Portneuf 7/1/06

[BrianID]

Fished the Portneuf River for about an hour in the afternoon and then later from 8pm to dark. There was a decent caddis hatch in the evening but no hatch in the afternoon. I didn't see very many fish rise but managed to get a few on top. Overall fishing was a little slow but it was fun catching a few wild trout on flies.
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[acey]

Brian- Just curious, were you fishing the Portneuf below Lava or above it towards Chesterfield? The last time I fished it several years ago it seems it was managed as a cutthroat fishery. Is that still the case? We used a bare hook with a night crawler on it and a large split shot sinker several feet up the line, waded out into the water and cast and jigged it along the holes, and drop offs. I was surprised how many trout hit it. We released most of them. It was a fun day and I have often wanted to try it again. Acey
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[BrianID]

I was fishing upstream from Lava. Three(?) years ago the regulations on the Portneuf became even more restrictive. Now all cutthroats caught between the Pebble Creek Road bridge and Kelly-Toponce bridge must be released. The rest of the Portneuf is still 2 cutthroat, none under 16". Unfortunately the Portneuf was hit very hard by the drought. Fishing for planted rainbows isn't bad in the areas it is planted but it will take more time for the wild fish to recover.
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[catchandrelease]

My dad was up there not too long ago and said the flows were still really high. Has anyone been there lately? 6 or 7 years ago I did really well catching some very nice fish...a few of them were "snags" until they started to swim...big nice fish above Lava. I had a hoot but haven't been there since. My dad said the flows were too high for him to fish like we did a few years ago. I'd love to go back after runoff has died down.
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[BrianID]

The Portneuf has been at very fishable levels for about a month. Here's a link you can check out.
[url "http://waterdata.usgs.gov/id/nwis/uv?13073000"]http://waterdata.usgs.gov/id/nwis/uv?13073000[/url]
Even with above average snow pack the Portneuf is still running slightly below average for this time of the year. It is going to take another above average winter to bring the ground water closer to average in most of Eastern Idaho. The Snake River aquifer will take even longer to recharge.
Like I said early, the Portneuf was hit hard by the drought. It is still going to take time for the fishery to recover.
I fished it again a week ago. In the last two trips I haven't caught a fish over 14". I've caught a few better sized fish out of there the last couple years but larger fish are few and far between.
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