Steelhead angler effort along the Upper Salmon River was noticeably lower last week as colder temperatures settled into the area. Most of the angler effort remained downstream of Salmon, ID, with boat anglers primarily observed upstream of North Fork.

Anglers that were able to get out on the river last week had better average catch rates than what was observed two weeks ago. The only area where we did not observe catch rates improve was downstream of the Middle Fork Salmon River in location code 14 where interviewed anglers averaged 33 hours per steelhead caught. Anglers interviewed downstream of North Fork in location code 15 averaged 13 hours per steelhead caught, and anglers interviewed downstream of the Lemhi River in location code 16 averaged 16 hours per steelhead caught. A low number of interviews were obtained from anglers upstream of the Lemhi River in location code 17, but anglers that were interviewed in that area averaged nine hours per steelhead caught.

River conditions remained good throughout the week with stable flows and excellent visibility. Currently, the Salmon River is flowing at 1,090 cfs through the town of Salmon, ID which is 85 percent of average for today’s date. Water temperatures ranged from the low 40s at the beginning of last week to the upper 30s over the weekend (figure below).