Fishing Forum

As of 10/16/09 a new record # of steelhead crossed Lower Granite Dam on their way to Idaho (primarily). While the daily return numbers are slowing, the total number continues to rise! As of today we are now up to 275,066 fish over the dam, easily surpassing the old record in 2001 of 262,568! Who thinks it'll continue and hit 300,000? Can't say I do, but it would be really cool![]

I'm headed towards Salmon this weekend to try and get my hands on some of them. Hopefully they'll get aggressive for me this year. I also attached a graph showing this year vs. last year and the 10 yr ave. numbers.



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i just cant believe the numbers, its almost to much to believe. 5 fish per day on most of the river!!! Now just gotta get the time to make it up there.
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ill be down at hells canyon or riggins this weekend hope to see ya'll there
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I don't mean to correct anyone here or come off like a turd. I just thought I would throw this in as a point of interest since I have been watching it pretty close as well.

The only problem with using the Year to Date steelhead counts at Lower Granite is that there is always a good portion of that # that passed in the spring, that were actually part of the previous year's run.

Steelhead should really be counted on a fiscal year at Lower Granite. So I have been doing just that! I count them from June 1st - April 30th. In doing that, the 2001/2002 run still (currently) holds the record @ 268,866.
Yesterday's LG count put us @ 267,557 fiscally. That only leaves us 1,309 short of the record. We've been getting anywhere from 3,273 - 4,786 for the last 7 days, so by this time tomorrow, we should definately be holding the new record!!

As far as the 300,000 goes, they have already hit it at Ice Harbor, so there is really no reason that it shouldn't happen at LG as well.
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Point taken. However since the records are based on the running total starting on march 1 and ending on Feb 28, I'm going to stick w/ what is being presented by the powers that be. It is good to know how you came to your numbers though so that if there is a question between 2 people coming up w/ 2 different numbers it can be explained without a fight breaking out because one thinks the other is wrong, when really neither person is wrong.
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How's it going G-Bait, did you get the Elk pic I sent??

Great point you brought up above but I have a question. You said the 2001/2002 record is @ 268,866, does that include the portion that passed in the spring, that were actually part of the previous year's run or are you using the same timeframe June 1st - April 30th for each yrs run??

Headed to the salmon river 5-10 Nov if anyone wants to meet up or has suggestions on where to bank fish that time of yr??
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I sure did. Nice job man! He is a beaut!

I think you got the right idea. The 268,866 # was calculated from June 1, 2001 through April 30, 2002. That's why I called it the 01/02 record [:p].

That was a huge run in 01, but if you go by the YTD #'s it makes it seem smaller because the 2000 run didn't have very many fish that passed LG in the spring of 01. And conversely, there were a ton of fish from the 2001 run that passed LG in the spring of 02 --- that made the 2002 run seem bigger than it really was if you are looking at the YTD's.

Since the fish that passed LG in the spring of 09 have already been fished to, trapped, spawned, and killed, I don't want to give myself the misconception that they are going to be in the rivers for me to fish to this upcoming steelhead season.
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Ya know, I would really like to think I had a chance at up to 300,000 steelhead this fall but reality always rears its ugly head. Also, with the hype F&G and the media has put on this seasons run I think fisherman & non fisherman will be coming out of the woodwork to take advantage of the "suspected" record run.
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well, F&G definately milks it to the bone. . . a little too much in my opinion. And, yes it brings the part timers out of the woodwork - bigtime. You can tell just by the chit chat on this site. then you get to the riverbank and it's like holy cow!

I always take forecasts with a grain of salt, but if there is one thing I take seriously, it's the fish counts at LG. Since it's the last dam it's pretty important that all their counts are accurate. so with that considered, it definatley appears that this is a legitimate record run.
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Like you said, take it with a grain of salt... regardless of how you figure the numbers. With my usual luck it usually translates to record size runs and I'm the only one that can't be there when they're hungry. Go figure[crazy]. In all honesty, if I can hook and land one or two this weekend I'll consider it successful.
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What section are you headed to? I hope you have good luck.
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I was up in Salmon yesterday and I fished from the end of the road to Shoup. I hooked a couple but didn't get them landed. Fishing for steelhead is way different than trout fishing. Need to learn how to land the brutes now I guess. I hooked both fish using a silver corkie with a skunk butt fly on 12-18 inches of leader and 1 inch of hollow core. I was going to be going back up the 6-10 of November but I just found out I gotta work the 6-8. Hopefully I can get up there on the 9th.[:/]
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Those little salmon river steelies are some rascally little devils, pair that up with some barbless hooks, and you have some potential for a very small hook to land ratio (especially if you hook them in deep water and/or have much belly in your line when you get the pickup). My remedy is simple, keep your line tight, and keep a good bend in your rod. I don't make a show out of it, I muscle them in as fast as possible. Make sure you're using gear that can handle it. I use 14 lb main line and 12 lb leader across the board for steelhead, but if you aren't in too snaggy of hole, and you aren't getting any nicks in your line (and you can tie good knots [:p]) 12/10 would be plenty.
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lol The 1 i missed because I wasn't paying attention. I was looking up at the goats on the hillside instead of watching my drift. When I realised what was going on I think I just barely hooked him and it didn't take much to throw the hook. The other 1 I think I might have to much belly in the line. I had just barely cast and was tightening up the line when it stopped in the river. By the time I got to set the hook, I just barely had him hooked also.
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Headed to the area from Tower Rock CG on down potentially to end of the road. I don't really expect to go too much further than the gorge section, but you never know.
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As of 10/28/09 the annual count (yes since January, we've already had the debate about when to start counting this run. I'm going w/ the annual counters) is now 301,711 steelhead over lower granite dam! That's a lot of fish. Even I should be able to hook into one of them this year!
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