater River from its mouth to the confluence of American and Red rivers.

• Boise River from its mouth to the Barber Dam.

• On the Salmon River from Lake Creek Bridge to Long Tom Creek, about a quarter mile upstream of the Middle Fork, the season ends March 31.

• On the Little Salmon River, the season runs through May 15.

• On the Snake River from Hells Canyon Dam to Oxbow Dam, the season runs through May 31.

• On the Boise River upstream to Barber Dam, the season ends May 31.

Elsewhere, steelhead anglers may use only barbless hooks, and may keep only hatchery steelhead marked with a clipped adipose fin. All other steelhead must be released unharmed.

The steelhead limits for the spring 2014 season on the Snake, Salmon and Little Salmon are three per day and nine in possession. The limits in the Clearwater drainage are one fish per day and two in possession. In addition, in the North Fork Clearwater River and the Clearwater River downstream of the Orofino Bridge only steelhead 28 inches or less in total length may be kept.

The statewide limit for the spring season is 20 steelhead. Once limits are reached, the angler must stop fishing, even catch-and-release.

Consult the Fish and Game website at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov, license vendors or regional offices for changes to rules published in the 2013-2015 Fishing Seasons and Rules brochure.