Chinook Season Flounders Again

Yesterday (May 13), Idaho Fish and Game Director Ed Schriever signed an emergency order closing the spring Chinook fishing season on the Clearwater River after only six days of fishing. Some opportunities remain on the Little Salmon and Salmon Rivers, where there is an estimated remaining harvest share of about 550 fish. The Fish and Game Commission met today (Thursday, May 14) to discuss season modifications and location closures for what is left of a decimated 2020 springer season.

What happened… again?

IDFG originally estimated a harvest share of 2,900 fish for Idaho’s anglers this year. As IDFG biologists watched the counts of spring Chinook over Lower Granite Dam, they progressed from enthusiasm for a better year than 2019, to hope that the run was just late, to the disheartening realization that 2020 would be another abysmal year for springers. Clearwater Region Fisheries Manager Joe DuPont summed it up when he told hopeful anglers, “There is no doubt that these last four years have been very depressing.” He also expressed concern that fish hatcheries along the Clearwater River will not have enough fish return to make broodstock requirements, jeopardizing the next generation of harvestable spring Chinook and harkening back to the fears of the 2019 steelhead season.

According to IDFG, the Clearwater River is now expected to receive a negative harvest share of spring Chinook.

Those predicted 2,900 fish have been reduced to a shared 548 for all Idaho sportsmen and guides in the Salmon River system only, and nothing on the Clearwater, a pittance compared to what could be. The lifeline to fishing guides and local businesses on the Clearwater has been severed again, and just after the devastation of a closed 2019 steelhead season, preceded by a poor 2018 season, and another temporary shutdown in 2017. Things aren’t looking better for the fall 2020 steelhead season, with managers predicting it will again be one of the lowest years on record.

With the odds totally stacked against them, how will the fishing guides, hotels, gas stations, and tackle stores in north central Idaho make it to 2021? Fishing guide Kyle Jones sums up the fears many rural Idahoans have right now: “It absolutely breaks our hearts not to be able to fish the Clearwater. The Clearwater is our home, and every customer we take out of state means less revenue for all the hotels, restaurants, and gas stations that are owned and operated by our friends and fellow community members. Traveling out of state also means that we get to spend less time with family as we just continue to try and survive these difficult times.”  

While our fish limp toward extinction, Idaho communities are calling out to our elected officials to step up and break the status quo. Protecting the current system is equal to being complicit as small businesses that rely on fish bleed out, forfeiting rural Idaho’s identity as shops close and families move on.

But it doesn’t need to be so bleak. Simply be a champion for Idaho. Roll up the sleeves, get with the program and boldly start working towards solutions. River communities are hanging on by a thread, and they can’t wait much longer.