Springlike conditions are persisting across our region, with\nlots of wind, rain and thunderstorms in the mix. The hit-or-miss storms can\nmake it hard to plan trips, but the fishing has been good whenever the weather\ncooperates. As you plan your next outing, here are a few ideas to get you\nstarted: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anderson Ranch Reservoir (Kokanee, Bass) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kokanee fishing got off to a late start, but the fish are\nstarting to bite, and they are BIG. A recent trip produced multiple fish in the\n19-inch, three-pound class\u2014easily the best quality of our \u201clocal\u201d Kokanee\nfisheries (Anderson Ranch, Lucky Peak, Arrowrock and Payette). My group caught\nfish on a variety of colors, including orange, pink and white. We used both\ndownriggers and leaded line, with most of our action coming in the top 10 feet\nof water. The fish will move deeper as temperatures warm. As always, sharpen\nyour hooks and bring a quality, long-handled net. Kokanee have a penchant for\nshaking the hook! Bass fishing is fair at the moment, and should improve as summer\nsets in. Water temps are in the 60s, which means smallmouth are wrapping up\ntheir spawn. Jigs, Ned Rigs, soft plastics and deep-diving crankbaits are solid\noptions for bass. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lake Lowell (Bass) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The bite is improving at Lowell, which filled up this spring\nbut took a while to reach optimal temperatures. Fish have been holding tight to\nflooded trees and heavy cover, and flipping weedless creature baits has been\nthe only reliable way to reach them. Flipping is still productive, but anglers\nare starting to pick up fish on spinnerbaits, topwater lures and other moving\npresentations along the weed line. It\u2019s hard to catch big bass at Lowell, as\nmost of the fish seem to be stuck between 14 and 17 inches. But it\u2019s a\nconvenient option for boating, which is especially valuable in this\nunpredictable weather (on a recent trip, I arrived to a surprise rainstorm, but\nwas able to wait it out and fish once it passed). Lowell is a solid option for\nchannel catfish and carp, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Horsethief Reservoir (Trout) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This small lake near Cascade is a reliable place to catch\nstocked trout, and it\u2019s a beautiful spot to fish this time of year. Catch rates\nhave been consistent for 12-to-16-inch rainbows, and anglers occasionally bump\ninto Kokanee, brook trout or brown trout. Bank fishing with spinners, worms and\nPower Bait is effective, but the shorelines can fill up fast. Using a boat,\nkayak or float tube gives you more room to operate, and from a watercraft, I\nlike to troll with Rapalas, spinners, and crawler harnesses. Fly-fishing with\nstreamer patterns like leeches and woolly buggars is also a solid choice. If\nyou want to harvest some trout for the smoker, this is a good place to do it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Crane Falls\/Cove Arm (Mixed Bag) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These twin lakes near Bruneau make for a fun summer trip.\nCrane Falls has solid catch rates for midsized largemouth, which can be caught\non soft plastics, spinnerbaits and topwater lures. Panfish are also plentiful\u2014bluegill\nare the most common catch, along with pumpkinseed, black crappie and yellow\nperch. Use small jigs to target panfish. Crane Falls is also a sneaky-good\ntrout fishery. Fly-fishing from a float tube is usually the best approach.\nCrane Falls is open to electric motors only and has trophy bass rules. Just a\ncouple miles down the road, Cove Arm Lake offers a similar variety of bass and\npanfish, with the added bonus of smallmouth. The lake is similar in size to\nCrane Falls, but gas motors are allowed and it has some nice rocky cover in\naddition to trees and weedy stuff (which covers almost all of Crane Falls\nduring the summer months). If you have a full day, splitting it between these\ntwo lakes is a good way to acquire a chewed-up bass thumb, with some bonus\nspecies likely mixed in. Tight lines! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Springlike conditions are persisting across our region, with lots of wind, rain and thunderstorms in the mix. The hit-or-miss storms can make it hard to plan trips, but the fishing has been good whenever the weather cooperates. As you plan your next outing, here are a few ideas to get you started: Anderson Ranch Reservoir…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2467","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\/2467","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=2467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2469,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2467\/revisions\/2469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tightlines208.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}