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Boise River may be Stocked with Steelhead Next Week by Staff Idaho Statesman, October 31, 2006

F&G plans to release about 300 hatchery steelhead
from Glenwood Bridge to Barber Park on Nov. 9

If you're planning the traditional turkey dinner for Thanksgiving this year, you might want to rethink your menu. Fresh, smoked steelhead might be on your table if the big fish are released into the Boise River next week.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is planning to stock about 300 hatchery steelhead in the Boise River, from Glenwood Bridge to Barber Park on Thursday, Nov. 9.

If this year's hatchery steelhead run remains strong, agency officials anticipate stocking about 1,000 fish over the next few weeks.

Besides a fishing license, anglers hoping to tangle with one of the four- to 10-pound hatchery steelhead need a $12.75 steelhead permit, good for 20 fish. Barbless hooks are not required for steelhead in the Boise River.

All steelhead stocked in the Boise River will lack an adipose fin (the small fin normally found immediately behind the dorsal fin). Anglers who catch a rainbow trout longer than 20 inches that lacks an adipose fin should consider the fish a steelhead.

Any steelhead caught by an angler not holding a steelhead permit must immediately be returned to the water. Statewide steelhead limits are three fish per day, nine in possession, and 20 for the fall season.

The fish are A-run hatchery steelhead, returning to the Idaho Power Company-owned and funded Oxbow Hatchery fish trap below Hells Canyon Dam on the Snake River.

Many of the returning steelhead will become part of the ongoing steelhead hatchery program at Oxbow Hatchery as part of Idaho Power Company's mitigation.

"We're hopeful that this year's hatchery steelhead run will easily allow Oxbow Hatchery personnel to fill their fish quota," Fish and Game anadromous fish coordinator Bill Horton said.

"Any additional hatchery fish returning to the fish trap will be divided equally among Idaho Fish and Game, the Nez Perce Indian Tribe and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife."

For more information regarding the Boise River steelhead release, call the Fish and Game's Nampa office at 465-8465.