Idaho Fly Fishing

New website for Idaho Fishing

2016-04-19T09:14:00.001-06:00

I have created a new website where I will post all new Idaho fly fishing news, reports, and information. The site is: http://www.seidahoflyfishing.com. Please update your bookmarks and sign up to receive updates - the sign up link is at the bottom of the page.

Fishing Report - Blackfoot River

2015-07-20T13:22:00.001-06:00

This last Friday, after being rained out of a float trip on Wyoming's Green River, I fished on Idaho's Blackfoot River with my dad. The fishing was amazing and we caught around 30 fish with an average size of 18". I landed the biggest cutthroat that I have ever caught - a 25" - 5lb cutthroat. I was by myself when I landed this fish so the picture doesn't really show the size of this fish. The second picture is of a 22" cutthroat that I caught right before the big one. Here are the pictures for comparison:

25" Cutthroat Trout

22" Cutthroat Trout

Fishing was so good that we were catching multiple trout in the + 20" size in the same run which is pretty rare on the Blackfoot River.

We also lost 15+ fish in the 18-24" range. The trout were really aggressive and when hooked they would take off downstream, jump out of the water, and fight like crazy.

The hot flies for the day were woolly buggers. Black woolly buggers with a peacock hearl, green body or orange body, with some crystal flash in the tail and bead heads were the best flies. Fly sizes ranged from 4-12. There was a huge BWO hatch on so I also caught some smaller fish on a BWO pattern. The bigger fish didn't even look at the BWO's.

Surprisingly we also caught quite a few pure rainbows in the 18-22" size. This is the first year in a long time that we have seen pure rainbows in the Upper Blackfoot River. Here is a picture of one of the rainbows:

Blackfoot River Fly Fishing Videos

2015-07-02T13:39:00.002-06:00

Here are a couple of videos of my dad hooking into a couple beautiful Cutthroats:

Blackfoot River Fly Fishing Report - July 1

2015-07-02T13:35:00.000-06:00

The heat wave pummeling Southeast Idaho took its toll on fly fishing on the Blackfoot River as the day wore on but early in the day, fishing was excellent. My dad and I each caught around 10 fish with the super majority of fish in the 16-20" range. I lost a couple of fish and nipped a few more that were in the 20" + range. Although we didn't catch a lot of fish, the overall size of fish was above average for the Blackfoot River.

Here's a couple of photos of the cutthroats we caught yesterday:

We caught the majority of the fish on black bead head wooly buggers and bead head prince nymphs. Later in the morning I started catching some big fish on blue damsel flies. Even with low water the fly fishing was great on the Blackfoot River. Surprisingly, I also caught a pure 18" rainbow trout - the first rainbow I have seen on the Blackfoot in years.

Warm River Fishing Report

2015-06-01T10:02:00.003-06:00

This last Saturday, I went fishing on the Warm River in Island Park, Idaho near the Bear Gulch area. It was a beautiful day and the fishing on Warm River was above average. There was little fly activity but I ended up catching 15+ fish and my dad caught 10+. I caught one brown, a few rainbows, and a whole bunch of mountain whitefish.

I kept a few of the whitefish and ate them for Sunday dinner. If it wasn't for all of the bones in whitefish, they would be an excellent meal because they taste good and are super tender.

The hot flies for the day were a double renegade and a beaded prince nymph fished with split shot above the first fly. We also caught a few on smaller adult stonefly.

Lemhi Mountain Range - Yellow Peak and Iron Creek Peak

2014-10-01T12:53:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of panorama's from the Lemhi Mountain Range in central Idaho home to the Lemhi River, Little Lost River, Hayden Creek, and lots of small streams:

Video - Blackfoot River Flyfishing

2014-08-11T10:01:00.004-06:00

Here's a video of my dad catching a cutthroat on the Blackfoot River. Right after I quit filming he landed two in the 20" range. As usual my timing was imperfect at best.

Weekend Fishing - Blackfoot River Idaho

2014-08-11T09:27:00.002-06:00

To celebrate my Father's birthday, we went fishing on Blackfoot River on Saturday. We caught probably 40+ fish between the two of us in about 5 hours. My dad hooked into two really nice 20+ inch cutthroats but lost them before I could get my act together and net them. He did land a couple in the 20" range and caught quite a few 6-12" cutthroats.

I landed one beautiful cutthroat - a 24" 4-5 pounder on a grasshopper fly that I skittered (my word for moving the fly across the surface of the water at the end of a run) across the water. He came up and drilled it on the surface. It was awesome to watch him come up and bust the grasshopper.

