Amid dismal runs, steelhead B-run could surprise, Idaho Fish and Game officials say
Idaho Fish and Game officials believe B-run steelhead may be a bright spot in an otherwise depressing year for the sea-run trout.
Through Wednesday, steelhead were posting the worst year on record, according to counts conducted at Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River. The records date back to 1938.
Most of the nearly 38,000 steelhead counted there have been A-run fish that largely pass the dam in July and August.
B-run steelhead that return to the Clearwater River and parts of the Salmon River start showing up in late August and continue to pass the dam through September. The preseason forecast calls for about 7,600 B-run steelhead to return above the dam this fall, including about 1,000 wild fish.
However, based on very early returns, the run may end up being closer in size to last year’s that surprised fisheries managers, said Joe DuPont, regional fisheries manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston. Based on normal run timing, only about 6 percent to 10 percent of the B-run would be expected to have passed the dam by now. But data collected at the dam shows hatchery steelhead may be showing up in larger numbers.
“If this prediction is accurate, that would mean about 21,000 Clearwater-bound hatchery fish would pass over Bonneville Dam this year, which is just about the same number as we saw last year,” DuPont wrote in a steelhead update published on the Idaho Department of Fish and Game website. “This is a lot more than we thought would return this year based on our preseason forecast.”
On Wednesday, the Idaho Fish and Game commission cut bag limits on the Salmon, Little Salmon and Snake rivers from three hatchery fish per day to just one hatchery fish per day. It also reduced bag limits on the Clearwater River from its mouth to Memorial Bridge at Lewiston from two hatchery steelhead per day to one. The commission didn’t adjust steelhead bag limits on the Clearwater River upstream of Memorial Bridge at Lewiston, where the harvest season doesn’t open until Oct. 15.