Fishing Forum

Here is the report.

There were quite a few nice fish being caught but most all were being caught on bait. My Dad & I fished with flies exclusively and did poorly. We threw everything in the book at 'em but it seems they just wanted worms![mad]

My wife & my brother inlaw fished with bait out of my Dad's boat & caught some real nice ones. My wifes biggest was 16" & my brother in law caught a 19" & a 21" Woah!

I just couldn't bring myself to use bait. I like to catch & release trout especially in a small lake like this. The size & quality of the fish suprised me. Real healthy looking and thick.

Everyone on the lake I saw beside my me & my Dad were using bait & keeping everything they caught. It's a shame because we all know that a lot of these fish end up in the trash in a couple of weeks. A lot of people THINK they are gonna eat them but end up looking at them in the freezer four weeks later & going "YUCK".

(The fish my wife caught is in the brine & will be smoked tomorrow.)

I guess only time will tell how long this fishery will have quality fish. It has a TON of fingerling perch and a TON of fisherman taking fish out. Not a good sign. Reminds me of Horsethief.... Capable of producing monster trout but hobbled by perch & over harvest... destined to be a mere "Put & Take" fishery..........
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Thanks for the report. Were the fish illegally stocked?

Windriver
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the perch have been illegally stocked in that lake for years. f&g fought a losing battle on numerous occassions trying to get rid of the perch. several costly poisonings of the lake with restocking of the preferred trout. within a very short period of time the idiots were back tossing perch back in the lake. i heard several years ago that the f&g finally gave up on the costly treatments and stated that people would simply have to live with the stunted perch populations and whatever happened with the trout. don't know if that is still the case, but it's a sorry state of affairs.
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I have heard that perch were stocked illegaly. Too bad. I heard (but don't know for certain) that they poisoned the lake like maybe 3 or 4 years ago and then restocked it. If that is the case the growth rate is very repectable. You could see there is a lot of feed in the lake. I talked to one guy who's 16 year old son had a stringer with a 12", a 16" and a 20". ( bait fishermen) He said he lost one at the boat that made the 20" look sick!

I caught a couple of 6" so I guess they have recently stocked this lake.

I don't know if people keep bringing in the perch each time they kill this off or if the poisioning just dosn't quite get them all. It would only take a handful to quickly re-populate

Smallmouth bass might control the perch (there were literal "bait balls" of perch fry boiling at the surface - Smally's would LOVE them!) but smallmouth would also eat the smaller trout and could be detrimental to the trout ............. I guess the bigger trout would eat these fry as well........ dunno I'm not an expert I don't know what would be best to remidy the situation. I am counting on the F&G to know.......................
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Yes, I heard of at least 2-3 treatments over the years....draw down the lake's pool level and then apply the poison for total fish kill. Followed up by restocking of trout - the target for that fishery. The trout do well, growthwise because of a freshwater shrimp that accounts for the trouts' incredible growth. Unfortunately, as I mentioned before, some idiots took it upon themselves to toss in another bunch of perch which screwed things up again. After repeated scenarios I heard the F&G decided to abandone future costly [$30,000-40,000 a treatment I heard] efforts in saving the trout fishery. Don't know if that meant discontinuing trout stocking, but they didn't want to waste $$$ on the treatments anymore because of the dumbass bucket biologists with their perch fetish.

As for introducing smallmouth bass or any other predator to "control" the perch, I don't think that the F&G wants to expand management complications and cost in this relatively small body of water beyond their efforts with trout. If the idiots would leave well enough alone I believe that the F&G could provide an incredible trophy trout fishery in that small body of water. Just my 2-cents worth.
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I think they tried stocking browns in there for a while to try and help control the perch to no avail. Same story as Horsethief pretty much. Probably the same "biologist".
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Seems every time a perch shows up some place it's blamed on bucket biology. But I have been to lakes that have species of fish that don't make sense, that were beyond the reach of bucket biologist. I think sometimes it could be blamed on birds or other natural means. Mother nature is amazing!
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[quote AverysAdventure]Seems every time a perch shows up some place it's blamed on bucket biology. But I have been to lakes that have species of fish that don't make sense, that were beyond the reach of bucket biologist. I think sometimes it could be blamed on birds or other natural means. Mother nature is amazing![/quote]

I think it is pretty well documented that most invasive species are spread by human activity.

If these perch are not native to this lake then I think their introduction by natural means is unlikely.

At any rate the trout seem to be doing pretty good right now.......... I would like to see them get in the 5 - 10 pound range so they can eat more & bigger perch!!

Come on guys & gals!! Catch & release those fish & eat Mrs. Pauls Fish Sticks !! THAT'S WHAT YOU REALLY LIKE ANYHOW!!! LOL!!
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I couldn't agree more. I was put in charge of taking my wifes uncle (who was visiting from California) fishing and he wanted to flyfish so I figured I'd set him up with a sinking line rig and let him troll around in a tube. Of course, his line was constantly getting tangled and he wasn't catching any fish so as soon as I caught a perch I switched over to jigs on spinning rods so he could catch some fish. He had a great time pulling in perch after perch and we caught enough in the 9" range to have a fish fry for the family. Lots of bank anglers started showing up around 10am and it did look like they were keeping everything they caught. I believe F & G classifies this reservoir as a "family fishing" place so put & take may be the way of the future. There were a bunch of kids catching perch and having fun so it is important to have these kinds of waters. Fortunately there are about a billion other lakes in that area.
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[quote AverysAdventure]Seems every time a perch shows up some place it's blamed on bucket biology. But I have been to lakes that have species of fish that don't make sense, that were beyond the reach of bucket biologist. I think sometimes it could be blamed on birds or other natural means. Mother nature is amazing![/quote]

