Upper Salmon River Steelhead Fishing Report, April 8, 2026

Prime Time on the Upper Salmon! If you’ve been waiting for the right moment to grab your gear and head to the Upper Salmon River, this is it. Last week saw “excellent” catch rates in the uppermost stretches of the river, with anglers averaging a fish every three hours. From improving river clarity to impressive trapping numbers at the Sawtooth Hatchery, we have all the data you need to plan your next outing. Here is the latest update from Idaho Fish and Game for April 8, 2026:

Wednesday, April 8, 2026 – 8:16 AM MDT

Hi everyone, this is the Upper Salmon River steelhead fishing report for April 8, 2026. The data discussed in this report were primarily collected between Wednesday, April 1 and Sunday, April 5. 

Steelhead angler effort on the Upper Salmon River continued to move upstream last week, with almost all effort observed in the uppermost areas of location code 19, between the Yankee Fork Salmon River and the Sawtooth Hatchery. Angler effort in all areas below the Yankee Fork was very low. 

Catch rates were once again excellent in location code 19. Anglers we interviewed within that area averaged 3 hours per steelhead caught. No anglers we interviewed in areas downstream of the East Fork reported catching a steelhead.

Upstream of the East Fork, river conditions were good most of the week, with clear to slightly cloudy visibility and water temperatures in the low 40s. River conditions below the East Fork improved throughout the week, but the river still had cloudy visibility, with water temperatures in the mid to upper 40s. Flows remained elevated in all areas over the weekend, but they had declined compared to the previous weekend.

Not many PIT tags were detected last week at the array located upstream of Salmon, ID near Elevenmile (USE). Only nine additional tags were detected since March 31, which increased the total for the run year to 390 adult steelhead. The figure below shows all adult steelhead detections for the current run year through April 6.

As of Friday, April 3, the Pahsimeroi Hatchery had trapped 1,392 adipose-clipped steelhead, and as of Monday, April 6, the Sawtooth Hatchery had trapped 2,761 adipose-clipped steelhead. Anglers can view updated hatchery trapping numbers on the IDFG website using this link.