S.W. Idaho Weekend Report

[Belasko]

Met my brother in laws in Boise to do some man time fishing this weekend. We started out hitting CJ Strike just after sunrise on Saturday. We primarily fished the Snake arm but had trouble finding much of anything for a while. Finally went to our usual little cove and ended up landing several bass, only one over the 12" size, but not by much. We then headed for the bruneau (sp?) arm and found a spot that produced several perch including a few decent sized ones in the 10-11" range. It was then about 2pm and getting hotter so we headed for shore. We landed a couple bass while one went to get the boat trailer and back it in, plus one perch landed from the stern as the boat was being pulled out of the water! Fish probly thought he was a goner but manage to toss him back, barely!

We then gathered our camping gear and headed for Swan falls. We set up at the base of the dam and caught several smallies halfway out to the island in the current right at dusk. The bugs then drove us off the water and we managed 3 more crappie from shore before calling it a night. We tried to catch some cats while we were at it but didn't even get a nibble. Plus one crappie had a sore on its side. Anyone know if there are lamprey in there?

Sunday we had a buddy meet us and we floated down to celebration park. We landed numerous bass all along the way. They were primarily on the rocks or on the edges of the weed beds. I just couldn't seem to keep them on the hook was my problem! Had a fun time trying though! Fun finally ended for us around 4pm and had to head back to town. Don' think any of us felt like the time was the least bit wasted.[]
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[drowning_flys]

great pics and report [cool] thanks
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[windriver]

Very nice report. It is great when you can put together a trip and try multiple different spots.

Windriver
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[Mojo1]

Belasko, typically those sores are caused by bacterial infections as the water warms and as a result of spawning injuries (it is a contact sport...). They are very common this time of year. I read they are not harmful to humans as the bacteria dies when cooked, but I just release those fish when I catch them.
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[larry14]

if you read the posts from the eastern and western parts of the state it would seem the eastern part of the state has about 150 times better fishing. if we didn't have brownlee we would have just about nothing. there are several postings regarding fishing below swan falls. the fishing there now is 5 % what it used to be before the dam was redone. i used to fish right above the dam where it is fenced off now across the dam and below and absolutly way lay smallmouth . many approching and some exceeding 20 ". and catfishing was wonderful. the western side of the state does have some gem waters to fish of which some i won't mention, due to some people keeping every fish they can catch. which is why i feel the fishing is slower than it used to be. the droughts don't help either but as a native i have noticed with the increase of people the quality of fishing has decresed . where as the eastern part of the state with more moderate growth would appear to have great fishing. as an example i was fishing at anderson ranch saturday. the trolling was good we brought home 16 fish. nothing to write home about 10"-14 ". anyhow, when i got to the dock a boy said " man the fishing was good look at all of these fish ". they had a 100 quart cooler full i mean full of 4"-8" perch with some smallmouth that weren't 12" . what are you going to do with 600 or more 5" perch? i know they need to be thined out at some point or they will stunt but i still believe we need some sort of limits on the non game fish. look at cj crappie. this febuary and march the crappie were thick. now you really have to work for the fish. the brunow arm looked like the wallmart parking lot every boat had tons of fish. i believe it was fished out. i feel no one needs to keep more that a hundred fish in a weekend per person for any reason.
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[Belasko]

Mojo, thanks for the input on the source of that wound on the fish. That was my suspected thought but the images of lamprey wounds on fish from biology always sticks in my mind. We ended up using that one for catfish bait but all others were released.

Larry, not sure where the tangent came from but thanks anyway for sharing the observations you've made over time. I have only fished CJ 3 or 4 times and this was first for the Swan Falls area for me. Didn't catch anything big or in unbelievable numbers, but then it's rare that I do either on this side of the state either. I do believe that fisheries change over time, some for better and some for worse. Hopefully in the longer term these fisheries will improve to what you remember.
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[SmartWeed]

In response to Larry - Snake River Smallmouth:
7/9/2010

7/1/2010

6/1/2010

4/15/2010 - This one went 5 lbs, 4 oz.

And I could go on...

Edited to add that all these fish were released alive. Any smallmouth that has lived long enough to reach this size should be released to spawn and pass on their genes.
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[larry14]

verrry nice[shocked]
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[cpierce]

I don't think that eastern Idaho has better fishing than other parts of the state. It is just the reports and numbers of active BFT members that fish the SE area that make it seem to produce more.

I would love to hear more about all of the other areas of the state, so come on all you lurkers out there -- post something!
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[StacyR]

[quote larry14]look at cj crappie. this febuary and march the crappie were thick. now you really have to work for the fish. the brunow arm looked like the wallmart parking lot every boat had tons of fish. i believe it was fished out. i feel no one needs to keep more that a hundred fish in a weekend per person for any reason.[/quote]

Crappie are always difficult to find in any numbers at this time of year. After their spawning is done, they disperse widely to recover from the spawn, before coming back together to form larger schools in deeper water later in the summer. It's just their biology.

Just google post spawn crappie
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[cpierce]

SmartWeed, good to hear from you again. Those are some awesome bass. I have a serious case of fish envy!
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[AverysAdventure]

I have to agree with StacyR on the crappie. They didn't get fish out they are just doing what crappie do. Same thing is happening at Brownlee. They will be back this fall.

Smartweed - dang man! Between you a bassnbob a smb around this area don't have a chance. Please keep posting and letting us in on some of your secrets. Some of those pictures look like the map rock area? I heard it's been going off. A pm would be ok with me [][][]
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