FISHING — Steelhead aren't making that big early spirt up the Snake and into Idaho this year.

The run numbers over Both Bonneville — as well as the few hundred a day that were marching over Lower Granite last week — are hovering around the five-year average.

Much more fun to come.

FISHING - Friday was a shirt-sleeve day with plenty of action for Grande Ronde River steelheaders.

Dennis Matsuda and Dan Hansen of Spokane caught and released 13 steelhead during the day, some of them beautifully fall bright fish.

Not bad for February.

FISHING — The number of steelhead climbing over Lower Granite Dam has slowed to 100-200 a day as the fish start hunkering in for the winter and the next big surge of movements in February or March.

There should be plenty of fish to catch in the Snake and tributaries if you can zero in on them.

But other factors play a role in angler success from week to week and even day to day.

Last week, Salmon River anglers from the Riggins area were riding high with great fishing success.  But the weekend brought change, as Amy Sinclair of Exodus Wilderness Adventures observes in this post-weekend wrapup:

Steelhead fishing was definitely affected by the storm system front and the full moon over the weekend; Saturday was one of the toughest fishing days of the year with few fish found throughout the entire river corridor. Fortunately the moon is waning and the weather pattern has settled and already the fishing has picked back up and returned to the incredible fishing we had for the past 2 weeks. While water temperatures continue to hover between 37-38 degrees, the fish are maintaining interest in plugs and in particular the infamous “truck and trailer”. These fish are still very acrobatic and we have started to see many more natives, especially over 32” in the last few days.

FISHING — After reading my outdoors column on steelheading puzzles along the Snake River and tributaries, some readers are asking where they can go fishing on the Touchet and Tucannon rivers.

Touchet River steelheading is allowed during the June-through-October gamefish season, as well as during the steelhead season that runs Nov. 1-March 31.

Much of the Touchet is private, but anglers find access:

• At levees within the towns of  Dayton and Waittsburg.
• Between the two towns at Lewis and Clark Trail State Park.
• At the WDFW Dodd fishing access site nine miles north of Touchet and Highway 12.
• And from private landowners who often give permission to anglers who ask.

Tucannon River steelheaders find easy public fishing access in the first mile of river up from the Snake.

Farther upstream, one encounters mostly private land for miles. Permission for one property often is granted at the Tucannon River RV Park above Starbuck.

Anglers also can find access on state and national forest land farther upstream to the Tucannon Hatchery, but most of the steelhead harvest occurs downstream from Highway 12.

Historically, December is an excellent month for steelheading on the Tucannon.

STEELHEADING — The latest Idaho steelhead fishing harvest report indicates slower than normal fishing in the lower reaches of the Snake River, but good fishing upstream from the Salmon River.

Great fishing has been reported from the Salmon River area near Riggins.  Read on for details. 

RIVERS —  If your upcoming Veterans Day weekend plans include a road trip for fishing or visiting on the opposite side of the Snake River, you may want to take advantage of a  rare opportunity to drive across Lower Granite Dam on Monday.

Most U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams are closed to cross-dam public vehicle traffic on federal holidays, unless otherwise announced.

Lower Granite Lock and Dam, near Pomeroy, Wash., will be open for public vehicle crossings from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Veterans Day, Nov. 11. 

Lower Granite’s regular public vehicle crossing schedule allows traffic crossings daily, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for federal holidays, unless otherwise announced. Tour and school busses must contact the dam at (509) 843-1493 at least 24 hours in advance for crossing authorization.

FISHING — The movement of steelhead over Lower Granite Dam has slowed way down, but more than 167,000 of the fish have climbed over the dam and are making themselves available to anglers throughout the upper system.
  

STEELHEAD FISHING — The fish are still running up the Snake and over Lower Granite Dam in numbers over 1,000 a day, but the number of new fish heading into Idaho waters is slowing.

The steelhead count over Bonneville Dam at the mouth of the Columbia had slowed on Sunday to just 127 fish a day, while 1,115 moved over Lower Granite Dam near Clarkston the same day.

The total number of steelhead over Bonneville since July 1 is 353,657 compared with 379,434
last year.

That helps confirm we're enjoying an above-average year.

The five-year average for this date over Bonneville is 384,339 and 159,215 over Lower Granite.

STEELHEAD FISHING — With Dworshak's cooling flows cut back and water temps at 68 degree, anglers continue to have good fishing for a nice run of steelhead in the Clearwater River and the Lewiston area.

