Upper Salmon River Chinook update - 6/17/2026

As noted last week, it generally takes those fish detected at Elevenmile about a week to 10 days to migrate to the Stanley area. Flows in the Salmon River are lower than average and dropping which tells me that the conditions should be good, and fish should be in the area, so I expect fish to be caught during the opening weekend. Given the low harvest share, the good river conditions, and fish already in the system, I'd be fishing the upper Salmon River early as this fishery may not last as long as we've seen in previous years.

We still know very little about the Pahsimeroi return with no additional tags crossing Bonneville since my last update. That being said, Pahsimeroi hatchery staff installed their trap last week and to date have trapped 6 adult Chinook already. This, as well as Sawtooth trapping numbers will be updated on our website here, as traps are checked and the data is uploaded.

Thanks, and as usual, if you have questions, comments, or would like to be added to my email update list, please reach out to me at: [email protected] or call the Salmon Regional Office at (208) 756-2271.