Hey folks. New here on the forum. Been reading off and on for months.
Anyway we picked up a copy of this years regs a few days ago and my six year old son has been glued to them. He has been studying the identification section and decided he wants to go out for some Bass. He is convinced he wants to catch a large mouth.
I grew up in the Boise area and we always went to the rivers for trout, I have never fished for Bass or any other warm water fish for that matter.
Can any one help out with where to go in the area that might be ok fishing this time of year and even what sort of gear we need. What should I pick up for bait?
Thanks everyone.
[signature]
Are you still in Boise? If not what area of the state are you in?
[signature]
Yes, we are still in the Boise area. But we can and will drive a couple hundred miles for a good days fishing.
[signature]
I have a brother in law in boise and he tells me lake lowell is pretty good for largemouth. I'm not to sure if it freezes or not but either way largemouth are really slow this time of year. Owahee resevoir on the oregon border is supposed to be really good for largemouth and crappie as well. Then you have the snake river that has got just about every kind of species that you can think of in it. The smallmouth fishing can be really fun there. Then you have cj strike that has good bass and crappie fishing in it as well.
[signature]
Do you have a boat, or will you be fishing from shore? A boat will give you much better chances of success, because warmwater fish tend to retreat to deeper water in winter.
Lake Lowell is good for warmwater fish, but shore access sucks and the lake is closed to power boat traffic until mid-April.
[signature]
Lake Lowell is frozen now. The lake opens to boating on April 15. It is not a great lake to fish from the shore, but there are a couple of docks at both the upper and lower dams that are for fishermen and the faces of both dams are pretty good for bass, bluegill or channel cats at times. But not now - you'll have to wait a couple of months.
There are quite a few ponds along the Boise River with bass in them, but probably they are frozen over now.
[signature]
I wouldn't waist your time until the water temps are over 48 degrees. You can catch them colder, but it takes a lot of patience. 48 would be a minimum for me. The smallmouth fishing usually takes off around 54 degrees and the largemouth 58-64. This is by no means scientific just my experience.
Windriver
[signature]
Eh, bluegill and crappie will still be biting, if you can get out to them. If you don't have a boat, you're not going to be able to get to where the fish are, though. People catch them through the ice all the time.
[signature]
I'll second what most have already said. Bass will be difficult at the moment. If you don't have a boat I would suggest start planning a spring outting. CJ strike south of Mountain Home may be an option for crappie in the mean time though. I know in the summer people catch crappie off the docks and dikes regularly. I'm not sure if that is effective in the winter though, but may be an option.
[signature]