Angler checks last weekend by Idaho Fish and Game show:

Clearwater River
Mouth to Memorial Bridge — The heaviest concentration of anglers, 8 hours per fish caught.

Clearwater River
Memorial Bridge to Orofino Bridge — 4 hours per fish caught.

Snake River
Downstream from Salmon River — 10 hours per fish caught.

FISHING — Idaho Fish and Game has just released creel reports for the past week through Saturday.

Clearwater River anglers from the Memorial Bridge to the mouth (water temp 46 degrees) averaged 9 fish caught per angler.  That's great.

Clearwater River anglers from Memorial Bridge at Lewiston up to Orofino Bridge (water temp 49 degrees), 5 fish per angler. Wow!

Snake River anglers downstream from Salmon River (water temp 72 degrees), 6 fish per angler.  Excellent.

STEELHEAD FISHING — With 262,300 steelhead reported over Bonneville Dam for this summer run, the counts are subsiding.

Now the fish are pouring upstream.  Even though the fishing has been good in Idaho's Clearwater River — four hours per fish caught — the bulk of the fish have yet to arrive. 

Even last weekend with temperatures over 100 degrees, the Dworshak Dam releases have kept the Clearwater River at 53 -56 degrees.

The big unknown is how much the fish will react when the Dworshak releases subside in the next few days or weeks.

FISHING — Anglers on the lower Columbia records are setting records with the number of steelhead they're catching on the lower Columbia, according to a detailed report by Northwest Sportsman.

It's not clear whether that's a good omen or a bad one for upstream anglers waiting for those fish to head up the Snake and arrive above Lower Granite Dam.  But I can tell you that anglers are catching steelhead in the Clearwater.  Game on.

FISHING — While the decades-out weather forecast poses big challenges to cold-water fisheries, this year's high cool water spells good news for endangered Snake River sockeye salmon making their amazing 900-mile return from the Pacific to the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.

The fish started showing Aug. 1 at the Stanley Basin’s Sawtooth Hatchery near Redfish Lake Creek, the first of what's expected to be a relatively big run.

Through Wednesday a total of 1,480 sockeye had been counted passing the lower Snake River’s Lower Granite Dam, which is just downstream from Lewiston — about 400 river miles downstream from Sawtooth Hatchery. That count is second only to last year’s tally of 2,201 on a record dating back to 1975.

With flows that are somewhat higher and cooler than average this year, biologists feel a relatively high number of fish will make that final four-week swim up the last 400-mile leg of the journey.

FISHING — The fall steelhead harvest season in Idaho opens Aug. 1, on a two-mile stretch of the lower Clearwater River from its mouth to the U.S. Highway 12 Memorial Bridge near Lewiston.

The catch-and-release steelhead season has been open on the lower Clearwater River since the beginning of July.

Click here to check the upstream progress of the fishery fish at Bonneville and Lower Granite dams.

Read on for details from Idaho Fish and Game.

STEELHEAD FISHING — Although this year's big flows have delayed the migration of this year's adult steelhead run UP the Columbia River, the surge has begun at Bonneville Dam — the first dam the fish hit as they come inland from the ocean. 

Within a week or so, the trickle over upstream dams, including Lower Granite Dam downstream from Clarkston, should improve to more of a flow.

Last year at this time, around 200 steelhead a day were climbing over Lower Granite, the last Snake River dam before the fish head into Idaho or the Grande Ronde River.

This year, fewer than 10 a day are being counted at Lower Granite.

STEELHEAD FISHING — It's not even a trickle yet coming up over Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River — just a couple a day — but this year's steelhead run continues to pick up steam into the Columbia.

Late for sure, but they're coming.

STEELHEAD FISHING — The steelhead are running, but very slowly compared with last year.  

Maybe the fish are waiting for this spring's enormous flows to subside a bit.

Stay tuned.

FISHING — On June 5, two steelhead that had run up the Columbia River and into the Snake made their way up and over Lower Granite Dam. They are the harbingers of  a good steelhead season that anglers will start targeting this summer.

The steelhead run is beginning to spike over Bonneville Dam, about two weeks later than last year.

FISHING — Here's the Idaho Fish and Game Department chart showing spring steelhead movments over Lower Granite Dam. 

The show's about over for the run that started last year.  Pretty soon steelheaders' eyes will shift to Bonneville Dam to look for the first signs if this summer's run.