"We have been holding out hope that we would have enough steelhead to stock into the Boise River this week, but as trapping at Oxbow has progressed this fall, we have determined that we are not going to have enough surplus fish above broodstock needs to make it happen."
Idaho Fish and Game's anadromous fisheries manager said that on November 26, 2019, in a notice titled Sorry anglers, no steelhead for the Boise River this year. It was the first fall since 1997 without a Boise River steelhead release.
That year matters again in 2026. If you live in Stillwater and the Greenbelt is your backyard, the November steelhead release can feel like part of the river's calendar. It isn't guaranteed. The decision comes from hundreds of miles of river away, at a trap in Hells Canyon. This fall, IDFG is comparing Idaho's hatchery returns to the record-low 2019–2020 return.
The fish come from a surplus
The Boise River has no natural steelhead run of its own to fish. The November fish are hatchery steelhead caught at the Hells Canyon trap, and they only come to the Boise when the trap holds more than the hatcheries need.
In October 2020, IDFG explained how this works. The department needed to trap about 600 steelhead to restock hatcheries with fertilized eggs. Anything trapped beyond that was split evenly between Idaho, Oregon and tribal fisheries. That year managers expected the trap to open November 2. They said that once fish became available they would set and announce Boise River stocking dates, which have traditionally fallen before Thanksgiving. Idaho Power's stocking schedule describes it the same way: the Boise River release usually happens in November, when surplus fish are available.
The order of operations explains this whole season. The hatcheries get their fish first, then the surplus is split three ways, and Idaho's share is what can reach the Boise. A weak run shrinks the release, and in a bad enough year it eliminates it, because the hatcheries take their share before anyone else.
What recent Novembers looked like
Here is what IDFG and local news reported for the years covered in this research:
| Year | What happened on the Boise River |
|---|---|
| 2019 | No release, the first skipped year since 1997, announced November 26 |
| 2020 | About 250 steelhead planned for November 19 |
| 2021 | Two releases announced, about 150 to 200 fish each |
| 2022 | 125 stocked, with another 100 to 125 announced for November 23 |
| 2023 | A release announced for November 17 |
| 2025 | About 200 steelhead planned for Friday, November 21 |
Most of the 2020 to 2022 figures are counts IDFG announced in advance, not counts confirmed after the fish went in. Even so, the pattern holds. Releases run in the low hundreds of fish and usually happen the week before Thanksgiving. Only once in more than two decades did the release not happen at all.
The 2020 release came after a year IDFG called an extremely low return, so one bad year doesn't rule out the next. A low return doesn't automatically cancel the release. What decides it is whether the trap clears broodstock needs.
How 2026 compares
IDFG's September 15, 2026 steelhead update says it plainly. The department called the 2026 return "one of the lowest on record." It said hatchery returns for many Idaho programs are projected to look like the record-low returns of 2019 to 2020. It also said managers are concerned about meeting hatchery broodstock needs throughout the Snake River basin.
That last concern is the one that matters for the Boise River. The release depends on a surplus beyond broodstock needs, and in September the managers weren't yet sure they would meet those needs.
The downstream numbers back up that worry:
- Bonneville Dam forecast. In July, the preseason forecast called for 133,700 upriver summer steelhead at Bonneville. By mid-September the technical committee had cut that to 61,500, which would be the lowest steelhead count on record. As of September 15, the count to date was the lowest since the dam was built in 1938.
- Lower Granite Dam. IDFG's dam-count page showed 3,286 adult steelhead past Lower Granite as of August 30. At the same point last year the count was 7,467, and the five-year average was 6,155. That count includes wild and hatchery fish, so it isn't a Hells Canyon trap figure. It is still less than half of last year's pace.
- Bag limits. IDFG cut the statewide steelhead limit to two fish per day as of the end of fishing hours on September 17. Oregon and Washington closed recreational steelhead harvest on the Columbia River.
Boise State Public Radio covered the downgrade on October 1. BoiseDev reported the bag-limit changes in mid-September.
As of October 10, 2026, we haven't found any IDFG announcement either confirming or canceling a Boise River release this year. The answer depends on trap counts that haven't been published yet. Until they are, nobody can say for sure whether there will be a release. The comparison IDFG itself draws is to the 2019–2020 return. That period included the fall 2019 skip and also the roughly 250-fish release planned for November 2020.
Where the Stillwater reach fits
The 2025 release was spread evenly across five sites: Glenwood Bridge, Americana Bridge, below the Broadway Avenue Bridge, West Parkcenter Bridge and Barber Park. None of them is in Eagle. Glenwood Bridge is the farthest downstream of the five.
IDFG's 2026 Boise River rules page describes a wider area. It says steelhead are "sometimes stocked at several locations from Glenwood Bridge to Barber Dam," and that encountering steelhead "below Star, ID is possible, but uncommon."
Stillwater's stretch of river lies between those two reference points, downstream of Glenwood and upstream of Star. That puts the Eagle reach past the planting sites but above the stretch IDFG calls uncommon. It's a possible place to run into a steelhead in a release year, not a stocking site. In a year with no release, it doesn't matter where you fish.
If the fish do come
If IDFG announces a release, you'll likely get only a few days' notice. In 2025, the IDFG Southwest post went up November 14 for a November 21 release, and KIVI reported that stocking generally happens between noon and 2 p.m., with exact times subject to change. Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, so the traditional pre-holiday window runs roughly through the week before. If the 2019 timeline repeats, a no-release notice could come as late as Thanksgiving week.
Here's what IDFG says applies on the Boise River:
- License and permit. IDFG has said steelhead anglers need a valid fishing license plus a steelhead permit. Anglers without a permit have to release any steelhead immediately and can't target steelhead.
- Limits. The 2026 Boise River season runs January 1 through December 31, with a daily limit of two steelhead and a possession limit of six.
- Hooks. Barbless hooks aren't required on the Boise River.
- Telling them apart. IDFG counts any rainbow trout longer than 20 inches without an adipose fin as a steelhead. This matters most on a reach like Eagle's, where a big fish is more likely to be a drifter from upstream than one you saw planted.
IDFG's rules page notes that season details can change at any time. Check it before you head down to the river.
Stillwater sits on the stretch of the Boise River where this question gets settled each fall. Whether the Greenbelt fills up with steelhead anglers in late November or stays quiet, we'd be glad to talk about what owning a home on this reach of the river looks like. If you'd like to know what your Stillwater home is worth, The Shackelford Group can put together a current home value for you.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
