Salmon River

The Salmon is the longest undammed river in the lower 48 — 425 miles from headwaters in the Sawtooth Valley to its confluence with the Snake near Lewiston, with no dam blocking the migration of steelhead and salmon to the central Idaho mountains. It runs through three completely different fisheries. The upper roadside stretch from Stanley to North Fork is wild trout water — Yellowstone cutthroat, rainbow, and bull trout in classic Rocky Mountain freestone habitat at 6,000 ft elevation. The middle 'River of No Return' wilderness section from North Fork to Riggins is roadless multi-day raft water through the Frank Church Wilderness, where the fishing is incidental to the float. The lower river from Riggins to White Bird is steelhead and smallmouth bass water at much lower elevation, with classic B-run steelhead fishing through fall and spring.

Which Salmon you fish dictates the technique. Upper trout fishing is dry-dropper rigs through riffles and pocket water for cutthroat and rainbow trout averaging 10-14 inches with some bigger fish in deep runs. The classic upper river hatches are March Browns in the brief pre-runoff window of April and May, salmonflies and golden stones (late June into July), PMDs and caddis through summer, and BWOs and mahoganies into fall. Trout fishing peaks from late June through October — high country runoff doesn't clear in the upper river until late June most years, and the March Brown window before the freshet kicks off is the only consistent spring dry-fly opportunity. The wilderness section is fished from rafts on multi-day trips with a permit from the Forest Service (lottery system, very competitive). The lower river is two-handed swung fly water for steelhead — best months are late October to early December and February to March, with B-run fish (the larger, older steelhead returning from two years in the Pacific) coming through in fall. Riggins is the access town for the lower steelhead fishery. Stanley is the headquarters for the upper trout fishery.

The Salmon has a long native fish history complicated by the four lower Snake River dams downstream — the Lower Granite, Little Goose, Lower Monumental, and Ice Harbor dams in Washington that all returning salmon and steelhead must pass twice. Chinook salmon runs have collapsed to a tiny fraction of historic levels. Sockeye returns to Redfish Lake near Stanley are measured in single digits some years. Steelhead returns vary year to year but the fishery remains viable, and the trout fishing in the upper roadside reaches is genuinely excellent in summer and fall. Drive times: Stanley is 2 hours from Boise, 3 hours from Salt Lake City via Twin Falls, 5 hours from Bozeman. Riggins is 3 hours from Boise and 2.5 hours from Lewiston. The wilderness section requires a permit — IDFG sells the standard fishing license, but Forest Service launch permits for the Main Salmon corridor are awarded by lottery each January. Cell coverage is essentially nonexistent in Stanley and the wilderness corridor. Bring everything you need.