Spring fishing hits its full stride in April, making it a\ngreat month to chase largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, Kokanee salmon\nand more. As water temperatures warm and river conditions change, here are some\npointers and ideas to keep in mind while you plan your next fishing trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bass Season is Here! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As water temperatures warm up across southern Idaho, bass\nfishing is picking up steam. Smallmouth bass are a dominant species in the\nSnake River and its reservoirs, while largemouth bass are common in local lakes\nand ponds. Spring is an exciting time, as bass are on the hunt following a\nwinter of relative inactivity. The fish are also getting ready to spawn, so\npracticing catch-and-release is recommended (and, in many cases, required). One\nof the Treasure Valley\u2019s most popular bass fisheries is Lake Lowell, which\nopens to motorized boat traffic on April 15. Bass are also starting to bite at\nC.J. Strike and Swan Falls Reservoirs as well as countless ponds throughout the\nTreasure Valley. My favorite techniques for early-season bass include flipping finesse\nlures like plastic worms, small jigs and swimbaits along shoreline cover and slowly\nretrieving a crayfish-colored crankbait along rocky structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rivers on the Rise <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With spring runoff hitting our waterways, local rivers are\non the rise. As of this writing, fishing for trout on the Boise River and bass\/catfish\non the Snake is still pretty good. But as the water continues to rise, flows will\nspeed up and the water will get muddy, which will put a dent in the fishing for\na while. Once that happens, I focus my spring efforts on lakes and reservoirs,\nprimarily targeting bass, bluegill and crappie. It\u2019s also a good time of year\nto troll for trout and Kokanee salmon at Lucky Peak, Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch\nreservoirs. Use pop gear trailed by hoochies or wedding rings tipped with white\nshoepeg corn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Have a Crappie Day <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Spring is an excellent time to catch crappie in Idaho. The most\nproductive fisheries are C.J. Strike and Brownlee reservoirs on the Snake\nRiver. C.J. Strike has been fishing really well for crappie in the 10-to-12-inch\nrange for some time now. Look for schools in 15 to 40 feet of water and target\nthem with vertical panfish jigs. Black, red, white, yellow and silver have been\nproductive colors, and I like to tip my jigs with a Power Bait crappie nibble.\nBrownlee hasn\u2019t been as productive, numbers wise, but people are catching fish\nand it\u2019s usually a better bet for large crappie over 14 inches. I also see more\nvariety at Brownlee in terms of tactics, with crappie taking crankbaits, Rapalas,\nrattle traps and Ned Rigs in addition to traditional panfish jigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tight lines! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Spring fishing hits its full stride in April, making it a great month to chase largemouth and smallmouth bass, crappie, Kokanee salmon and more. As water temperatures warm and river conditions change, here are some pointers and ideas to keep in mind while you plan your next fishing trip. Bass Season is Here! As water…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1185,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1183\/revisions\/1185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}