RIGGINS, Idaho — The Rapid River Run on the Little Salmon River provides one of the best places to land a spring chinook salmon, and this weekend, anglers will have one more opportunity to fish on this section just south of Riggins.
But, as we have previously reported, the salmon don't make it back to Idaho like they used to.
The numbers provided by the Idaho Fish and Game Department show that this year marks the third-worst run in the last 20 years and 54 percent of the ten-year average.
Still, anglers lined the banks of the Little Salmon River and Jesse Main caught his limit of one adult salmon a day, just three minutes after the river opened to fishing at 5:30 a.m. last Friday.
"I was born and raised in McCall, I started salmon fishing in 1960, I caught my first salmon at eight years old, and I've been on this river since 1968," said Main. "When they came, it was a thousand a day. There would be 5,000 fish a day caught in this river and now there is 50 a day."
Last weekend, anglers harvested 325 adult chinook salmon, but the Idaho Fish and Game were able to increase the harvest without affecting broodstock numbers so there are 421 adult salmon to be had on the Rapid River Run this weekend.
"We do not expect any season closures other than the closure of the lower Salmon River that occurred at the end of fishing hours last Sunday," said Chris Sullivan with Idaho Fish and Game. "This next weekend, we do not expect any closures of the other fisheries."
The Idaho Fish and Game has also announced that there will be a spring chinook season on the South Fork of the Salmon River that starts on June 26.
