Final IDFG weekly Upper Salmon chinook report released

[SalmonRiverID]

The chinook season in Sections 18 & 19 closed yesterday. The final weekly report was released about 15 minutes ago. You can read it at the website address below. Just below the chinook report is an article on the dates when the SNRA closes their sections of river to all boating.

http://www.salmonriveridaho.net/
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[jigs]

great stuff as always. you havnt heard anything about the fire up stanley way have you? I am suppose to be heading up there in a couple weeks but its looking more and more like its going to be a smoke out. Its up to 30,000 acres now and 1 percent contained, estimated time to be contained 10/16!!! looks like they are just trying to keep it out of stanley and the middle fork area and arnt battling it a ton. here are a couple pics i have seen about it
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[SalmonRiverID]

Howdy, Jigs, Thanks for your note. By the way, I really appreciate your reminding me to get more on the trout stocking thing up there. I got to meet with the stocker guy, Jason, and follow him around. I will be doing a story on it soon and let you know.

Well, they have a web came in Stanley that has been looking real good. However, they are closing the Yankee Fork Dredge in two days because of the smoke and fire traffic. I know when I was in Challis last week, you couldn't see any of the topography outside of town and the smoke was so think it burned my eye, nose and throat. That fire is going to burn until it snows--no doubt about it. It's all dependent on the wind--if the wind keeps it going over the Yankee Fork and Challis then the Sawtooth Valley is going to be smoke free. If the wind shifts and comes out of the north then Stanley & the Sawtooths will be really choking. When I was up in salmon late last week, I was north of the smoke plume and the air quality was perfect. When it's that close to the fire like Stanley is, the plume is narrowed focused. Driving back from Salmon Saturday morning, the plume had widened out to miles and I picked it up about Leadore and was in it until the INL. Even now we occasionally get whiffs of it here in Idaho Falls. In spite of what the Stanley Chamber is trying to say, it's a crap shoot as to whether you get smoked out up there. We're going up for the 40th anniversary of SNRA on 8/22 regardless and plan to stay out on the East Fork a few days so it will be interesting to see if we are in the plume then. Since this is still during the Hot Season, I can't imagine the fire behavior is going to change any day soon. Hope that helps! Have a great day, Many Cheers & Happy Fishing, jp
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[jigs]

thanks for the info. We will be staying at the redfish lodge over labor day then we are going to head down to our campground at ebenizor. I hope that the smoke clears up some, and that it cools off and slows the fire a bit. Is the fire close to the yankee fork or are they just closing it to keep traffic clear for the fire fighters?
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[SalmonRiverID]

Thanks for your note. Well, the YF Dredge is run by all volunteers and at least 90% of them are older folks. I think it's a combination of the smoke and the traffic. They didn't go into too much detail on their Facebook post but, knowing how smoke affects some of the older folks, I'd guess it was just a consensus decision to get the heck out of there and find some fresh air under less stressful circumstances.

As you know, traffic on that Yankee Fork road through the dredge spoil areas can get to going pretty fast. I bet I've seen people doing 60+ mph on that road. Something about that road brings out the NASCAR driver them in them. Have a great day and a super wonderful trip up there. Let's hope the winds continue to come out of the west and leave Sawtooth Valley smoke free. Happy Fishing! John Parsons
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