Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for December 5th, 2023. The data for this report was collected between Monday, November 27th and Sunday, December 3rd. 

Cold temperatures and winter storms made for tough fishing over the past week on the Upper Salmon River. Angler effort was very low across the area, with most of the observed effort occurring on Saturday. Slush ice in the river shut down fishing upstream of Panther Creek throughout most of the week until air temperatures warmed up enough on Saturday and Sunday to clear the river. 

Fishing was slow for the anglers that were interviewed on Saturday and Sunday. In total we interviewed 27 anglers who had fished for a combined 55 hours. No anglers interviewed in location codes 15 or 16 reported catching a steelhead, and only one angler reported releasing a hatchery steelhead within location code 17 which produced an average catch rate of six hours per steelhead caught.

River conditions have been fluctuating daily due to the mix of cold weather followed by the recent warmup. On Sunday, the river had cloudy visibility in all areas, and water temperatures were in the low to mid-30s. Current river flow readings are unavailable because both mainstem USGS gauge sites are now impacted by ice and are not reporting flows to the website. 

This will be the last fishing report issued for the Fall 2023 season, but any anglers that would like more information regarding the fishery this winter are encouraged to call the Salmon Region Office at (208) 756-2271. Weekly reports will start up again next year once fishing effort begins to increase in late February or early March.