My Picks

for the Week

While water temperatures are still too high for a major steelhead migration, anglers have been picking up fair numbers of fish in the lower Clearwater near Lewiston. Unfortunately our weather is expected to warm back up into the 70s the rest of this week into next, so again, we’re in a bit of a holding pattern when it comes to good statewide steelhead angling. I know I said last week that fall was in the air, but at the same time it’s looking more like we’re headed into an early Indian Summer. The long and short of it is its good news for anglers throughout the valley, but not so much for steelhead and salmon anglers. It’s bad news for big game hunters, but it’s great for upland game bird hunting here in the valley. I guess you would say it’s a mixed bag, which pretty much describes fishing and hunting right now. Here in the valley you can catch just about any species you want right now, and again, if you’re a seasoned angler you can catch a limit of several different fish all in one day. Unfortunately the mountains are still going to be warmer and wetter than normal, so good steelhead and salmon fishing is still a little ways out.

BOISE RIVER

River flows have been reasonably steady at around 540 cfs. This is an excellent flow for fishing the river right now, and with plenty of trout stocked this week and lots of holdover and native trout, this is a great place to go close to town. Anglers should try using small spinners, salmon eggs, PowerBait or worms to catch trout, while fly casters are mostly catching trout using various nymphs patterns like bead-headed mayflies, midge larva and caddis patterns. Streamers will also catch a lot of fish this time of year.

CASCADE RESERVOIR

The reservoir continues to slowly drop and is just a little over 14 feet down. The Poison Creek ramp is nearing its end, so the Cabarton/Blue Heron ramp is still your best choice for launching a boat. Perch anglers are still catching some nice sized perch, but they’re also picking up some smaller ones. Most anglers are using bait, some with small jigs and some without, while some of the bigger fish have been caught trolling small perch and minnow colored crankbaits. The smallmouth are still biting on soft plastics, jerkbaits and lipless crankbaits. Shore anglers are catching smaller perch and some nice trout along the east side of the reservoir. They’re even catching a few catfish up near the Fishing Bridge on the Payette River Arm.

Trollers are also catching trout using small pop gear or dodgers trailed with baited Hoochies or Wedding Rings in 10-20 feet of water.

C. J. STRIKE RESERVOIR

C. J. is like the smorgasbord of fishing right now — just about anything you can think of is biting and maybe even some things you haven’t heard of might tug on your line right now. Anglers are catching perch, crappie, catfish, plenty of bass, trout and they’re even beginning to catch sturgeon below the dam. I heard one angler talk about catching a carp, a pike minnow and a sucker fish all while he was fishing for perch. Anglers fishing in the Snake River Arm around Cove Arm and throughout the Bruneau Arm are catching crappie, perch, trout and bass. Try using cut bait and worms for perch or jigs and Crappie Nibbles for crappie. Various types of crankbaits, jerkbaits and drop shotting plastics along the rocky shorelines work best to catch bass. Trolling for trout is starting to pick up using various small pop gear and Rapala type lures and bank anglers are also catching fish using cheese flavored PowerBait or worms and marshmallows.

LOCAL PONDS

Idaho Fish and Game will continue to stock ponds and other streams and reservoirs throughout Southwestern Idaho through the month of October. Many more Treasure Valley ponds were stocked again this past week including both the Caldwell Ponds, No. 2 and the Rotary Pond; also Duff Lane Pond (Middleton), Sego Prairie Pond, Merrill Park Pond, McDevitt Pond, Settlers Park Pond, Hero’s Park Pond, Riverside Pond, the Marsing Highway Pond, Lowman Ponds and both Wilson Pond and Creek. This time of year as water temperatures drop, fish like trout and even bass begin to feed heavily in anticipation of a dwindling food supply as winter encroaches. Consequently a host of lures and baits will catch fish, spinners, spoons, imitation flies or bait like corn, salmon eggs, worms, cheese, marshmallows and PowerBait will all catch fish, and truthfully there is no better time than right now to go fishing in your local pond or stream.

MANN’S CREEK RESERVOIR

The reservoir level is way down and no boat ramps are available. However anglers with small car-top aluminum boats and small pontoon fishing rigs or float tubes have been catching some nice fish. Bank anglers weren’t doing as well, but with cooler weather and with the Idaho Fish and Game stocking 1,400 trout this past week, bank fishing should improve.

HORSETHIEF RESERVOIR, WARM LAKE AND DEADWOOD RESERVOIR

Here are just a few of the mountain trout fishing holes where fall fishing can be excellent. Horsethief Reservoir is fishing fairly well from shore while trollers seem to do best on Warm Lake and Deadwood Reservoir. Remember there are Chinook lurking in Deadwood so go prepared. Mountain fishing should remain very good to excellent for as many weeks as we have mild dry weather. Anglers are catching fish using bait, spinners and flies, as well as trolling pop gear.

STEELHEAD FISHING

A fair number of steelhead are being caught on the Clearwater between Memorial Bridge and Orofino Bridge near Lewiston. On the lower Snake River anglers are catching a few fish between the confluence of the Grand Ronde and the Salmon River, and a few fish below Hells Canyon Dam. Salmon River anglers have only seen a few fish show up toward Whitebird Creek, and virtually none have shown up in the upper river to the confluence of the Middle Fork. So far this season steelhead fishing has been hit and miss for most anglers but if we get enough cool rain to drop the water temperatures and raise flows we should start to see more active fish. So far fly anglers have had the upper hand with low clear flows.