Anyone hoping to catch a steelhead this fall might have to temper their expectations after Idaho Fish and Game lowered bag limits due to far fewer fish making their way inland.
Anglers can only catch two adult steelhead per day across Idaho under the new limits implemented earlier this month. On the Clearwater River, only one of those fish can be longer than 28 inches.
As the Lewiston Tribune first reported, the return forecast is less than half of what fishery managers expected earlier this year.
More than 133,000 steelhead were predicted to reach Bonneville Dam, but that’s now been downgraded to about 62,000. That would be the lowest return on-record since Bonneville Dam was built in 1938.
In response, Oregon and Washington have closed steelhead fishing on the Columbia River, along with other tributaries that feed it.
Fish and Game said it can’t point to any single factor causing the potentially record-low return. Juvenile steelhead got picked off by birds at high rates as they made their way to the ocean last year and ocean conditions were mixed once they hit the Pacific.
Officials said the fish that do make it back to Idaho are larger than average, which could help hatcheries fertilize more eggs with fewer adult females.
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