Outdoors briefs June 6, 2013

Salmon fishing closed on the Clearwater

The Clearwater, North Fork Clearwater, Middle Fork Clearwater and South Fork Clearwater rivers are closed to chinook salmon fishing, effective immediately.

For details about open areas and limits in Chinook salmon fisheries see the Idaho Department of Fish and Game website at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/fish/?getPage=110.

Chat live about fishing in Idaho

Anglers are invited to join an online chat with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and ask questions, give feedback, and learn more about fishing in Idaho.

Anglers can chat live with fishery and hatchery staff, along with enforcement officers, from 6 to 8 p.m. (MST) Wednesday.

IDFG will answer question about the status of the salmon fisheries, family fishing opportunities, outlooks for steelhead, kokanee, stream, reservoir and mountain lake fishing, as well as other related topics during the live, two-hour chat.

Participants may also respond to fisheries-related polls and surveys, and see the results in real time.

Participants may join the chat online at: https://fishandgame.idaho.gov/content/article/fishing-idaho-live-chat-fish-and-game. Or go to http://fishandgame.idaho.gov and look for the chat link.

Chinook fishing to reopen on Little Salmon River

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commission reopened the Little Salmon River to fishing for chinook salmon effective Friday.

The Little Salmon will open from a posted boundary about 50 yards upstream of the Little Salmon River mouth to the U.S. Highway 95 Bridge near Smokey Boulder Road.

The season is open only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays until further notice.

Fishing rules, information for smart phones

A new mobile-friendly Fishing Planner/Fishing Rules app is now available to the public.

This version allows anglers to find waters by name, lets them search for where to find certain fish species, shows maps of selected waters, lets anglers search for waters within 5, 10 or 25 miles of a selected town or to search by region, county or drainage.

The app also gives the rules and bag limits for the water selected, species present, and current and historic fish stocking records.

To get there, Google "Idaho fishing" and click on Fishing Planner. The only requirement is to be within cell-phone range because the information won't reside permanently on the mobile device.