Fishing Forum

Just got back from 3 days on Cascade and thought I would share some of the experience with you even tho its not a Utah reservoir. Was up earlier in the ice season and had to go back for more. Unfortunatly we weren't as prepared for deep snow as we should have been. Planned to use 4 wheelers to get out to deeper water, but didn't use them 1st day because of concern for getting them buried and spending more time digging out than fishing. Bad decision! At our age pulling sleds thru knee deep snow for a couple of miles just doesn't work. Result was we didn't get out past 13 FOW and fishing was very slow. Did manage a few, but the big schools were in 20 to 28 feet.

Second day was a little better because we selected a spot where deep water was closer to shore. This resulted only in producing more bows and few of the perch we were looking for. Finally, on the last day we put chains on the 4 wheelers, reduced our gear to one sled and took off across the lake pushing snow up over the front of the 4 wheeler. Wouldn't be deterred ... this was the last day of fishing. Got out about 1/2 mile ... 9 FOW. Out to a mile ... 14 FOW. Out 1 1/2 miles 20 feet and set up. Had to shovel a hole in the 24 inches of snow to clear the ice. Fish on!

Had a great day. Lots of nice perch and lots of bows too. Biggest perch was 14 in and biggest bow was about 23 inches. Stayed the day and finally left the ice about 4:30p to head back and clean fish.

Here's some information if any of you decide to head up there. The lake was reported as down 11 ft, but actually was down 14 ft at specific GPS points. There was some perch in shallower water, but you really need to get out much deeper. The west side of the island over the river channel is good. Southwest of the island about 1 1/2 miles is better. Whatever you do, bring snowmobiles not 4 wheelers.

Virtually all bows and the larger perch were FULL of 1 in perch minnows. Tried Gulp minnows but didn't do anything with them. Smaller jigs (size 12 hooks) tipped with a piece of worm was best bait. Tried eyes and perch skin, but they didn't want any of that. Got only a couple on wax worms and meal worms.

Didn't fish for bows, but caught them anyway. Perch would leave the area when trout would come thru. All fish were right on the bottom. Did not see any trout suspended. The jawjacker worked beautifully once I put smaller jigs on. Thanks to Idaho F&G for consistently stocking perch here to make this a great fishery! Here's some pictures.
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The wife and I were planning to head up this Thurs. for 3 days of fishing for perch, had rooms booked. I have been watching the posts on this and another site about the snow conditions for the past week and a half and it was sounding pretty iffy at best for ATV's with more snow and rain expected thru the weekend. We decided to bag it until next year. I enjoyed reading your post and glad to hear/see that you found some of the big ones, thanks for posting.
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Sounds like conditions are tough but the catching was still good, once you get to a good spot. Thanks for sharing your report and pics. How were the edges?
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That is an awesome report! Wish i lived closer but that's a 10 hour haul for me. Was there in the summer two years ago, and my nephew pulled out a 12.5 incher from shore his first time fishing.

Thanks for all the tips and advice.
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Edges were solid and ice was 3 feet thick. Water was rising though, because it came up thru the drilled holes and made a 2 or 3 inch slush base on the ice. This is a great place to fish and I look forward to several trips this summer with the boat so I can get over those perch more easily.
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Packfan, its not a good idea to try ATVs at this time. Saw some with the snow tracks and they got around easily, but regular tires didn't make it. We got so desperate we tried to buy a used snowmobile, but it was sold before we could get to it. Tried to rent a snowmobile, but none around closer than McCall. You might want to call ahead and try for a rental or find someone to shuttle you out and back. Good Luck if you go.
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Yea, I'm going to hit it as well this Summer, maybe in the June/July time frame. They also have kokanee and coho salmon in there, so we can target two types of fish.
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I plan to spend a few weeks up there as well. I have a fascination for Kokanee and target them almost exclusively at the Gorge and at Strawberry. For the first time I did well at the Berry last year and limited more often than not. At Cascade not many Coho are caught according to the locals. Would dearly love to latch onto a few since they are a larger species than the Kokanee, but don't know if they grow to a normal size or are stunted there. In reading about the Kokanee in Cascade I found that they are considered native to that reservoir and must assume that they were present in the Payette River when the reservoir was dammed. If they are native I wonder if they have mutated somewhat from the parent Sockeye to naturally adapt to fresh water. Also wondering whether the breeding stock for Strawberry and the Gorge were from "native" stock or from the salt water sockeye. If anyone has any input on this I would be very interested. Maybe tubedude knows something of this.
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[#0000FF]Can't verify anything for Cascade but I suspect that the kokes are likely propagated and planted (if necessary) from freshwater kokanee stock...not from salt water sockeyes. There are many waters in the west that have populations of kokes. Virtually all that I know of were originally planted from other kokanee stocks. Strawberry gathers its own eggs each year...ditto for the Gorge. However, I have been told that if kokanee eggs are planted in a river that flows into the ocean that they will revert to sockeye habits and growth characteristics.

Same thing with cohos. They seem to need larger and deeper lakes than kokes to thrive and grow large. They have done well in the Great Lakes but I don't know of any other lakes where they grow more than a few pounds. But with a good forage base they can put on some weight and are feisty.

I am originally from Idaho Falls...on the other side of the state from Cascade. Sadly, I have never had the opportunity to fish it. Maybe it will be on my fish bucket list for next year.
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Thanks for the info but the Mrs. and I have already cancelled our trip. We applied for some of the hunts at the Outdoor Expo at the Salt Palace this weekend so we will make a trip down Thurs. to get them validated.
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Thanks for the info on Kokes. I plan to do a little more research on why Idaho lists them as native species and if they are stocking now. I got the feeling that they don't stock the kokes, and the kokes are from natural reproduction both in the lake and the incoming river.

I went to Flathead Lake in MT last year for the Lake Trout and found the kokanee population there has crashed due to the introduction of Mysis shrimp and subsequent explosion of the Lake Trout population. The locals there said Flathead had a flourishing natural reproduction and they didn't stock kokanee. Thinking they could make a good thing better, the MT Fish and Game introduced the shrimp which favor greater depths that the kokes like to go to. The Macs which love the 200 ft + depths thrived and ate all the kokes (along with the shrimp). That lake now supports a thriving mac population which many do not want and are trying to restore the native Bull Trout. All that just goes to say that Flathead had a great koke fishery at one time based entirely on natural reproduction. Again, I'm not certain of the origin of the kokes there, but I have aroused enough interest to take a better look at the entire history of Kokanee in the West. Thanks again for your input.
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Ever since I decided to make a trip up there this summer I started talking to some of the regulars on the Idaho board and got some good info. The Kokanee have not been doing good for a number of years up there. Because of this the the Idaho Fish and Game have been stocking 30,000 kokes a year to try and get their numbers up. I don't get the idea they stock the Coho but they are bigger fish around 4 or 5 lbs.
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Thanks for an excellent report!
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