Coeur d'Alene Fishing Report 08.22.19

The kids are getting ready for school and Labor Day is coming up. Everyone is trying to cram in their last few family weekends.  Nights are getting much cooler, days are getting shorter. Fall is on its way and this means some of the best fishing of the year is coming.  The fishing is very good right now.

It can be a difficult decision now on where to go.  Usually, the crowds start tapering off here in a couple of weeks as the tourist start to head home and the rivers are far more peaceful.  There are lots of good hatches now and the hopper fishing on our rivers is going off in a good way.  We have had, in my mind one, of the better weather summers in recent history.  Temperatures hardly hit the 90s, and there were very few fires.  There has also been good rain throughout the summer too.  Hopefully, we get a bit more this fall too. It's time to gear up for some killer late summer early fall fishing!

Current Conditions

Coeur d'Alene River  - The fishing here has improved in the last week.  A good spot of rain will cure those hot summer woes.  The fish are pretty receptive on grasshoppers and beetles still.  Also, we are now getting some of our very small parasitic wasps (looks like a tiny flying ant).  These guys are very small but the fish love them.  We have a good selection of them too. The river is still pretty low and clear.  You will need to be very sneaky in some situations now.  Longer leaders and good casts in the flat water will do the trick.  Keep twitching your big stimulators and spruce moths.  An aggressively twitched big bug now will get smashed.  There are still good amounts of pale morning duns and caddis too.  Think about using a smaller streamer after you have fished a run with dries. A small black woolly bugger stripped fast through the fast water will turn some heads.

St. Joe River - What a great river the St. Joe is!  It will fish better at times than most rivers in hot summer conditions.  With the big canyon walls and lots of shade, it maintains a nice cool temperature.  The Joe held good water levels this year compared to others like the Coeur d' Alene.  The fish are very active most of the day here.  Hopper fishing has been incredible.  If we get some weather or overcast, the blue-winged olives will pop.  Also, the streamer fishing has been very solid still, for the bigger fish.  Finally, nymphing in the pockets will keep you occupied with fish all day.

Clark Fork River (MT) - The Fork is giving it up good.  A big hopper with a beetle dropper will fish all day long now.  Take time to stop and look for pods of fish in the flats and skinny riffles sipping tricos.  A little breeze in the afternoon will kick up the hoppers and terrestrials into the water.  The mid-day stuff will be a little slow so go deeper with a nymph rig or a streamer and concentrate on the riffles and deeper rip-rap banks. Crayfish are out and about so a fast stripped rubber-legged bugger should entice the big fellas.

Match the Hatch

October caddis nymphs are out and crawling onto the shorelines.  A medium-size Pat's rubber legs is good for this or a mop fly in tan for the pupae.  I have not seen any adults yet, but they are close -maybe a couple of weeks yet on the adults.  Spruce moths are in play.  A large size 10 or 8 elk hair caddis or a medium-size yellow stimulator will work. We have some spruce moths too but these other patterns will pass just fine for them.  Remember to twitch them!  Morrish hoppers, chubby chernobyls, and head turner hoppers are all great choices for the hoppers out now.  We have a great selection of ants and beetles.  From parachutes, foam, and rubber legs you name it, we have it.  Small sculpins like the near nuff will be a great go-to streamer for the riffles.  Don't forget your soft hackles!  We have dozens of different patterns.  Swinging the soft hackles in the evenings is still a thing...

Need to fill the box before you go? Order flies online here.

Tips & Techniques

As the hopper season is upon us, let me give you a couple of tips to help you out.  The takes with hopper fishing can be explosive.  I've had friends of mine, who on the Kootenai over the weekend, were frustrated with how many fish will blow up on the hopper but not take it.  This has been an age-old question with anglers. Why do they miss so much, or is it me? Typically, it's not you.  You will miss way more than you will hook.  Try downsizing your fly a size or two and wait longer on the hook set -not much longer than a split second though.  Let them take it down before you set.  Run a beetle or ant for your dropper behind your dropper.  The fish locally have been digging these big time.  I've had multiple fish false rise on the beetle only to come back up and eat the ant or beetle on a second cast.

Did you know...

We have our Fly Fishing 101 classes every Saturday at 10 a.m.  Come learn the basics and the classes are FREE, and we even give you a 10% off coupon for gear after the class is over.  Our fly tying classes will resume this fall too.  These are FREE too. You just need to pre-sign up as they are very popular.  All the materials are included and we have donuts too!!! These happen Saturdays and Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. starting in late October.  See you in the shop soon!

See past reports from the CDA region here, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.