Here are some pictures of the big cutthroat:

No one fly was hotter than the other. We caught fish on bead head prince and hare's ear nymphs, various grasshopper patterns, and on a blue damsel fly.

Another awesome fishing day on the Blackfoot River.

Weekend Fishing Report - McTucker Ponds

2014-08-11T09:18:00.000-06:00

Friday - McTucker Ponds

Friday was my son's birthday and for his birthday party we went fishing with the cousins to McTucker Ponds. They all caught quite a few little green sunfish and had a great time catching fish. The green sunfish at McTucker Ponds are all pretty small but it is a great place for kids to go and to catch a lot of fish.

Here are some pics:

Sublett Reservoir Fishing Report

2014-07-28T09:25:00.000-06:00

I wandered off my normal beaten path and took my son to Sublett Reservoir in Cassia County. The water was very very low and the reservoir doesn't have much left to it. We caught one 14" rainbow on a green bead head woolly bugger. I had more strikes but the fishing were just nipping at the tail end of the fly so strikes didn't result in hook ups.

When we left we drove above the reservoir and noticed 20+ fish probably all in the 16-20" range about 20 feet from shore sitting in the old stream channel. If we had seen these fish sooner we probably would have tried some sight casting to them. Oh well.

Idaho's Blackfoot River

2014-07-16T11:27:00.000-06:00

Last Friday our group of 4 caught over 30 fish on the Upper Blackfoot River. It wasn't the best day but each of us caught one fish over 20". My sister-in-law landed a 23 inch Cutthroat. Regretfully we didn't have a camera at that moment.

Hot flies:

Bead head prince/hare's ear nymph (size 14-16)
Blue Damsel Fly

Grasshoppers are starting to get thick!

Here are some pics:

Blackfoot River Idaho - Catching a Yellowstone Cutthroat on the fly

2014-07-07T15:01:00.000-06:00

Here's a video of my younger brother catching a cutthroat on the Blackfoot River (and getting his line all messed up!):

Blackfoot River Idaho

2014-07-07T12:17:00.000-06:00

The Blackfoot River was a low for this time of year but the fishing was ok. I caught 6 cutthroats - one 21", 2 16", and the rest were 8-10". I lost a couple of nice fish too. The best news....no carp!! Last year carp were everywhere but it looks like the carp trap is back in the river and doing its job.

Hot flies:

Black and red/orange bead head woolly bugger (size 4)
Bead Head Hair's Ear (size 14)
Bead Head Prince Nymph (size 14)
A white Thingamabob (yes I had numerous trout try to take my strike indicator!)

Hopefully over the next few weeks we will see the blue damselflies and some other fly hatches.

Here is the 21" cutthroat caught on a black and red woolly bugger (size 4) (same pic/different angle):

Birch Creek Idaho

2014-07-02T10:57:00.000-06:00

I had to go to Salmon, Idaho for work and on the way back to Pocatello I stopped at Birch Creek for a few hours of fishing. I caught a lot of fish but they were all little (sometimes very little!). The biggest fish I caught was a 10" Rainbow.

Hot flies: Para Adams - Size 18.

Stump Creek Idaho

2014-06-30T12:19:00.002-06:00

Dodging soaking thunderstorms was the name of the game on Stump Creek this last Friday. In between some drenching thunderstorms, fishing was quite good. Between three fisherman, we caught over 40 fish and missed a lot more. Most fish were in the 8-10" class but we caught around 15 that were 12" +. I caught around 20 fish - one 18" brown and the rest were cutthroat. A really nice 18" snapped my line.

The top flies today were black woolly buggers (size 4-6). Woolly buggers that had a bead head, and were black with red, orange, and purple were the best. We also caught quite a few on bead head hairs ears and prince nymphs (size 14-16). A small mayfly hatch was starting to come on but the 1" of rain in 30 minutes put a hold on the hatch.

Stripping the woolly bugger or allowing it to drag at the end of the hole seemed to provide the best action.

Below are pics of a 18" Brown caught in a deep hole under a willow bush and a nice 14" cutthroat.

Stump Creek - June 13-14

2014-06-17T09:58:00.000-06:00

Stump Creek was still a little high for quality fishing. On Friday night I caught one little whitefish on a bead head hare's ear but other than that the fishing was dead (which may have been due to my lack of skills not the fishing). There were no fly hatches on the river yet. The weather turned nasty on Saturday with rain, wind, and cold so I trip ended early. Stump Creek will be great in a few more weeks once the water recedes to more normal flows.

