Upper Salmon Deadman Hole officially opens

[SalmonRiverID]

The BLM put out a news release within an hour of closing for today--the last day of their fiscal year--announcing Deadman Hole was officially open again after its extreme makeover this season.

We did a long article with a lot of photos and links to our four prior articles on this particular topic of Deadman Hole here:

http://www.salmonriveridaho.net/2012/09/...-open.html

We are now of the opinion that the improvements there could well be a long-term game-changer at Deadman Hole. We think you will find our opinion interesting and look forward to your comments on the subject.

Thanks for reading & Happy Fishing, jp

PS--Whatever the impact on the fishery, there's no doubt the new Deadman Hole is now a first class River Access Point. In that regard, BLM gets some major kudos for a job well done. The boat ramp itself will last forever. NO doubt!
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[mudsucker]

I've got a question for you, since you keep up with river happenings This summer while they were paving between Ellis and Salmon, I had the opportunity to spend many quality minutes waiting for a pilot car. In two places I saw F&G doing something in the river. One is below the Iron Creek bridge and the other is closer to Salmon, by that next boat ramp.

There would be 15-20 guys in waders stretched across the river, with a rope at waist height. There would be several in the middle of the river with a device on floats that they all peered at. I watched through binoculars once while stopped for paving and had no clue. Then later, they made a tan colored construction on the bottom of the river, about a foot tall and 18" wide and stretching across about 2/3 of the river in a shallow spot. Don't know if it is concrete or what. There is a propane tank parked on the bank next to one of them.

Are they fish counters or what?
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[SalmonRiverID]

[quote mudsucker]I've got a question for you, since you keep up with river happenings...Are they fish counters or what?[/quote]

Thanks for the question. GOOD question!! It's Saturday morning and IDFG won't open shop again until Monday. It may take me awhile to track that down but we will do what we can. Generally, all the IDFG folks are pretty nice when it comes to answering questions. Sometimes they take a long time to return calls--they always say they were "in the field." I've tried to use that line with some people, including my wife, but it never works as well for me as it works for the IDFG people. (LOL). Anyway, that's a danged good question.

Did you notice that huge antenna set up at Deer Gulch this summer? There were a couple more of them out along the river where you couldn't see them from the highway. Turns out they were some NOAA Fisheries gig and nobody at IDFG knew the details about them. I am hoping whatever you saw wasn't a NOAA thing because that would mean I'd have to deal with the federal bureaucracy and sometimes inquiries to the feds just go into a black hole never to seen or heard from again.

IDFG Staff always returns calls, even if they take their time. The feds? Not so much.

Have a great last Saturday in September & Happy Fishing, jp
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[mudsucker]

No feds, it was IDFG. That's what got my attention, over a dozen IDFG rigs parked by the edge of the river.

I saw that antenna, assumed it was looking for RFID tags.
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[SalmonRiverID]

[quote mudsucker]No feds, it was IDFG. That's what got my attention, over a dozen IDFG rigs parked by the edge of the river.

I saw that antenna, assumed it was looking for RFID tags.[/quote]

With that many rigs and that many people, it shouldn't be too hard to find out what they were doing. What was the general time frame of when you saw them there?
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[mudsucker]

I'm thinking mid to late August, when they were doing the paving on the highway.

Those structures are still in the river as far as I know.
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