Idaho anglers heading to the Snake, Salmon, and Clearwater drainages for the upcoming fall chinook season, opening August 18, will be working under tighter rules on wild fish.
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted July 16 in Jerome to keep the daily bag at three adult fall chinook but limit anglers to one unclipped fish per day across seven fisheries, according to a July 20 IDFG release. Waters affected are the Snake, Lower Salmon, Salmon, Mainstem Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater, North Fork Clearwater, and South Fork Clearwater rivers.
The change was driven by a preseason forecast of fewer than 5,000 wild fall chinook returning to Lower Granite Dam, below the sliding-scale threshold that governs harvest impacts on the ESA-listed run. Anadromous Fisheries Manager John Cassinelli told commissioners at the July 16 meeting the 2026 forecast would be below that threshold, the Spokesman-Review reported. Hatchery returns are forecast at just under 21,000 adults, though many of those fish aren’t adipose-clipped. In 2025 the wild return came in at roughly 4,700 adults, the lowest since 2009, and forced a mid-season closure of unclipped-fish harvest. This year the reduction is being set before opening day.
Snake River fall chinook are among the ESA-listed populations at issue in the litigation over the four lower Snake River dams that resumed in January. Current rules are posted on the IDFG chinook fishing page.
