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Spring Chinook Update: Seasons Close on Lower Snake by Staff Lewiston Tribune, May 27, 2014

UPDATE (3:51 P.M.) Idaho's harvestable share of the spring chinook run in the Clearwater basin has climbed to about 3,600 adult fish. Last week the state calculated its harvest share at 3,129. Since then, fisheries biologist calculated survival of Clearwater-bound chinook between Bonneville and Lower Granite dams. Even though the overall run was not as strong as the preseason forecast, survival was better than average and allowed for the positive adjustment of the harvest share, according to Joe DuPont, regional fisheries manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game at Lewiston.

The fishing season for spring chinook on a short section of the lower Snake River at Clarkston has closed.

Another section of the lower Snake River below Lower Granite Dam, 30 miles west of Clarkston, will close at one hour past sunset tonight. Officials from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife determined the state will have reached its quota of about 1,300 adult chinook by the close of fishing tonight.

"These closures will effectively mark the end of fishing season for spring chinook on the Snake River," said John Walen, the department's eastern region fish program manager at Spokane.

In Idaho, high flows made for tough fishing much of last week. Anglers found the best luck in tailwater fisheries below Dworshak Dam on the North Fork Clearwater River and below Hells Canyon Dam on the Snake River in Hells Canyon.

Anglers fishing below Dworshak Dam harvested 207 adult chinook last week. Anglers fishing in Hells Canyon caught 175 adults and six jacks. Some anglers caught fish despite rising flows and turbid water in the Clearwater and its South Fork, the lower Salmon and Middle Fork of the Clearwater rivers.

Anglers fishing from Lenore to Orofino Bridge caught 74 adults and seven jacks last week. Those fishing between bridges at Orofino and Greer caught 94 adults, anglers fishing the Middle Fork Clearwater caught 19 while the South Fork yielded 27 adults.

Only 13 where caught from the lower Salmon River with 10 coming from the stretch of river between Hammer Creek to Time Zone Bridge and three coming from the Park Hole between Time Zone and the mouth of Short's Creek.

On Monday, the U.s. v. Oregon Technical Advisory Committee upgraded the in-season spring chinook forecast to 230,000 adults bound for the Columbia River and its tributaries above Bonneville Dam. The previous forecast was 224,000.