Idaho closes Clearwater steelhead harvest after Oct. 21; catch-and-release stays open

Steelhead anglers on Idaho’s Clearwater have two more days to keep a fish. Idaho Fish and Game said Oct. 19 that all steelhead harvest in the Clearwater River basin closes at the end of fishing hours on Wednesday, Oct. 21, and stays closed for the rest of the 2026 season.

The river does not shut down. Steelhead fishing stays open in the basin under catch-and-release rules, and the department says that was the point: closing harvest now avoids having to close the rivers entirely.

Fish and Game calls this year’s returns historically low. Steelhead counts at Bonneville Dam are the lowest since the dam was built in 1938, and Snake River stocks, including fish headed to the Clearwater, are near historic lows. The agency says it has to act to meet hatchery broodstock needs. Harvest has been open on the Clearwater since early September, and over the past month anglers have taken most of the allowable share of hatchery steelhead returning to the basin.

Photo: Idaho Fish and Game (from the Oct. 19 release).

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: Idaho Fish and Game — IDFG closes steelhead harvest in the Clearwater River basin due to low returns (Oct. 19, 2026).