Steelhead Fishing on the Salmon River

Steelhead fly-fishing on the Salmon River is one of my personal favorites. It can be very rewarding and is mostly done by sight fishing. These magnificent fish swim upstream from the Pacific Ocean to Idaho via the Columbia and Snake rivers. The fish have several dams to negotiate, and they spend about 8 months in fresh water before they spawn in the Stanley basin. The fish average about 8 to 16 lbs. and are very stout. I have been guiding these fish about 15 years and I am always fascinated by them. The Steelhead that swim up the Salmon River to spawn, move almost 1000 miles to do so. At the present time, most of the fish are of hatchery origin. There are still some wild fish, but there is much to be done to restore the once huge numbers of these sea-run rainbows. The prime time to find steelhead is during the month of April. At this time the fish have moved up into the upper water, and are closer to the Sun Valley area. It is about a one hour drive to Stanley from Sun Valley and it is a drive through some of Idaho's most beautiful country.  Expect almost exclusively sight fishing and any kind of weather!

Idaho Fish & Game dam and hatchery fish count link. / Fish Flow Passage Center Steelhead counts. / Army Corps Dam Counts Alternate fish counts at the dams. / Angler Counts / Idaho Power Site.