In cases like this location, and Horsethief, the evidence points irrefutably to the bucket biologists because of the size and numbers of perch showing up in a relatively short period of time. Can't blame this one on the "birds". []
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[quote Untangler] He had a great time pulling in perch after perch and we caught enough in the 9" range to have a fish fry for the family. Lots of bank anglers started showing up around 10am and it did look like they were keeping everything they caught. I believe F & G classifies this reservoir as a "family fishing" place so put & take may be the way of the future. There were a bunch of kids catching perch and having fun so it is important to have these kinds of waters. Fortunately there are about a billion other lakes in that area.[/quote]

I understand the need for these types of fisheries. I think there are already plenty of them however. Most all the Treasure Valley and Southwest Idaho ponds are managed that way. You also have Cascade, Brownlee, Oxbow, Hells Canyon, CJ Strike, Lake Lowell, Paddock, Lucky Peak. Arrowrock, Andserson Ranch etc, etc, etc full of panfish, catfish or kokes with great facilities for Uncle Joe , kids & fish fries. Don't get me wrong, I like those places and that sort of thing too! Great for family fun!

However there are not many small lakes within 2 hours or so of Boise that are capable of growing nice large trout quickly like Lost Valley, Horsethief or Little Camas. Bummer that we can't keep perch out of the first two and the other goes dry every few years.

I just think it is too bad that when we have the rare body of water capable of growing lots of nice trout and great for float tubes & small boats it gets turned into a put & take.[frown]

There were even people waterskiing at Lost Valley Res this weekend for crying out loud. There was even a guy with a big wakeboat. I know there are better places to do that!

Well, it is what it is................ I'm gonna go back I try it again in the fall... flies of course!! [][]
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Forgiven,

I agree with you completely. I have been crying the same story for several years now.

I'd love to see at least one well managed trophy trout water within two hours of Boise. We do have Little Payette and Brundage that have trophy regs at a little over two hours, but those are so poorly managed that they are not worth the effort to go there. Mormon also has great potential, but has the same story as Little Camas which you already mentioned. As for Little Camas, I remember the day when I could count on a big old bruiser trout busting through my tippet every time I went there. Caught a lot of nice ones too.

Those were the days.

Sorry if this is too far off topic for this thread. I just had to get my two cents in.
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i hate to throw a monkey wrench in this thread but i feel this lake is managed as it should be. this isn't a fly fishing haven. this is a bait plunking fishing lake that people can take there family camping and catch some fish. and as far as people having stringers of trout so what.........they are a renuable resource.

as for fly anglers not having anywhere close to boise to fish.are you kidding......south fork of the boise, middle fork, silver creek and on and on........i would love to throw a crawler in there ! at the end of the day we must all coexist somehow. i think it's great fly anglers catch fish in the waters i fish with bait. but i don't feel like they should begrudge me for using bait or keeping a few trout to eat. if you vaccum pack trout they last a long time.
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+1 Hulapopper, I feel the same way. Each to their own but don't knock the other guys style. BTW if I catch fish on a fly I still eat them they taste the same [bobhappy]

As far as Mrs. Paul's fish sticks go they should be outlawed along with the McFish. The Pollock fishery is killing the oceans and needs to be stopped!

Sorry for the rant. See you guys next week! Road Trip [cool][cool]
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I agree to each their own. I fish one for the sport and two to each some good fish. Be it I'm using my spinning gear or my fly rod. When I lived in Montana for 8 yrs I learned I could catch 3-4 times the fish using my ultra-light spinning gear and floating a worm then using my flyrod. I miss those days. My average rainbow was 20" there. Most places had a limit of 3 rainbow over 18" and two under 16". It was hard to catch the under 16" fish due to all the larger rainbow. This was in remote sections on the river and also at a fishing spot right in town. I give fly fisherman their room as long as they give me mine. There are enough places around that everyone can have a spot.
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When I said "trophy waters", I meant to say "trophy lake" within two hours of Boise.

I am feeling pretty hammered here. I never said there is no place for that type of fishery or those types of fishing. I don't believe Forgiven did either. We have a bazillion put and take lakes. Name me one "trophy lake" within two hours of Boise that is well managed and I'll shut up. No one is hammering on you guys, why are you guys hammering us for expressing a wish.

This thread has been officially hi-jacked. Sorry Forgiven.
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sorry buggy didn't mean to offend. there are no lakes that i can think of for fly only within two hours maybe mt. view and those down there but it's more than two hours. there are some lakes around riddle but also not within two hours. i thought your point on little camas was a good one. that was awesome fishing for bait and fly fishermen and morman as well. however, i would like oppertunity to fish there as well. not fly only. there are so many streams i can't fish and would love to fish with bait, that are fly only. it would be hard to find a body of water with a stable enough water level to start a trophy fishery for trout. maybe warm lake ? corral ? you know a good one would be deadwood. yes, there probably should be a trophy artificial lure lake somewhere around here.
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Glad some of the family connected, Forgiven. I have a question: how is the ramp there? Is there a dock at the ramp? Mike
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You know I never did go down to the boat ramp. There is a dock right by were we camped within view of the dam.
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You are entitled to your opinion. We happen to not agree.

The places for fly fishing you speak of are streams or rivers. I was speaking of lakes or ponds.

I stand by my staement that there is plenty of put & take water out there for all of us to enjoy. when the rare jewel comes along that can grow monster trout I think there should be some special consideration taken.
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