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LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — Starting Wednesday, anglers will be allowed to keep two hatchery steelhead caught on the Clearwater River each day.
Steelhead fishing is improved on the river this year, but not up to the record-breaking runs of the past, The Lewiston Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1skZyve ).
As of Tuesday, more than 9,000 hatchery steelhead had passed Lower Granite Dam and were heading toward the Clearwater and its tributaries. That's about three times the number of fish counted at this time last year.
"It looks like compared to the past two years, it's going to be better fishing," said Joe DuPont, regional fisheries manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston.
The number of steelhead available is up compared with the past few years, but it is down compared with 2010 and 2011, when about 13,000 were counted at the dam by early October.
Most of the hatchery steelhead bound for the Clearwater this fall have spent two years in the ocean, DuPont said.
More than 25,000 hatchery steelhead bound for the Clearwater River also had been counted passing Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River through Tuesday. Idaho Fish and Game fisheries managers figure, on average, about 70 percent of those fish, or 17,500, will make it all the way to Lower Granite.
In total, slightly more than 300,000 steelhead have been counted passing Bonneville Dam since July 1. About 45,000 of them spent two years in the ocean, and most of those are expected to head to the Clearwater River, but a small percentage head for the Salmon River and its tributaries.
The rest of the steelhead counted at Bonneville Dam, about 255,000, are fish that typically spend one year in the ocean.
DuPont noted that steelhead catch rates are picking up on the Clearwater. The river is known for good-to-excellent early season catch-and-release steelhead fishing.
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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com
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