November 1, 2012

Fall chinook harvest season ends this week

Salmon fishing in Idaho will be over for the year when the fall Chinook harvest season on the Snake and Clearwater rivers ends Wednesday, Oct. 31.

The season opened Sept. 1, on the Snake River between Lewiston and Hells Canyon Dam and, this year, in the lower Clearwater River downstream of the U.S. Highway 12 Memorial Bridge in Lewiston.

As of Oct. 29, anglers in the lower Clearwater River had caught 62 marked adults and 60 jacks fall Chinook and caught and released 261 unmarked fish.

Anglers caught and kept 382 adults and 486 jacks in the Snake River, for a total of 868 fish. They released more than 3,355 unclipped fish.

Hatchery-origin fish are marked with a clipped adipose fin.

Anglers in both rivers fished a total of about 64,000 hours.

This year, almost 34,000 adult fall Chinook and almost 21,700 jacks have crossed Lower Granite Dam, and many of them returned to the Snake River above Lewiston.