Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Fishing Report 06.08.18

Coeur d'Alene River

Flow 1,990 cfs at Cataldo and dropping. Fishing awesome guys and gals. Water is coming into shape nicely and fish are digging it. Pick your poison, walk wading or drift boating will be fine. The river is dropping pretty quickly so the upper stuff may be a touch bony in spots for floating but I think you'll be fine for another week or so on the upper waters around Big Hank and down to Prichard. Lots of Green drakes, Gray drakes, Yellow sallies, Caddis mid-day and Pale Morning Duns should be coming on strong here soon. Lots of beetles and ants out now too. Nymphing is still strong, but the dry fly fishing is getting really good too as the water is dropping. Streamer fishing is still a great option too, but now I would go through the runs first with dry and or nymphs first and then come back through with my streamers last. A big stone fly dry like a Stimulator or a Chubby Chernobly with a dropper is a great way to search right now too. Give the ants and beetles a go now as well, a basic black #12 foam beetle behind your bigger dry fly will for sure get looks. If you get in the Caddis mid-day, the larger soft hackles are a winner for this.

St. Joe River

Flow 5,130 cfs and dropping. Same here folks. Fishing amazing and just getting better. We floated the lower river this last Sunday and was fantastic. It's been a long time since I've seen a mid-day Caddis hatch that strong. It was about 12:00 to 1:00 when they started coming off, but it lasted only about an hour and was amazing how many bugs were coming off. It seemed like a typical mid-July to August evening with how many bugs were out. The fish were going bonkers for them too. Only a few were eating the adults but the majority of them were on the emergers, so soft hackle city here. Nymphing was equally awesome, the fish were still digging on bigger stone fly offerings down deep and a pink San Juan worm as a dropper was great as well. We fished bigger stone fly dries with limited success. The water is still a bit high for the most part and I'd say a week behind what the Coeur d'Alene is. But very fishable now. I haven't received any reports from above Avery, but it will be a little tougher up there wading but you can still find a spot or two to fish for sure. Same bug selection as the Coeur d'Alene for the most part. We are going to have a great season on the St. Joe folks.

Clark Fork River (MT)

Flow 33,500 cfs and dropping. She's still big, but on the final decent. My last prediction was pretty close. I said we'd be fishing around the 15th and I think more like the 20th we will see flows in the high teens. This is game on as far as I'm concerned. When we get there, big double nymph rigs will be the thing. Think big stone fly nymphs with rubber legs and trailed by the ever-famous San Juan worm or a smaller bead head nymph. When I say smaller I mean like a #8-10 Prince nymph or Pheasant tail or your favorite mid-size bead head nymph. Streamer fishing will be good too. I can't wait, it is going to be awesome.

Local Lakes

Fishing well. Coeur d'Alene, Hayden, Fernan and the Chains are all getting good reports. Small mouth fishing on Cda and Hayden has been awesome along with the Large mouth too. Lots of Smallies being caught off the rocks in 10 feet of water on flies. Popper fishing for the Smallies is getting really good too. You can do equally well in the back bays chasing the Big mouths with a fly too. Poppers here as well. Try a mouse or frog imitation if you want. Kick it out into the lily pads give it an initial tug and let it sit for a few seconds and boom! Make sure to run shorter stouter leaders. I wouldn't go any less than 10-pound test. I go big and will run 15-pound test. The fish are not leader shy when they are crashing a mouse or frog pattern. Crappie and pan fish are still in full force and pick your poison here and a crappie jig off a spinning rod with a bobber or a fly rod with a mohair leech will do wonders. So, you should do just fine on whatever lake you decide to go on they are all fishing great.

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