Sandpoint/Ponderay Fishing Report 05.03.18
Clark Fork River (ID)
Flows are currently 74,500 cubic feet per second, and water clarity is off-color. This too high for walk/wade fisherman, and is also a serious struggle for boaters. It will be a couple weeks before this river calms down and becomes fishable again.
Lake Pend Oreille
The lake is steadily rising two feet a week due to spring runoff. Water clarity on the lake is a little stained, but still very fishable. Clarity is worst at river/stream inlets. Surface temperatures have ranged from 40-55°F depending on where you are on the lake. The pike are finishing up the spawn in various sloughs, bays, and flats. From what I have heard, pike have been easy to find, but tough to catch. They are in a “lockjaw” spawn/post-spawn phase, and food isn’t their main focus. However, this isn’t to say you can’t hook into your personal best today. There are still plenty of willing players that will attack your fly with ferocity. Use a floating line, and throw flies like the Jackknife and Dougie’s Perch. Smallmouth are currently in pre-spawn, and the fishing has been good. I’m not hearing of 20-30 fish days, but five to-15 is realistic. However, the bass that are being caught are fat and healthy, roughly averaging around two pounds. Now is a great time of year to catch those four pound-plus smallies in three-10 feet of water using Type III or Type VI sinking fly line. Flies that work include blue/white Deceivers, #4 chartreuse Clousers, #1 Jiggy Worms, and #4 chartreuse Belly Scratchers. Who knows, you might even hook into a giant walleye! The walleye have been shallow and hungry. Try fishing three-to 15 feet of water with Type VI sinking line, and throw flies like a blue/white Deceiver or white Mandolin Minnow.
Lake Cocolalla
Water clarity is a few feet, and fishing has been steady. The mornings have been better than the afternoons. Once 12 p.m. rolls around, the bite seems to turn off. The trout have been keying in on flies that resemble a small perch. I have great success fishing patterns like #4 olive Conehead Krystal Buggers, rust Baby Gongas, and #8 black Balanced Leeches. The browns in this lake try and rip the rod out of your hand, so keep your head on a swivel.
Kootenai River
Currently, the discharge out of Libby Dam is 9,070 cfs, and water clarity is stained. The fishing has been extremely hit or miss. I’ll hear of a 25-fish day one day, and a two fish day the next. It all depends on what the BWOs and March browns want to do on that particular day. If the bugs are up in great numbers, the fish will rise. If there is only a minor or mediocre hatch, the trout will not show themselves. For dries, I like to use a #10 olive Chubby Chernobyl, a #12 red PMX, a #12 AK March Brown, and a #18 CDC BWO Comparadun. If the hatch isn’t going and the trout aren’t willing to eat dries, a double nymph rig should move trout. Tie on a #8 purple Pat’s Rubberlegs, a #12 Tung Jig-Head Hare’s Ear, a #12 Squirmie Wormie, or a #18 Crust Nymph. Streamers, like a #2 white Home Invader or a #4 Conehead JJ Special, also work for those river hogs.
See past reports from the Sandpoint/Ponderay area here, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.