Just talked to Patti at East Magic Resort. They host the annual trout tournament each year at this time--this year it was this past Saturday. She said that there was an abundance of slack jaws when the boat with the winning rainbow came in with a 17 pound, 4 ounce rainbow......yes I said rainbow, not brown! There were 3 to a boat, and the winning poundage was 20 pounds, 8 ounces (remembering a boat limit of 18 fish possible). Second place was 19 pounds, and that included the 17 pounder mentioned above. So, fishing was not producing limits for most. However, they said the trout are nice-sized this year. Patti said one fellow went out the previous Sunday to scout the res. for the tournament and limited. He got skunked on tournament day. Of the 31 registered boats, only 12 weighed in, so that tells you something. I went back to my Magic report last year, and I fished it the first time on May 25th, and Kali and I limited easily. The tournament last year, on the 8th, was slow as it was this year. So, I am going to wait a week or two. By the way, all ramps and docks are in water, and they only have one board in the dam, which can accomodate 4 boards, so it is down 4 feet. The river is still not delivering close to what it eventually will. The canal company will not be dropping it until probably early July at the earliest. P.S.: Patti says their restaurant is open on weekends, and most weekdays. Mike
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I've never been there and would like to try it out. Is it quicker to go thru Fairfield on Hwy 20 or Bliss to Shoshone on Hwy 26? I'll be dragging my boat and don't want to go very far on dirt. So I would have to access it off Hwy 75.
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By far the shortest route this time of year when the Hot Springs ramp and dock are useable is the Mt. Home-Fairfield route. The only dirt is from the turnoff east of Fairfield to Hot Springs, and that is only about 1/8 of a mile. Good road, too. Even when the res. drops, you are still better off going this route and then going over to West Side Resort on 26. If you do decide to head over there, PM me for more info. Mike
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We want photos of that fish! Where is the best place to pontoon this coming Friday? I am taking my boys and all three of us will be in tubes or pontoons.
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I need a little information. Was the water clear at Hot Springs Landing? Or do I need to go closer to the dam to get clear water?
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Nice fish! I got to get up there. Are most of the fish caught trolling?
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Bank fishing can be good at Magic. Later in the summer, trolling works best. In regards to the clarity of the water, I wouldn't know, since I haven't been up there. Call West Magic Resort for more info. I would imaging with this warm weather hitting us, the Big Wood will start running pretty muddy. Mike
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The Fairfield to Magic road was still closed as of Saturday. Fishing was tough due to the wind, which caused dangerous waves for smaller boats.
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HA!!!!!!!![bobhappy]....
I was the Capt. of the winning vessel, my buddies Mark , Chad and I give em what for last Saturday..[
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We took 2nd last year missed 1st by 4 oz's..
It was a fun day, we had our first keeper to the boat by 8:02 start was at 8:00, caught another about an hour later then nothin' for about 2 hours,then all of a sudden we just started hookin' up and caught 6 nice fish the last hour or so of the derby..[fishon].....What a hoot, we were scambling around like our butts was on fire
trying to net fish keep the boat from runnin' a-ground and keep our lines in the water, good times for sure..
The fish need to be atleast 14' to qualify, we ended up with one brown that was 4# 4oz, 2 other brown's around 3 to 4#,, a 3#8oz Rainbow the rest were 1 to 2 pounders.
That big Rainbow was impressive to say the least, I'm pretty sure it weighed
14# 4oz,, soon as the guy got it's head in the net the hook came out and they made a desperate scoop to get it, sounds like it was touch n go for a second there but they got it.
Here's a pic of the big Rainbow, and a couple of the winning team,,,,of course.[bob
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[url "/cgi-bin/community/community.cgi?do=user_page;pg=user_profile_view.html;username=truchas_ole"]truchas_ole[/url],,,,,,, You should be good to go at Hot springs, the Bigwood has been running fairly clear, i haven't seen it in a couple'a days though.
Even if the BW is running murky you should still be good to go on the Camas and the narrows, you access both from Hot springs.
Get there early!!! Sun-up early!!! the top 12 feet of water is a good bet the first half of the day, after that it's just a roll of the dice, we been doin' pretty good at 20' in the afternoons though..
Good luck..
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Congrats. That is awesome, both the big fish and the big win for you guys.
Windriver
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how much fishing preasure do you all think magic can take? i used to catch alot of nice fish out of there but the last couple years have not been so hot. I catch fish but not like i used to. how many fish do you think are in there now?
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good job winning deshka. and that trout was a hog !
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Thanks guys for the congrats. guys,,we did'nt catch the big Rainbow though, some boat called the three goons did.
Magic can take WAY!!! more pressure than it gets, heck i wouldn't doubt that when they drain the Richfield canal they lose more big fish than what is caught in the Res. all year.. You ought to see all the hogs that just waste away in the Richfield canal,, thats why they have a salvage there.
Magic has always held her own,, EXCEPT!!!!! on extreme drought years, even then she rebounds very quickly, with all the FW shrimp, bugs, perch, smallies and small trout in there they do quite well and grow fast. we have'nt had any trouble hookin' up the last couple years or ever for that matter.
We practice C&R all the rest of the year except for the tourny, We all have a twinge of guilt when we kill the fish for the tourny, but we are also well aware that we dont even begin to put a dent in the population, plus all the fish we caught were put in smokers and are enjoyed through out the year, so nothing is wasted.
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Thanks for the update. We came out on the road from West Magic to Fairfield and it was great and dry. They had just grated the road that morning. My boy and I hit Hot Springs and we only had one fish on. I can't seem to get my boy to catch a fish from the float tube. I ended up having him sit on the pontoon with me. That was a sight and tough going but it was fun. After two hours and only one fish on for seconds we headed to West Magic and fished from 3 to 5:30. I landed 9 and the biggest was 20". Had my boy on the toon with me again once I started catching them. He felt the tug several times but was unable to land any. He had a blast though driving the truck, so that made his day. He is just starting to learn to drive.
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Way to go Deshka. Sounds like a lot of fun. You sure had 'em figured out. I never vary my gear at Magic; I do vary my depth however. But, they sure do hit in streaks and I want to have my "go to" gear on when they decide to put the feed bag on! Although Patti was reading the weights from a list to me, I do think she was wrong about the winning fish, because I also heard 14# 4oz. after talking to her.....14.....17.....a monster rainbow either way! I have got to get over there, but hear the wind has kept lots of people off the water this spring. Truchas--glad you found 'em, and hope your boy had a good time. Mike
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Nice Job Tyler!!! Killer fish. Your going to have to take me out on your boat.
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Thanks again fellas..[
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Sounds like a great way to finish the day Truchas...
Kodiak,, that's some sound advice for sure..
Eddie,, anytime brother,, you know that..
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Great job guys!
How is the fishing at Magic later in the summer?
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