Salmon River Update 23 February 2016
It continues to be a very difficult winter with water levels and weather frequently changing, confusing fishermen and, probably the fish. We had one day of significant rainfall estimated at 1” – 2” and several moderate snowfalls. But, the amount of overall precipitation is well behind the last two severe winters. If this pattern continues we should have good water flows this spring.
Numbers of fisherman continue to be down throughout the watershed. Douglaston Salmon Run has been reporting some fresh-run steelhead. Upriver has had few fishermen and the fly zone is averaging between 4 & 10, way off for this time of year. Currently the water level is 1250 cfs at the dam with moderate to high flows in all the Salmon River tributaries adding to the downstream flow. Mild weather, with air temperatures reaching the 40s is predicted through the rest of the week.