The FISHING REPORT

The Owyhee River

The Owyhee River:

Watch for rain. A good rain will blow out the river for a few days, leaving it pea soup green.

Midges, midges, and more midges is what you are going to see on the river, and they are small. Size 22-26 will be your size range, with some people throwing trico patterns just to get a visible, small-profiled fly on the water. Midge patterns vary, and so will the feeding trout. Often a fish will be selective on a specific pattern and color. Lucky for us, the midges are three main colors: black, grey, and red, or the occasional two-toned black and gray or red and black. The key will be to have a variety of patterns with light tippet.

The BWO hatch (size 18-20) is still present in specific parts of the river, but rare to come across. And when the hatch does pop it may be sparse at best. A clear indication of a fish feeding on a midge or a BWO is the amount of time between feedings. Generally a trout keyed onto the BWO hatch rises less often due to the lack of bugs on the water. Whereas a fish keyed onto midges will rise more often because there are more midges on the water.  The emerging dun is a top favorite fly to start with, then we add variety from there in case the fish don’t want that pattern.

Here is a fun thing to try sometimes: if you find a rising fish that won’t eat anything you have to throw, try an emerging dun in a mahogany color. These fish love that mahogany color most any time, and this time of the year it can be your secret weapon. Throw it in a size 16-18.

Nymphing will also be productive. Try a red zebra, juju baetis, split-case BWO, or an olive-colored micro Spanish bullet, all in smaller sizes (14-20). Streamers, such as a sculpzilla in olive/natural or dolly Llama in olive/white, are a go-to when streamer fishing. No need to bring any sink tips or sinking lines this time of year; the water is slow and low.

Good luck, and be sure to tag our shop on Instagram so we can like your success.

South Fork & Middle Fork of the Boise River

South Fork Boise River

The road heading down into the canyon is maintained, but it can also be icy. We recommend being cautious during the winter months.

Midges always start and end the day on the river, but they won’t bring up the bulk of the fish, especially as the season grows colder. However, it’s best to be ready with a few different midge patterns such as the Griffith gnat, an adult midge, or some kind of hatching or emerging pattern. The fish hitting midges can be extremely selective and will spook at a bad presentation. We encourage you to lengthen your leader to ten or twelve feet with lighter tippets to improve your approach.

BWOs will start to hatch in the afternoon and, sadly, it doesn’t always guarantee rising fish. Just know that somewhere on the river the fish are rising, and you just have to find them. Just as fish are selective on the midges, they can be selective on the BWOs. We have found a lot of success using the BWO hatching dun, BWO emerger, adult BWO, and the cripple BWO.

Nymphing this time of year is a great option. Try a few different sizes of nymphs to see what the fish are after. There are times when the fish will hit every stonefly nymph (size 12-14), or will ignore them and only hit smaller flies like perdigon nymphs (size 12-18). We recommend playing with the size and switching it up if you are not finding the success you are looking for.

If nymphing is not your game then you always have the option of streamer fishing. Play with your retrieve and the color of your streamer. Dark or light colors can make the difference, along with a fast or a slow retrieve. As it grows colder, the slower retrieve seems to be favored by trout. Getting yourself to slow your retrieve is the hard part. Good luck, and be sure to tag our shop on Instagram so we can like your success.

The middle fork can have some decent fishing this time of year; however, the availability can be spotty. Ice and snow can pile up on parts of the road that rarely get sunlight this time of year. If you head up, be cautious on the road.

The Middle Fork

Fishing the Middle Fork will primarily include nymphing this time of year. Big, heavy nymphs like the stone fly nymph or the golden stone nymph (size 10–12) can help get down to the fish. Smaller (size 12-14) copper Johns, pheasant tails, and perdigons of all colors will also work. If nymphing is not your game, chuck some big streamers in the deeper pools to bring up larger fish.

The Boise River

Boise River in Town:

Boise River flows are pretty steady around the 300 CFS range, with the occasional rise with snow melt and rainfall. This moisture will cloud up the water for a bit, but it is pretty quick to wash away in a day or so, leaving the water more clear.

Nymphing the Boise River is the most productive way to fish the river. We find that bigger, heavier flies are needed to get the fly down to the fish, with smaller flies that they will actually take. For a small fly (size 16-20) we recommend starting with the juju baetis, zebra midge, copper John, and pheasant tails. Heavier flies would include our perdigon patterns, such as the fire starter, Roza’s red tag, Duracell, SR bullet in olive, hollow point, and the blowtorch.

Idaho Fish and Game is stocking the river at various locations to keep anglers on the water for as long as people can tolerate the cold. If you are looking for solitude on the river, avoid the spots where steelhead have been stocked.

Good luck, and be sure to tag our shop on Instagram so we can like your success.

Silver Creek

Silver Creek:

The BWO (size 18-22) and mahogany dun (size 16-18) have both been reliable hatches. There are plenty of fish rising to these flies; however, the BWO that was working best was a size 20 emerger. The mahogany started to hatch in the afternoon, and the fish didn’t hesitate. We saw both sizes of this fly and are happy to report that the size 16 emerging mahogany did the job. Leaders were over fifteen feet long, and tapered down to 6X tippet.  Midges (size 20-24) were seen, but the fish seems to be keyed onto the mayflies.  In the middle of the mahogany hatch, a few October caddis (size 12-10) were present. A few fish took our larger caddis fly, but fishing the smaller mayflies was superior.

SMALL CREEKS

Small Creeks:

Silver Creek Plunge is rising very well, with brook trout in every pocket of water looking for a dry fly. This is a great spot to take young kids where the creek and water is not too deep at all.

Mores Creek can be a fun little getaway that is close to home. Right now there is a possibility of finding Kokanee Salmon running up the creek. The Kokanee can be very aggressive, and will chase any trout out of its home. The red colors of the salmon are always a beautiful sight when fishing our Idaho headwaters.

Duck Valley

Duck Valley:

The water is starting to get weedy, but fishing is fantastic. Buggers (size 8-12) of all kinds can attract hungry trout, and be sure to trail off a small damsel nymph (size 12-14) to get the fish that are after those. This is a great time to fish right now because the cooler weather has kept the water temps down; however, with warmer temps the bugs are going crazy. If you have ever wanted to fish Duck Valley now is the time. A floating line will work, but an intermediate line can bring you far more success. Play with depths, sometimes counting to 30 can really change your success rate.

Bass & Warm Water Fishing

Warm Water Fishing:

We are near the end of warm water fishing.

High Mountain Lakes

High Mountain Lakes

No recent snow suggests the mountain lakes are fishing fantastic. However, after the first snow, the trails will be covered and the lakes will soon ice over. The lower reservoirs in the mountains will remain open and can be fished as long as the roads stay open.

Shopping Cart