03-29-2004, 01:58 AM
I didn’t write this to win the “Idaho Fishing Report Contest” but I wouldn’t turn down some mooseunlimited lures if I win. Unless someone else writes a fishing report in the next few weeks I’m going to win the contest.
I took my 3 year old daughter fishing yesterday (Saturday March 27th) to several small reservoirs around Malad. It is fun to watch her struggle while trying to reel in a 12” planter rainbow. Fishing for planter rainbows isn’t my favorite type of fishing but it is much better than not going fishing at all.
It’s going to be at least a couple more weeks before the ‘warmwater’ fish become very active in the SE region reservoirs. Right now it is easy to catch planter rainbows in the Bear River and other places that have been recently planted. You can catch some better sized trout in the many of the rivers and reservoirs that aren’t put-and-take fisheries but the fishing won’t be as fast as the planter trout places. Some places are closed until Memorial Day Weekend and there have been a few changes to the regs so check the new regs before you go fishing. This year the Portneuf River won’t be as good as it was in the past for wild fish because of the drought. The spring run off has begun but the sections below some of the reservoirs still have clear water and are running below average cfs(cubic feet per second).
Stone Reservoir
Water temp - 53 degrees
Water level – full or very close to full
Water clarity – clear (4+ foot visibility)
Weather – very windy with some rain, which made it difficult to fish
We caught four 10.5” – 13” planter rainbows in about an hours worth of fishing. Caught 3 on worm/marshmallow and one on a silver Blue Fox #2 vibrex spinner. I also fished with worm/bobber combo for a short time but didn’t have any bites on it and the wind made it too difficult to fish with. Also had several fall off because barbless hooks easily fall out of the fish’s mouth when a 3 year old is trying to real them in. I kept two of them and both of there stomachs were empty. 5,000 rainbows were recently planted by the F&G. I have heard that there are Largemouths, Perch and Crappie in Stone Reservoir but I don't know how good the fishing is for these species is. This was also my first time to fish this reservoir and I didn’t make much of an effort to catch anything but rainbows.
Crowthers Reservoir
Water temp - 51 degrees
Water level – about 15-20 feet below high water mark
Water clarity – stained
I only stopped by to take the water temperature and see what the conditions were like. I did make about a dozen casts with a spinner without any luck.
Deep Creek Reservoir (aka Lower Deep Creek Reservoir)
Water temp - 48 degrees
Water level – about 25 to 30 feet below full pool but you could still launch a boat
Water clarity – stained
I only stopped by to take the water temperature and see what the conditions were like. I did make about a dozen casts with a spinner without any luck. Deep Creek was completely ice free so I would expect Weston to be ice free or will be in a few days.
Devil Creek Reservoir
Water temp - 45 degrees
Water level – about 20 feet below full pool
Water clarity – stained
Weather – slight breeze but much better than the weather was earlier when I was at Stone Reservoir.
Caught three 11"-13" hatchery trout, 1 on worm/marshmallow, 2 on bobber (worm with small amount of power bait). Missed a couple bites with plain power bait fished with a slip sinker. One of the Rainbows that I kept was full of eggs and both of them had full stomachs of small (#18 hook size) nymphs. I also made about a dozen casts with a spinner without any luck.
No fish have been planted in Devil Creek this year but over 42,000 fish were planted in Devil Creek Reservoir last year. That is a lot of fish for a small reservoir like Devil Creek. Over 37,000 of the fish planted in 2003 were Catchable (6 Inches+)(ls) rainbows, which is over 3 times the 11,550 fish planted in 2002. Some years less than 5,000 fish are planted in Devils Creek. 13,079 were unspecified rainbows and the rest were Triploid Troutlodge Kamloop rainbows. On 05/29/03 4,940 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) were planted.
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I took my 3 year old daughter fishing yesterday (Saturday March 27th) to several small reservoirs around Malad. It is fun to watch her struggle while trying to reel in a 12” planter rainbow. Fishing for planter rainbows isn’t my favorite type of fishing but it is much better than not going fishing at all.
It’s going to be at least a couple more weeks before the ‘warmwater’ fish become very active in the SE region reservoirs. Right now it is easy to catch planter rainbows in the Bear River and other places that have been recently planted. You can catch some better sized trout in the many of the rivers and reservoirs that aren’t put-and-take fisheries but the fishing won’t be as fast as the planter trout places. Some places are closed until Memorial Day Weekend and there have been a few changes to the regs so check the new regs before you go fishing. This year the Portneuf River won’t be as good as it was in the past for wild fish because of the drought. The spring run off has begun but the sections below some of the reservoirs still have clear water and are running below average cfs(cubic feet per second).
Stone Reservoir
Water temp - 53 degrees
Water level – full or very close to full
Water clarity – clear (4+ foot visibility)
Weather – very windy with some rain, which made it difficult to fish
We caught four 10.5” – 13” planter rainbows in about an hours worth of fishing. Caught 3 on worm/marshmallow and one on a silver Blue Fox #2 vibrex spinner. I also fished with worm/bobber combo for a short time but didn’t have any bites on it and the wind made it too difficult to fish with. Also had several fall off because barbless hooks easily fall out of the fish’s mouth when a 3 year old is trying to real them in. I kept two of them and both of there stomachs were empty. 5,000 rainbows were recently planted by the F&G. I have heard that there are Largemouths, Perch and Crappie in Stone Reservoir but I don't know how good the fishing is for these species is. This was also my first time to fish this reservoir and I didn’t make much of an effort to catch anything but rainbows.
Crowthers Reservoir
Water temp - 51 degrees
Water level – about 15-20 feet below high water mark
Water clarity – stained
I only stopped by to take the water temperature and see what the conditions were like. I did make about a dozen casts with a spinner without any luck.
Deep Creek Reservoir (aka Lower Deep Creek Reservoir)
Water temp - 48 degrees
Water level – about 25 to 30 feet below full pool but you could still launch a boat
Water clarity – stained
I only stopped by to take the water temperature and see what the conditions were like. I did make about a dozen casts with a spinner without any luck. Deep Creek was completely ice free so I would expect Weston to be ice free or will be in a few days.
Devil Creek Reservoir
Water temp - 45 degrees
Water level – about 20 feet below full pool
Water clarity – stained
Weather – slight breeze but much better than the weather was earlier when I was at Stone Reservoir.
Caught three 11"-13" hatchery trout, 1 on worm/marshmallow, 2 on bobber (worm with small amount of power bait). Missed a couple bites with plain power bait fished with a slip sinker. One of the Rainbows that I kept was full of eggs and both of them had full stomachs of small (#18 hook size) nymphs. I also made about a dozen casts with a spinner without any luck.
No fish have been planted in Devil Creek this year but over 42,000 fish were planted in Devil Creek Reservoir last year. That is a lot of fish for a small reservoir like Devil Creek. Over 37,000 of the fish planted in 2003 were Catchable (6 Inches+)(ls) rainbows, which is over 3 times the 11,550 fish planted in 2002. Some years less than 5,000 fish are planted in Devils Creek. 13,079 were unspecified rainbows and the rest were Triploid Troutlodge Kamloop rainbows. On 05/29/03 4,940 Early Spawner Kokanee Fingerling (3-6 Inches) were planted.
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