Fished below pali
es dam for about an hour with a good friend of mine. Neither of us have ever fished there before and my buddy pulled in a nice 4.5 pound 27 inch.... lake trout. So i got 2 questions to throw out there. First question, is anyone worried about getting lake trout in the south fork? You think we've got a problem with the rainbow trout, lakers would be 10 times worse. Next question, any tricks for fishing under the dam? We're going back for sure.
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Dont think the lakers in the river are too big of a worry, they have been in the res for awhile and never have been an issue to this point.
Only way I have ever fished the tail race was with this set up.
Tri Swivel with one leg about 18in long with a snap swivel with surgical tube on it with lead stuffed in it to get it on the bottom and rolling. Then on the other leg a leader adjusted to length to get it in the zone. With worms that we would blow up with a saringe
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There are lake trout in the Snake river from the Jackson Lake dam all the way to Pali
es. They do not pose a problem. They don't spawn in rivers and are not competing with any native fish here. I say the more the merrier !!
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I have floated from the dam down to Conant many times over the years & every year I catch a few laker's. I don't think they are a problem. I have fished the lower river a lot & never caught one down there.
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Try weight on the bottom like a drop shot with a couple flies above the weight. Out of respect for those who have taught me these tricks I won't give out the flies but experiment. It tends to work well below the dam.
Windriver
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SF Austin,
Lake Trout don't reproduce in rivers nor have they reproduced in large quantities in the Palasaides Reservoir. I talked to an Idaho Fish and Game biologist several years ago and he said there is a limited amount of natural reproduction of Lake Trout in Palasaides. As a result lake trout should not be a problem in the South Fork fishery. Rainbow trout will be the current and future problem threatening the fishery.
Try using white colored wet flies below the dam. Shrimp patterns can work well also. Good luck fishing.
DeeCee
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great, another guy to work around below the damn. ha, now there will be 31 people fighting for the good spots[cool] sweet, enjoy it man, good times
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Wow, thanks alot guys. I didn't think the lakers would be an issue or else we would have heard about it, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway. Thanks for the tips for fishing that area below the dam! It sounds like a fun place to try and figure out. The flies are a great idea, we'll have to try it too. I love fishing for big fish! We also thought drifting minnows would work well too, any ideas of how to keep the minnows up in the strike zone?
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That used to be my favorite spot to fish but is definitely more popular now and often has a crowd. Most of the guys there are friendly though and have even shared some of their techniques with me. My favorite way to fish it is the way Windriver said but the biggest fish I have caught there have been on size 11 rapalas and drifted minnows.
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