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Aggipah River Trips
P.O. Box 425
Salmon, ID 83467
(208) 756-4167
Email: bill@aggipah.com
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Permitted by Salmon Challis National Forest
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SALMON RIVER NEWS, IDAHO RAFTING TRIPS & FISHING TRIPS IN THE NEWS
Aggipah River Trips family owned and operated licensed Idaho fishing guides and Idaho river guides all 3 sections of the Salmon River, including the Middle Fork of the Salmon River, the Main Salmon River, and the Lower Salmon River.
If you are planning Salmon River white water rafting trips, day float trips,
or a Salmon River fishing trips with Aggipah's Idaho River Guides, add this
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Salmon River.
See Aggipah River Trips in the News Articles or follow our Salmon River Fishing Report and latest Salmon River News below:
Salmon River News 6 January 2012:
In early winter, our snowpack is about 70% of average. At the beginning of December, it was a little above average, but December was dry. A good snowstorm will raise the percentage several points, and then we lose about a point a day during clear weather. Based on current snowpack, we would expect be able to start trips on the Middle Fork of the Salmon earlier in June. The access road into Boundary Creek will open earlier, and there will be less high-water risk in early June. On the Main Salmon, river level is not as important, has less overall effect on a trip than on the Middle Fork. On the Lower Salmon, since we do not schedule trips there until fall, river level is not much of a factor.
Last summer was a very unusual snow situation. Snowpack was good through the winter, a little above average, followed by a cool spring that delayed run-off. By late spring, snowpack was more than double average. The stage was set for an extreme high flow in June, waiting only for the sun to come out and provide a few hot days. But that didn't happen. We had a very cool June, the river got relatively high, and stayed there for about six weeks without ever getting to the record-breaking potential that existed. The road to the Middle Fork put-in did not melt out until about the 15th of June, a couple of weeks later than usual. Plant stages, including flowers, were a couple of weeks late. On the 7 July Middle Fork trip we saw flower stages that we usually see on the 20 June trip.
A couple of mudslides last spring on the Main Salmon created new rapids. Just below Salmon Falls at Black Creek at the beginning of April a slide occurred that essentially stopped traffic before high water. Since there is normally little traffic anyway at that time, there was not a serious disruption. Everybody expected high water to change the rapid--but after the river peaked and began to drop, the rapid was still there. It wasn't too big a deal for float boats, but for jet-boats, it was a big deal. It was occassionally run, but not with much load. The result was that there were no jet-back trips last summer. It was certainly much quieter on the river. Also a little later in the spring there was another blowout just above Lantz Bar which created a new rapid, not as severe as Black Creek, but same story. With these two barriers to jet-boat traffic, I suspect steelhead fishing was pretty good below Lantz Bar this fall.
There was little change on the Middle Fork--no new slides, but the recent ones did not flush out, either. In the last few years, there have been several changes to the rapids of the Middle Fork, mostly as a result of hard, localized rains in areas that had been recently burned. The Lake Creek rapid just above Pistol Creek has formed and washed out five times since 2000 as a result of mud slides from the creek, though it had not been a major concern other than producing logs for the Pistol Creek jam until the spring of 07. It was nasty that year. In 08 it became somewhat easier, and has remained so--though the approach to Pistol Creek Rapid, just below, has become more difficult since 08, and tightened up even more summer before last. By the low water of late summer, it was a difficult spot. In late July of 08 a hard rain and mudslide totally changed the Tappan III rapid, but the 09 high water opened it up enough that it wasn't a problem--still a dramatic rapid, but not a high-risk spot any more. The Cramer Creek rapid just above the Cache Bar take-out is now pretty straight-forward. A slide at House of Rocks on the lower river blocked the usual route through the rapid in 09 and remains, but the new route is not a problem--as long as a boatman is aware of the change and is careful. If you're out of position it could be ugly. I sure hope it flushes out this year. In July of 08, at the time of the Tappan III blowout, there were also a couple of blowouts in the upper river (one at Greyhound), which did not result in major rapids. For the first 30 years I was working on the Salmon, blowouts and new rapids were pretty much unheard of. Bear Creek on the Main blew out about 20 years ago in early fall, late enough in the season that impact on trips wasn't major. For the next couple of years in high flows it was an issue, but soon washed away. Then Haystack blew out, top and bottom, from Pole Creek in '97 and Bernard Creek in '03. Now it has cleaned out a lot, but it was quite a concern for a few years. But since the 2000 fires, blowouts, mud slides, and new rapids have become much too common.
We are working on reservations for summer Salmon River trips, with space still available on most dates. I'll be happy to send a brochure describing our trips, or go over details about our trips by phone, day, evening, or weekend, and send our newsletter reviewing the 2010 season, if you send an address. There was a recent article about our drift boat fishing on the Middle Fork in Fly Fish America, and another last year in BoatUS magazine that you can link to, as well as a piece in the Missoula paper about steelhead fishing (see home page). Our reservations have been stronger this fall--maybe the recession will wear out after all. A change of fishing regulation will allow us to offer fly fishing trips on the Middle Fork in the spring, before high water.
