Upper Salmon steelhead effort ticks up, with fish showing below North Fork

Steelhead fishing on Idaho's Upper Salmon River is slowly waking up. Idaho Fish and Game's Oct. 21 report, covering Oct. 14–18, says angler effort and catch both rose a little, especially over the weekend, though effort is still below recent falls.

Most anglers fished downstream of North Fork, in location code 15, and that was the only area where interviewed anglers reported steelhead. They averaged 45 hours per fish. Biologists also heard second-hand reports of fish below the Middle Fork, and they expect fishing above North Fork to start picking up this week.

The river ran clear with water temperatures in the upper 40s. Flow at Salmon was 1,140 cfs, about 85% of average for the date, and a weather system was forecast to bring rain and cooler temperatures Thursday and Friday.

IDFG also reminded anglers that steelhead harvest in the Clearwater River basin closed at the end of fishing hours Oct. 21, with catch-and-release still allowed there. That change does not affect the Snake and Salmon rivers, where anglers can still keep two adipose-clipped steelhead a day and have six in possession.

Photo: Upper Salmon River steelhead in a net (March 2024), via Idaho Fish and Game.

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

Source: Idaho Fish and Game — Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report (10-21-2026) (Oct. 21, 2026).