Public meetings will be held throughout the state in February
Listen up, anglers. Idaho Fish and Game has a trio of season-setting and management plan comment periods opening up in February, and the department would like angler input on all of them. They include setting the 2024 Spring/Summer Chinook Salmon fishing seasons and bag limits, the upcoming 2025-27 statewide fishing seasons and rules, and rewriting the 6-year, statewide Fish Management Plan.
Fish and Game will be collecting input on all three coming up soon. They will host a series of in-person open house meetings throughout the state starting Feb. 12 (See dates and locations below), while online public input will be available starting on Feb. 14 at idfg.idaho.gov/about/comment.
Here’s what anglers should know about each:
2024 Spring/Summer Chinook Fishing Season
Fish and Game staff has proposed opening dates, days of fishing, river sections and bag limits. They are asking anglers for their preferences on those options.
The 2024 Spring/Summer Chinook Salmon seasons are scheduled to be set by the Fish and Game Commission at its March 20 in Boise. The deadline for public comment is March 3.
2025-27 Statewide Fishing Seasons and Rules
Fish and Game staff is asking anglers to suggest ideas for changes to seasons, limits, and rules – or support for existing regulations – for the upcoming 3-year period. This is a two-step process. After gathering ideas from the public, fisheries staff will take anglers’ suggested changes and draw up a set of informal proposals that the Commission will consider as proposed changes at its May 16 meeting in Coeur d’Alene. Deadline to provide ideas for changes to the 3-year seasons and rules is March 10.
After the Commission adopts a formal set of proposals in May, those formal proposals will go through a second public comment period during late spring/early summer with the Commission scheduled to finalize the 2025-27 Fishing Seasons and Rules at its July 24 meeting in Pocatello.
Statewide Fish Management Plan
This document sets the overall framework for managing fishing waters throughout the state and lasts six years. It does not include seasons and bag limits, but it outlines different management strategies, such as which species a body of water is managed for, which species gets priority when multiple species are present, types of angling (general harvest, trophy fish management, etc.) and other factors. The deadline to propose changes for this first draft plan is April 12.
The document is lengthy (388 pages), so anglers should focus their attention on their favorite bodies of water and suggest changes to those management goals if needed. Like the 2025-27 seasons and rules, this will be a multi-part process with the department gathering ideas from anglers, then revising and updating the old plan into a draft that the Commission will consider in July.
Afterward, the draft plan will be available for another round of public comment during the summer/fall of 2024. Once those comments are collected and reviewed, the Commission is scheduled to consider the updated version of the statewide Fish Management Plan at its Nov. 7 meeting held in Salmon, Idaho.
Public meeting schedule
Fish and Game will host a series of meetings in February throughout the state to provide information and gather public input on all three of these topics.
February 12: Riggins, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. MST, Riggins Community Center at 121 Lodge St.
February 13: Lewiston, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. PST, Clearwater Regional Office at 3316 16th St.
February 13: Cascade, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. MST, Valley EOC Building at 108 W Spring St.
February 13: Jerome, 6 – 8 p.m. MST, IDFG Magic Valley Regional Office at 324 S. 417 E., Hwy 93 Business Park.
February 13: Salmon, 6:00 – 8 p.m. MST, IDFG Salmon Regional Office at 99 Hwy 93 North.
February 15: Orofino, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. PST, IDFG Clearwater Hatchery at 118 Hatchery Roe Dr.
February 20: Hailey, 6:30 – 8 p.m. MST, Blaine County Community Campus at 1050 Fox Acres Rd.
February 20: Boise, open house, 10 a.m.– 5 p.m. MST, public meeting, 5:30 – 8 p.m. MST, IDFG Headquarters at 600 S. Walnut St.
February 21: Idaho Falls, 7 – 8:30 p.m. MST, IDFG Upper Snake Regional Office at 4279 Commerce Circle
February 21: Nampa, open house 10 a.m – 5 p.m MST, public meeting, 5:30 – 8 pm MST, IDFG Southwest Regional Office at 15950 N. Gate Blvd.
February 21: Moscow, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. PST, 1912 Center at 412 E 3rd St.
February 21: Coeur d’Alene, 5:30 – 8:30 p.m. PST, IDFG Panhandle Regional Office at 2885 W. Kathleen Ave.
February 27: Pocatello, 5:30 – 8 p.m. MST, IDFG Southeast Regional Office at 1345 Barton Rd.