Those salmon are just about to swim up the river and die...and their digestive systems are already turned off, so there's no way they are going to digest the toothpick.

The question is whether or not the toothpick will kill them before they spawn and die...my guess is "no", but that assumes it just hangs in their stomach and does nothing. If it were to poke thru into their belly cavity then I guess that would increase the chances of infection, but that, too, would have to kill them before they die.

Fish on...

Todd