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I'll be moving to Mountain Home in November. I have an 18' fiberglass bass boat I'll be bringing with me. I've heard about the great smallmouth fishing up there around Brownlee and CJ Strike.
My question is what rivers are safe enough to use a bass boat in? I'd love to get into some sturgeon and trout fishing, but am a little worried I'll need a jetboat.
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I have a bass boat and I can't think of any river I would even consider to put my boat in. You pretty well need a jet pump cause no prop is going to survive very long. JMO
CJ is excellent for bass. Smallies and Largemouth. And is close to Mt Home. Also Anderson Ranch is great for smallies and is also not far from Mt Home.
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CJ will provide plenty of sturgeon action [Snake River arm] and trout trolling action [main lake above dam] for your boat.
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i agree with the other gentlemen you are moving to a great spot !
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beats being posted at Hill [crazy]
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I see many bass boats on the snake around Massacre Rocks. I think most people have a river prop. For the occasional ding.
Windriver
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you pretty much need an aluminum boat with a jet or at least a protected prop for the rivers around here but you can catch plenty of sturgeon on the snake arm of CJ Strike out of your boat. Also great fishing at Anderson Ranch which you'll have no problem with (lots of bass, trout, and kokanee) Good luck and welcome to the area!
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CJ is pretty deep as long as you stick to the body of the reservoir. If you want to get up into the rivers, I'd suggest picking up a Mac's River Runner. It's a plate that bolts onto the skeg. Runs about $100-$130 at Cabela's, depending on the size of the motor.
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Check your PMs...
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Historically CJ Strike rarely freezes over completely through the entire winter. They'll get ice in the narrows and on the upper end but the main body of the lake usually doesn't ever freeze over. The fishing for warm water species does slow down during the winter but there are plenty of trout that will remain active through the winter months. Some of the best fishing experiences I've had while catching trout at CJ were in February and we were trolling. The only thing is that it can get pretty windy there at any time so be prepared for that.
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I agree about the wind. If it looks like a storm is coming, be ready to pick up and get off the water. Saw some storms blow through there this spring where it went from smooth as glass to 2' chop within the space of about 15 minutes.
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