Although we have not actively solicited such trips, we occasionally and more frequently get requests from people who want to join our trips with their own boats. They get the fun of running the river themselves, with benefit of our experience on the river. They don't have to deal with the logistics of a private trip--permit, meal planning, packing and prep--just get into camp, tie up, take a hike, show up at mealtime. We have to be cautious about the experience level of participants, but these days there are many competent private boaters who can afford to turn over the logistics of a trip to an outfitter. If this is of interest, give us a call. I know many people who have taken trips with us have gotten their own equipment and do private trips and are still on our mailing list.
Daughter Stephanie and her husband Eric Ellis did a private trip on the Main Salmon last year in late April, lots of flowers in bloom, elk, sheep, and deer near the river, saw several bears and a wolf--and not one other float boat. That time of year maximizes the sense of wilderness and solitude.
Among the trips we offer, the Lower Salmon in September is a sleeper. September is the best time to be on that section of river, after the summer heat has moderated in that low-elevation country. September is still summer there, and more pleasant than July or August. Small mouth bass fishing is good. Few people are on the river at this time of the year, after the traditional summer vacation period. These trips are especially attractive for people within a few hours drive of the Lewiston area, since they are scheduled to be extended weekend trips, without a major vacation commitment. You can drive to the area after work on Thursday, float Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday, and return home in time for work on Tuesday--one last chance to swim and wiggle your toes in the sand before cold weather comes.
Also among the variety of trips we offer is a trip on the Main Salmon using lodges instead of camping, either in the summer or during fall steelhead season. Sometimes instead of a complete lodge trip, people will choose to spend one or two nights of a trip at a lodge to break up the camping. We can also arrange to drop people at Shepp Ranch on the Main Salmon after five days with us, to spend a few days of riding, fishing, and lodge stay. We can also do a couple of nights at lodges on the Middle Fork. We have always had access to the Flying B, but now the facility at Loon Creek has begun accepting overnight stays, too. We arrange the horse-back/float combinations with these people.
We had a good run of steelhead last fall, with some larger, two-year fish that are 30+ inches long. In the last couple of years Stephanie has been taking steelhead fishermen, often running a "girls boat" when we had couples while I took the guys. Seemed to work out well for everybody--I'm sure over the years some wives have gotten damn tired of hearing their husband and me talk all day about hunting elk. And she catches fish. Our steelhead season last spring was slow getting started. The river temperature remained in the 30s until late March, delaying the migration. We had some muddy water, and some crappy weather. Overall, tough conditions. I did net a 17 pound steelhead this spring, though.
We have many days during the winter that we can fish, at least in afternoons, but the unpredictability of ice flow makes it difficult to schedule customers. We can usually start fishing in late February, though the fishing often is slow unti the river reaches 40 degrees and fish begin moving up river again. We expect to be able to fish until early April, when fish begin to spawn and snowmelt begins to muddy the river. Spring fishing is always vulnerable to dirty water.
There was a salmon season again in the Salmon area last summer. The season was closed in the mid-70s, not to reopen until a couple of years ago. I had no time to participate, as we were busy with Middle Fork trips at the time. In late June and early July, we can still watch salmon jumping Dagger Falls, just above the Middle Fork launch site, in the evenings. The Salmon issue continues to be very controversial, complex and confusing. While we had a good run of fish this year, other parts of the west coast were in bad shape. There really haven't been obvious changes in management in the Salmon River that would account for the dramatic increase in fish. We hear about favorable or unfavorable ocean conditions affecting fish numbers, and of course ocean harvest is a big consideration. There is serious talk of removing dams on the Snake River, which a few years ago would have been inconceivable. That would surely help, but I don't believe resolve, our salmon problems. We have not been able to fish for salmon on the Middle Fork since 74; it sure would be good to be able to again.
A change in fishing regulations on the Middle Fork this year allows spring fishing trips there. The season, though catch-and-release, traditionally did not open until Memorial Day weekend. It has been changed to year-round now. A group of friends recently floated and fished the Middle Fork, in the beginning of May, and had a catch rate apparently similar to summer fishing. They were early enough that the water was still pretty low; much later, after runoff begins and the river rises, fishing is difficult until the river drops again. The early trips, late April or early May, are fly-in trips, since the road to Boundary Creek is not yet snow-free, but that is the time of greatest sense of wilderness. They only saw one other group during their trip. Elk, deer, and sheep are near the river, flowers are blooming, the canyon is turning green.
Give me a call, day, evening, or weekend, to go over any details about our Idaho river trips. Especially if you are not familiar with the area, it can be confusing to select section of river, time of year, or particular outfitter, to best match your interests. I'll try to help.
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