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Made my weekly trip to CJ yesterday. Arrived at daybreak below the dam, left around 8 PM. Spent the whole day at the area around the turbines. Fished mainly with jigs. Got 10 trout, and three average sized crappie. I imagine there are more crappie in there, but the current was running really fast. I lost two good sized trout to the rebar. Had a few more spit the hook. Kept four, released three, and gave three away. Largest one was 18".
They have two spillway gates open now, and the river is running high and fast. It went up about 5 inches just during the time I was there. I saw a bunch of dead and stunned fish floating around on top of the water. Mostly perch. There had to be at least 100 pelicans there, scooping up the easy meal.
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heard that the Bruneau was going to go over high way 78 a day or two ago. Did you see it? Ron
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I came down Strike Dam Road, so I didn't see the Bruenau. It wouldn't surprise me, though. Maybe that's why they opened the second spillway gate. The Snake below the dam is higher than I've ever seen it. It's only around six feet under the bridge below the dam.
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yeah we were there trying to sturgeon fish below the bridge last weekend. The fish are still catchable but that water is running so high it is impossible to anchor anywhere. Hopefully that wont last too long. It's about time to start being able to catch some more crappie there by the turbines.
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I talked to a guy who was fishing for bait for sturgeon, and he couldn't get a single crappie. He ended up scooping a dead perch that was floating by off the surface with his net. He also said if he hooked one, he would probably be fighting the current more than the fish.
Like I mentioned, I did get a couple crappie, but with the current running so fast, it's tough to make the slow presentation crappie prefer.
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That's funny because I couldn't catch any crappie either and also ended up scooping up a dead perch and a dead crappie. I did catch 3 sturgeon but you're right the current played in to it a lot more than usual. Hopefully the water won't stay this high for too long. It's messin with my fishin!
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Runoff really hasn't started yet. I bet we see some epic flows in May and June. This year is going to be like fishing in the 1970s and 1980s around here. Time to diversify a little, explore some local Stillwater fisheries. Not bad, just different.
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That's one thing I miss about living in Washington. There's tons of lakes everywhere. King County alone had more than 100 lakes. Here around Boise, there's a few ponds that get a lot of pressure, and all the other still waters you have to drive a country mile to get to.
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