IDAHO FISHING RULES AND REGULATIONS (We are located in the Salmon Region)
Fishing licenses can be purchased at: Lower Country Store in Lower Stanley MAP IT
The Middle Fork and Upper Main Salmon Rivers offer world-class opportunities for wade, bank and float fishing. You will find Rainbow, Westslope cutthroat, hybrid rainbow-cutthroat, brook, and bull trout as well as mountain whitefish and Chinook salmon in the waters surrounding Stanley.
All Bull Trout are protected. Catch and release only.
Salmon / Steelhead require a special permit to fish and generally have special rules about when targeting salmon can occur.
Please consider leaving all wild fish caught in the river system via catch-and-release. Non-wild fish are generally identified by their clipped rear-most fin (dorsal or adipose).
Valley Creek
(Dec 1 through Friday before Memorial Day weekend – trout limit is 0, catch-and-release;
Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through November 30 - Salmon Region general rules apply)
Directions: From Stanley RV, walk across Highway 21 to the parking area across from camp. Head right, and follow the flagging on the trees. Walk down the hill, through the opening in the barbed wire fence and down to the creek for amazing mountain views and fishing. Public access easements of 20 ft. on either bank have been set up for fishing and floating access by guests. Fishing Valley Creek requires a state of Idaho Fishing license.
Salmon River
(Waters open all year: Trout limit is 6; only trout with a clipped adipose fin, as evidenced by a healed scar, may be kept, no harvest of Cutthroat Trout)
Directions: From Stanley RV, turn RIGHT on Hwy 21 towards downtown Stanley until it intersects Hwy 75. The Salmon river runs parallel to Hwy 75 to the North and South. The river is public access to the North for 25miles to Thompson Creek. To the South the river is mostly privately owned, with multiple fishing access points. You can access the river via campgrounds, day use areas, or where the Fishing Access signs are posted clearly along Hwy 75.
Yankee Fork of the Salmon River
(Dec 1 through Friday before Memorial Day weekend - trout limit is 0, catch-and-release;
Saturday of Memorial Day weekend through November 30 – trout limit is 6, no harvest of Cutthroat Trout)
Directions: From Stanley RV, turn RIGHT on Hwy 21 towards downtown Stanley until it intersects Hwy 75. Turn LEFT on Hwy 75. Continue for 13 miles, past the Sunbeam Hot Springs. Turn LEFT onto Yankee Fork Road. Fishing is accessible along most of the river and is public access.
Continue 3 miles up Yankee Fork road to the Dredge Ponds for great still water fishing. The State of Idaho stocks these ponds, and even tags some of them for cash prizes.