October has been an absolutely gorgeous month across southern\nIdaho. With perfect daytime temperatures and ideal fishing conditions, I hope\nyou\u2019re getting a chance to get out and enjoy it! From local trout streams and\nponds to larger reservoirs, there are plenty of options for good fishing. Here\nare a few ideas to get you started: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Payette River (Trout) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Payette River is one of the more underrated fisheries in\nour region, and fall is the best time to fish it. With lower water levels and\nlittle rafting traffic, it\u2019s easy to move around and target the deep pools and\nriffles trout love. Wild rainbows are the most common catch, and it\u2019s not\nuncommon to see fish in the 16-to-18-inch range. Whitefish, pikeminnow and even\nperch also show up on occasion. Rainbow trout pattern Rapalas, spinners,\nstreamers and small nymphs are all effective options, and so is drifting a\nnightcrawler behind some small sinkers or a float. West of Black Canyon Dam,\nthe Payette turns into a bass fishery, and October is usually the last chance\nto catch a few big smallmouth before the winter chill shuts the bite down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n C.J. Strike Reservoir (Mixed Bag) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The always-reliable C.J. Strike is a fun place to fish in\nthe fall, as the vertical jig bite for crappie and other panfish picks up. Look\nfor schools of fish in 20 to 40 feet of water and target them with double jigs\ntipped with crappie nibbles or a chunk of worm (which is more likely to attract\nbites from perch and bluegill). A big rainbow trout is always a possibility,\nand that\u2019s an adventure on ultralight tackle. To target trout specifically, try\ntrolling with spoons or pop gear near the dam. Bass will still play, too. I\nlike to target them with a Carolina rig plastic crayfish, a deep diving\ncrankbait or a Ned Rig. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Boise River (Trout) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Boise River always seems to fish best in the fall and\nearly winter, when ideal wading flows and lighter traffic often make fishing\nthe Boise a breeze. Venture off the beaten path to find big, elusive wild\nrainbows and browns. These fish can show up anywhere, but the popular access\npoints in town are more likely to hold smaller stocked fish. The most popular\ntackle options are nymphs like the pheasant tail, small spinners or bait drifted\nthrough deeper holes behind some split shot weights. To target bigger fish\u2014especially\npredatory browns\u2014I like to throw a larger minnow imitation like a Rapala. Keep\nin mind that brown trout are about to spawn, so catch-and-release is\nrecommended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Local Ponds (Mixed Bag) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n October is one of the busiest months of the year for the\nIdaho Fish & Game stocking trucks. Loads of trout are showing up at ponds\nacross southern Idaho, and they are usually eager to feed during their first\nfew weeks in a new environment. Spinners, crankbaits, flies and bait are good\nchoices\u2014power bait, in particular, usually works well on stocked rainbows. Many\nponds also have resident populations of largemouth bass, bluegill and other\npanfish, and with the warm weather we\u2019ve been having, they should still be on\nthe chew, too. Weedless soft plastics or spinnerbaits are the best bets for\nbass, while panfish will take small jigs, bead head nymphs or a small piece of\nnightcrawler under a bobber. Tight lines! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" October has been an absolutely gorgeous month across southern Idaho. With perfect daytime temperatures and ideal fishing conditions, I hope you\u2019re getting a chance to get out and enjoy it! From local trout streams and ponds to larger reservoirs, there are plenty of options for good fishing. Here are a few ideas to get you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2029","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\/2029","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=2029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2031,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions\/2031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}