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I fished Devils Creek from 10 to 530 on Saturday. We trolled in Doug's boat. Our best luck came on Pistol Pete flies trolled on sinking fly lines. We also caught fish on different colors of Trout Magnet jigs. The action was consistent all day and we each caught about twelve and missed lots more. There are still lots of fish in there. Doug caught one Kokanee and one LMB. That is the first time I knew there was bass in there. The bank fishermen were having a slow day and most didn't stick around very long. The deepest water was about 34 feet by the dam. The fish were mostly 10 to 13 inches, and one at 17. It was the best catching day I have had in a long time. Acey
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Thanks for the report.
Windriver
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Thanks for the report. I have never heard of any LMB in Devil Creek. If anyone else has caught or heard of other LMB in Devil Creek I would like to hear about it.
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Brian- Doug said he had heard of someone else catching a LMB in Devils Creek recently but I don't recall who it was. I had my camera with me and took a picture of his bass as proof, but I have not had the film developed yet. I assume that some bass fishermen were upset that the Idaho F & G killed the bass in Deep Creek several years ago when it was low undergoing the dam repairs and decided to start a new bass fishery. What impacts will LMB have on Devils Creek? Is there enough forage for all the species to co-exist and thrive, or will the bass take over? I imagine most of the trout are planted and not much natural reproduction is occuring. What are your ideas Brian? Acey
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I don't think bass will have much of an impact on the rainbow fishing at Devil Creek. LMB will probably have some effect on the kokanee and will almost certainly hurt the cutthroat.
IMO most of the rainbows that the F&G plant don't last more than 6 months and the catch rate reflects what has been planted recently more than what compitition with other fish in the reservoir is like. The F&G planted 10,000 rainbows at the end of September which probably made up almost all of the fish that you caught on your last trip.
If a bucket biologist only dumped a couple dozen LMB in Devil Creek then it will take 4 or 5 years before there are very many bass over 10 inches. If there were very many bass in Devil Creek this year then I think we would have heard more about them. If conditions in Devil Creek remain favorable over the next 10 years then I think there will be a population of LMB comparable or slightly less than Deep Creek had before it was drained. If I remember correctly the F&G salvaged as many bass as they could when Deep Creek was drained and then planted them in Glendale. I could be wrong but I don't believe the F&G treated Deep Creek with rotenone so there is a very good chance bass survived in the creek when the reservoir was drained. I've heard a couple rummors of bass being caught in Deep Creek over the past couple year but I'm not sure if any of them are true.
I think there is very little natural reproduction taking place at Devil Creek. For about the last five years almost all of the rainbows that the F&G raise to plant are triploids which can't reproduce. The F&G have tried to promote the natural reproduction of cutthroats at Devil Creek but currently I think there are very few if any cutthroats over 12" in the reservoir.
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Brian- I have not seen any cutthroats in Devils Creek as many times as I have fished there and did not realize they were there. So what is the secret to catching cutthroats and the kokanees? I heard at Strawberry the rainbows stayed mostly to the bottom while the cutthroats were more supsended. Is that usually the case? Last week we were trolling down about 12 to 15 feet deep. Is that the depth the cuts would hold? How many did the F&G stock in there? I thought the F&G just killed the bass in Deep Creek because they did not want them in there. I didn't know they moved some to Glendale. How did the hunting turn out? Acey
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I haven't caught any cutthroats out of Devil Creek and I doubt there are very many if any cutthroats over 12" in there. The F&G haven't planted cutthroats in there for years. I also don't think there are enough kokanee in Devil Creek to waste my time trying to catch them. Kokanee are often found in schools so if you catch one there are probably more of them in the same spot. During the summer they will be found in deeper water and often suspended. During the winter I have caught them right at the opening of my hole as well as the bottom of the lake.
My hunting season is only half over. I tagged a decent 4 point muley with my bow but didn't get a bull elk.
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