Anglers are traveling to fish for steelhead in rural Idaho. One county wants to stop it
During a normal steelhead fishing season, the small towns along the Salmon River would welcome the visitors who line the riverbanks to reel in prized fish. But this year, some officials in Custer County worry that those visiting anglers could spread coronavirus to the rural area.
Last Thursday, during a meeting of the Idaho Association of Counties, Custer County Commissioner Wayne Butts asked the association’s director, Seth Grigg, to pass a message along to Gov. Brad Little: Please shutter steelhead season.
“We asked him to shut down the steelhead season so we can close these campgrounds up here and send the people back home,” Butts said in a phone interview.
The fishing season in that area is set to end April 30. But the three county commissioners agreed to call for the unprecedented measure after noticing an influx of visitors.
On Monday, a spokeswoman for Little’s office said the governor has “no plans to postpone or close the steelhead season.”
Custer County, which includes Stanley and Redfish Lake, had two confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, as of Wednesday afternoon. But it abuts Blaine County, where Idaho’s worst outbreak has occurred.
Fish and Game suspends some licenses, finds no change in angler efforts from last year
The last weekend in March, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game conducted a regular survey of angler efforts along the Salmon. Tom Curet, regional supervisor for Fish and Game’s Salmon Region, said the agency counted 142 vehicles and 234 people.
“Of those 234 people, 206 of them were actually fishing for steelhead in the river,” Curet said in a phone interview. “For perspective, that’s very similar to what we saw last year at this very time. So it was not an increase in pressure or decrease in pressure.”
Curet said 24 of the vehicles had out-of-state license plates. In addition, officials saw license plates from 19 Idaho counties, including Custer and Lemhi counties, where their count took place.
“You think about the governor’s order to stay home … that doesn’t mean drive 200 miles to come to Challis or to Stanley and go fishing,” Butts said.
Curet said his employees were also keeping an eye out for proper social distancing.
“They observed in three locations where it looked like … in our mind there were camps of people not adhering to the social distancing guideline,” Curet said. “In many other locations, people were observing social distancing.”
On Saturday, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted to suspend the sale of non-resident tags and licenses. That could help address some of the traffic in Custer County.
Ed Schriever, director of Fish and Game, said in a phone interview Tuesday that neither he nor his commission intend to end the steelhead season altogether. Like Curet, Schriever said he’s been told most anglers are abiding by social distancing recommendations. Schriever said a second survey of the Salmon River in Custer County this weekend showed “on average one angler every 2 miles.”
Idaho commissioners worry visitors will strain resources, EMS
Butts said the lack of action from the governor or Fish and Game leaves Custer County in the lurch. Like several other rural Idaho counties, Custer County officials have already asked visitors to stay away.
“For my constituents and my community, we just got concerns,” Butts said. “We don’t want you here. We don’t need you here.”
Butts said the commission weighed the effects a season closure would have on the local economy.
“I know that’s going to hurt our gas stations and our local sporting goods store, but we all need to stick together to get through this thing. I’m also an EMT, and if we wipe out our EMS, nobody’s there to answer when you call 911,” Butts said.
Commission Chair Steve Smith said he thinks the visitors aren’t the same crowd that usually comes up to the area to fish for steelhead. Instead, he thinks they might be people feeling some cabin fever and hoping to get out of the house by going fishing.
“I like people recreating, but they gotta recreate locally,” Smith said.
This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 1:33 PM.
