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Spring Chinook Fishing Sunsets by Eric Barker Moscow-Pullman Daily News, June 3, 2026

"This is one of the earliest spring Chinook closures we've experienced in recent years,"
-- Joe Thiessen, Idaho Fish and Game fisheries manager

Idaho anglers exhausted the harvestable surplus of what turned out to be a lackluster spring chinook run, prompting the end of fishing on the Clearwater, lower Salmon and Snake rivers and there are signs next year's return of the prized and powerful fish may not be much better.

Fisheries managers for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game closed the Clearwater River and its North, South and Middle Forks, the lower Salmon River and the Snake River in Hells Canyon Tuesday.

But there are still opportunities for anglers willing to put in some windshield time. The Little Salmon River has about 140 fish remaining on its harvest share and fishing will open Saturday and Sunday. The Lochsa River, a tributary to the Clearwater, opened to chinook fishing Saturday in a season that could run into August and the South Fork of the Salmon and upper Salmon rivers will open June 18.

Joe Thiessen, Idaho Fish and Game fisheries manager for the Clearwater Region at Lewiston, called the run disappointing, saying it failed to live up to its modest forecast.

"This is one of the earliest spring Chinook closures we've experienced in recent years," Thiessen wrote in an online update of the season. "Unfortunately, there is more reason for concern. Jack returns are extremely low this year, which suggests that 2027 is unlikely to bring substantially stronger runs."

Jacks are salmon that return prematurely after just one year in the Pacific Ocean. Their abundance is used to predict the next return of adult fish.

During the last Thursday-to-Sunday fishing window, anglers harvested 528 adult spring chinook from the Clearwater River and its tributaries. That pushed the season total to 1,109, about 12% or 139 fish, over the 970-fish harvest share.

Anglers caught and kept 147 adult chinook from the lower Salmon River last week and 298 for the season. Harvest numbers for the Little Salmon River were not available Tuesday but fisheries managers believe enough remain on the state's share of the Rapid River run for two more days of fishing.

The Lochsa River is open seven days per week and has a daily bag limit of four hatchery fish of which no more than two can be adults. The South Fork of the Salmon River will be open to chinook fishing Thursdays through Sundays with a daily bag limit of four chinook of which only one may be an adult fish. The upper Salmon River will be open seven days per week and have a daily bag limit of four chinook with a maximum of two adults.