Oneida Narrows Reservoir

2014-06-02T15:24:00.000-06:00

Last week my family went to Oneida Narrows Reservoir near Preston, Idaho. It was beautiful day and we were able to catch 10+ Smallmouth Bass on red and black beadhead wooly worms (size 4). A couple of the Smallmouths reached 14" and were about 2 lbs. We fished off the bank with a spinning rod, clear bubble and fly. A boat or pontoon would be excellent on this reservoir.

Blackfoot River Flow

2014-05-14T13:40:00.001-06:00

It looks like another poor water flow for the Blackfoot River: USGS graph (flow is already close to its 25th percentile with the main snow pack already melted)

Without some significant rain, fishing on the Blackfoot may be poor again this year with low water. Hopefully the Idaho Fish and Game learned their lesson last year and will keep the carp trap in its place.

Blackfoot River report

2013-07-08T13:34:00.000-06:00

On July 4th, I went fishing on the Blackfoot River. The water was very low...about 18-20 inches below normal for this time of year. The lower section of the river above the reservoir was also full of carp. I caught one 20" hybrid on a Stimulator and a 36" carp (~15 lb) on a stonefly nymph.

I have never sight casted to a carp before and it was interesting to toss out the fly in front of its nose and watch it gulp it down. After about a 20 minute fight on my 5 weight fly rod, I was able to land the carp. I tried to catch a few more carp but went without success. Trying to get my fly down deep enough to the carp in the faster water was difficult.

Based on this experience your best bet for the Blackfoot River this year would be a bow and bowfishing kit to shoot the carp. Or to try to catch them on your fly rod. All of the best holes on the upper Blackfoot River were full of carp. Usually the Idaho Fish and Game has a carp trap in the river but it appears that this year they have either removed it or the carp found another way around. Regretfully the carp push out the trout and make trout fishing mediocre at best.

Stump Creek

2013-05-28T09:35:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I went fishing to Stump Creek in Eastern Idaho. The water was still a little high and off color. Worse than the water...not a single hatch of any kind on the creek. It was a little weird to be on a creek without any bugs flying around. I was still able to catch 11 trout, mostly 6-10" cutthroats with one 14" brown.

Top flies for the day were a size 14-16 beadhead hare's ear, a size 4-6 beadhead black and red wooly bugger, and a size 4 muddler minnow for the brown. I fished all the flies with split shot about 10-14 inches above the fly.

Here are a couple of pictures of the fish and the Stump Creek Valley:

Steelhead Fishing - Clearwater River

2013-05-15T16:43:00.002-06:00

Here a couple of links for some videos of our steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QKrZfcCph0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyD0y5O4Mj8

Blackfoot River - River Conditions

2013-05-14T16:47:00.001-06:00

The upper Blackfoot River in Idaho is headed towards a dreary fishing season. The river doesn't open until July 1 and the current flow at 173 cfs is already below the 25% median. With a terrible winter for snow pack in the Blackfoot River drainage we will be lucky to have any water in the river come July 1 unless we get a drastic change in weather. When the river is low all of the quality fish head to the reservoir for cooler water. Two poor winters have taken their toll on the Blackfoot and the fishing this year will likely be poor.

Steelhead Fishing - Clearwater River

2013-04-25T15:15:00.002-06:00

Here are some more pictures of Steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River:

Steelhead Fishing - Clearwater River

2013-03-12T10:20:00.000-06:00

Last week, my dad, brother Kevin, and I spent a few days in Kamiah, Idaho fishing for the "B-run" steelhead on the Clearwater River. Despite an inch of rain on Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday were beautiful days and we were able to catch and land 8 beautiful steelhead. Half of the fish were wild and half were hatchery fish.

Thanks to Jarrett's Guide Service, http://wefishhere.com/, and Jeff Jarrett who provided us steelhead and spinner fishing greenies an excellent time and some beautiful fish.

Here are some pictures of the catch (my brother has my pics so I will have to upload those later):

Clearwater River

McCoy Creek

2012-09-24T14:20:00.001-06:00

Between some hot, dry elk hunting I went fishing on McCoy Creek. The fishing was pretty poor as all the holes where fish should have been were vacant for activity. I did catch two small cutthroats on small grasshoppers flies. McCoy Creek was probably a good 12+ inches low for this time of year which I am sure contributed to the poor quality of fishing.

Here are a couple of pictures of the McCoy Creek headwaters near Clear Creek: