Hey all, I've been away for a while but I'm back. I'm planning a trip 5-10 Nov. for steelhead. My dad is coming out from New Hampshire and I would like to hit the S/F Clearwater or little Salmon. Does anyone have any suggestions on where they are that time of yr or wich river would be best that time of yr? I hear it's difficult to fish the main Clearwater without a boat, any truth to that? Any help would be appreciated
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I think a boat would be good for the clearwater, but I haven't been on it much. As for the Salmon I would recomend the area between Salmon and where the middle fork dumps in.
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i'm with him below the northfork of the salmon produces well that time of year but you will catch larger fish on the clearwater.
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Thanks, do they run the South Fork Clearwater at that time of year? I really like fishing the South Fork Clear...
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Thanks for the help, is there snow and ice problems there in Nov? I don't have a drift boat so I'll be on the bank, is it fishable?
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I don't really think the SF picks up until the spring. But there are plenty of ways for us bank tanglers to get those clearwater B runs in the fall. The logyard hole next to the clearwater hatchery @ the mouth of the NF Cw is good bank fishing that time of year. I have also fished from the bank and caught them that time of year at the McGill hole, just a couple miles down the river, there's just a little pulloff on highway 12 (and usually some boats fishing it).
Also the main salmon river should be good at riggins (doubtful the LS would be much good comparatively). Not sure on the bank fishing spots, but just look for people and you'll figure it out. Also I will second, third, whatever, everybody else was saying about the stretch between Salmon and the MF. People beat em up in the Ebenezer area in the fall (Ebenezer bar and the clam hole are a couple hotspots).
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Thanks I sure do appreciate your help, my dad is 66yrs old now but still thinks he's 20 so I may just hit the Samon and the MF area. If Riggins is hot when I pass through I may end up there too. Thanks again for your help on this.
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I,m trying to find logyard hole next to the Clearwater hatchery @ the mouth of the NF Cw. does the north fork run along Rt 3? So if I take 95 N to 12 East, then at the junction of 12 & 3 would be the mouth of the N/F Clearwater?? Is that the area you're talking about??
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Snow and ice are generally not a problem that time of year. PM sent.
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Hey I've been watching the Bonn camera and was wondering how to tell an A-run from a B-run on the glass?? are the B-run all at least the width of the 2 furthest lines on the glass or are they much larger? what is a good indicator of a B-run steely?
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Idaho SteelheadIdaho's steelhead are often classified into two groups, A-run and B-run, based on their size and ocean life history.
Steelhead are actually rainbow trout that migrate to the ocean and return to fresh water (anadromous fish). Idaho's A-run steelhead are usually found in the Snake and Salmon rivers. They return from the ocean earlier in the year (usually June through August) and they most often return after spending one year in the ocean. Because they return early in the year and because they usually come back after only one year in the ocean, they weigh 4 to 6 pounds and are generally 23 to 26 inches in length.
The B-run steelhead most often return to the Clearwater River, but some return to tributaries in the Salmon River. These fish usually spend two years in the ocean, and start their migration to Idaho later in the summer or fall of the year (usually late August or September). Because of the extra year and the extra summer of growing in the ocean, they return as much bigger fish.
Average B-run steelhead weigh between 10 and 13 pounds and are 31 to 34 inches long. Steelhead grow very large when they spend a third year in the ocean before they return to Idaho to spawn. These steelhead are usually larger than 37 inches and often weigh more than 20 pounds. The Idaho state record steelhead was 30 pounds and was caught in the Clearwater River in 1973.
There's no easy way to tell the difference except by the date they run...
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Thanks for the response, I understand what you mentioned but I was more wondering if there is a way to tell the A & B run by the size on the Bonneville dam camera window?
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here is what it says the lines are for
NOTE ABOUT THE IMAGE: The lines you see are used by the fish counter to determine if a fish is a jack.
[ul][li]The distance between the left line and right line is 22 inches. Chinook jacks are smaller than 22 inches. [li]The distance from the middle line to the right line is 18 inches. Coho jacks are smaller than 18 inches. [/li][/ul]not sure what size is considered a b run steelhead i would guesse around 30 inches but not sure.
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yea I read that on the site, I was just wondering if the majority of steelies over the 22 inch mark are considered B-run or if there is really a better way to tell, thanks[
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i think usualy they come back at diffrent times like the a's come back first then the b's. i have never heard of a cut off for the a's. i have caught 33 inch steelhead all the way at stanley and from what i hear there are no b run fish up there.
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Well i do know for a fact that they are separating the steelhead counts out into a's and b's somewhere, because I've heard some numbers thrown at me for both. But I'm yet to find a site where they are reporting counts as either a or b. I'm not sure if they go by length or what on these counts, but i'm beginning to think that they just go by date, as I know that they say the a runs come Aug 25 or earlier, and the b's come Aug 26 or later. Not sure why they picked this arbitrary date, we all know that this could vary up to 3 weeks one way or the other based on that particular year's run timing.
But to answer your question, there is no real easy way to tell a's from b's on the camera other than lots and lots of watching. They also have a length cutoff for a's vs b's and it's "x" amount of centimeters, but it converts out to be 30.7 inches. The lines on the glass are a real tough rule for judging, because unless a fish is pressed right up against the glass, he will appear much smaller. When you see a frame that is jam packed with fish, you will notice that the "aquarium" or whatever you want to call it must be significantly deep (from the near side of the tank to the far side). This is also a tough time to be discerning something like that because it's a real fish frenzy at Bonne right now. We are having 8400 chinook per day ranging from 3-7 years old (a run steelhead are the equivalent of jack salmon or 3 year olds), 2400 coho per day ranging from 3-5 years old, and upwards of 10000 steelies per day. Most of the coho are the same age/size as a run steelies, and I'm yet to say I can easily tell a difference. If you watch enough tho you'll start to see the differences, but right now b runners are few and far between (only 14% of the total steelhead passage on 8/24 were b's or older).
I also liked that information that Lundman tossed up. you can find that little blurb word for word on the IF&G website I think. It's pretty informative, and is actually the piece of literature that led me to coining some of my own terminology: C run steelhead, and D run steelhead. From what i'm seeing on PIT tag data, steelhead can spend anywhere from 1-4 years in the ocean. The D runners should be the 20+ steelhead, and are very rare. For instance, last year was a year for big steelies, and only 0.4% of the steelhead that crossed Lower Granite were fish that old. However, some people catch 20 pound class steelhead all the time. I guess if you caught 240 steelhead in a year, and were lucky, 1 of them might be a 20 pounder. . . but that would be a pretty good year for me.
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Thanks for the interest in this subject. I was wondering because yesterday I was watching the camera & noticed all sizes from 12-30inch passing through. It was great to see but got me to thinking how the F&G distinguishes between A-B run steelies just by a date in time.[crazy]
I'm especially curious because I'm trying to figure out where to concentrate my efforts (Salmon or Clearwater) the 1st week in Nov.
Well it probably doesn't matter where I hit, as Jigs said, he caught 33inch steelies when there was suppose to be an A-run going on. I guess if we had it down to a science it wouldn't be called fishing it would be called catching[
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well it sounds like ur on the train, but like I said, when watching that camera, what looks like a 22 inch fish by those lines they have on there, is probably actually much larger.
Don't get the idea that there aren't any B fish that come back to the salmon river, there are quite a few actually, but given how many A fish there are, it's kinda a needle in a haystack effect. I fish down the canyon below the North Fork quite a bit, and sometimes there will be a certain day, or even a couple of days when those big boys seem to be coming through in stronger #'s. Also certain tribs/release sites have strictly A fish, some have strictly B fish, and some have a mix of both. Some have lots of C and D fish, but for simplicity's sake, we'll just refer to anything bigger than an A as a B.
The beauty of the Clearwater is that except for probably right now, catching a A runner is probably less likely than catching a B on the Salmon. And call me crazy, but I seem to think that A's bite more/better than B's.
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Well heck with the return numbers on As right now the Salmon is looking pretty good. I can only hope the B-run is as strong, then I'll have to flip a coin for 5, Nov. or be really crazy and find a way to hit both. Remember try to keep your calender clear and join us, bring your buddy from Ahsahka and join us. Looks like an old friend of mine from Maine is flying out to join me too. I hope to put them on some fish so I don't look like a total fool[crazy]
Hey I bought some of those trout beads from the site you sent me, hope it works out well.
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