Ririe 6/10/06

[BrianID]

Fished Ririe for about 3 hours yesterday evening. For me fishing was slow but I'm sure I would have caught more fish if I had tried other techniques. I did catch my first perch ever on a downrigger.[shocked] I also had a kokanee on a side planer jump a couple feet out of the water.[cool] Unfortunately those were the only fish I caught.[unsure]

I did see two anglers with a stringer full of nice sized perch. This summer I'll have try some of the Ririe perch holes I fished often when I was younger.

I did see what looked like a school of kokanee feeding on the surface???? Has anyone else seen a school of kokanee do this?
I've seen large schools of suckers feeding on the surface at Ririe several times but this was a first for me.

The kokanee I caught only had plankton in its stomach.
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[jacksonlaker]

Brian, I am from WY but I fish Idaho alot. I will post Palies and Jackson Lake reports. I have never fished Ririe, I heard it is really crowded, any thoughts? It is also good to see someone else trolling crankbaits for trout. I have been doing that for years with great results. If you ever want to fish Jackson Lake, let me know.
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[BrianID]

Jacksonlaker,
I'm also surprised that more anglers don't use Crankbaits. My first trout on a crankbait may have been out of Palies about 12 years ago. I've been trolling/casting them to trout since then.

Ririe is a fun place to fish but I wouldn't consider it a destination worth driving more than an hour to fish. I saw at least a couple dozen anglers the other day when I fished it. That isn't too bad, but it is also a popular water ski/wake board/jet ski reservoir. Water temps are now warm so the water sports boats are out in full force.

I've caught well over a thousand fish (mostly perch) out of Ririe. I haven't caught many game fish over 2lbs from Ririe. I don't believe I have caught any fish out of Ririe much larger than 3lbs. Keep in mind I haven't fished Ririe much the last 5 years. I also haven't spent much time targeting larger fish in Ririe. Rainbows(planted) use to be common. Now the F&G plant Fine Spotted Cutthroat in Ririe. From what I've heard the perch fishing hasn't been very good the last few years. It also sounds like 16" trout are fairly common in Ririe now. Ririe can be good for numbers but most of the game fish in Ririe are small.

I'd like to fish Jakson Lake sometime. One of these days I might take you up on that offer. This year and probably the next couple years, Jackson will be another one of those places that I would like to fish but don't have time. I'm guessing extra water Jackson has now will make fishing better there in the future.


Guest,

Thanks for the information. I've seen the kokanee schooling under the ice. I've spent many days fishing Ririe from May to November and have never seen the kokanee do this.

If your new to BFT, I hope you register a username and come back often.
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[clintryan]

hey BrianID i was curious what the situation at ririe was for smallies i am just curious.


clintryangrimmett
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[BrianID]

Ririe bass fishing is nothing to get excited about. From what I have heard it had some fantastic bass fishing 20 years ago.

Several years ago a two day tournament had a top weight of only 7lbs. Several anglers didn't even catch a fish large enough to weigh. Last year 3 1/2 pounds won a one day tournament. I've seen the weights at several of the other tournaments and the above weights have been fairly typical at Ririe. Ririe has a fair number of SMB under 10". For some reason few SMB are getting over the 12" mark. Yearly drawdowns, lack of sufficient forage and anglers keeping too many SMB from Ririe (including sub legal sized fish) have been blamed for the lack of larger SMB in Ririe. I think when the reservoir was young it provided better habitat for SMB. I don't think it will ever return to the good old days. I do think special regulations could help Ririe kick out more 12"+ bass.

The Ririe SMB have a short growing season. I could be wrong but I bet it takes a Ririe SMB 5 or 6 years to reach 12".

LMB were planted in Ririe about 10 years ago. I’ve seen guys I'm fishing with catch a few LMB in Ririe in the late 90's. I don't think the population of LMB took hold. I haven't heard of any LMB being caught out of Ririe the past few years. If anyone has caught or knows of LMB being caught in Ririe the last 5 years I would like to hear about it.

Keep in mind I haven't fished Ririe much the last 6 years so others might have better up to date info about Ririe.

When I fished there 10 days ago my Dad caught a small SMB but we didn't try to target the SMB that evening. If we had fished for SMB I don't think we would have had any problem catching at least a few small bass each. 10 days ago the surface temp was 67 degrees at the dam and Blacktail.
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