Rainbow trout seem to be the only fish biting in eastern Idaho. Is that going to change?
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Weather predictions were not good to go fishing on Ririe Reservoir last Tuesday, but I talked my friend Craig into going anyway. We’d fished the week before and caught a few, and we wanted to hit the “hot” spot again.
The area around the Juniper Boat Ramp was a little rough. We went up into the Narrows and though the water was muddy, we still gave it a try.
For a couple of hours, we went fishless, dodged numerous snow squalls before deciding to call it a day. As we were approaching the Powerline area, the wind died down and we saw a flock of Western and Clark’s grebes diving for food. We also noticed the water was a lot cleaner here and decided to try again.
We had not trolled more than 100 yards before we had our first hits of the day. We both landed a rainbow trout about 17 inches long – enough for dinner. We continued fishing, landing 12 nice trout in the next couple of hours for the most successful day of the season. In all our trips this spring, we have not caught a single kokanee, our favorite fish to catch on Ririe. We have seen small schools of fish, but no large schools that usually indicate a school of kokanee.
As we were leaving, Bob Johnstone, the Juniper Campground host, told us he hasn’t heard of any kokanee being caught there this spring and that the perch fishing hasn’t been good either. But if you like fishing for trout, even the bank fishermen are doing well. Early this spring, the trout fishing was also slow, but as the water continues to warm, it should produce well.
I called the Drift Lodge Fly Shop Thursday afternoon and visited with the manager, Luke. He said the ice is almost gone off Henrys Lake, with just a little on the south side and the fishing is great. He reports fly fishermen are doing well, even from shore in the areas around the boat ramps. It’s important to remember that Henrys Lake is only open for catch and release until May 25, when it opens for a limit of two fish per day.
“The Department of Fish and Game have started their gillnetting survey on Henrys,” Luke said. “They are reporting the numbers of fish are up, and the size is also up so far.”
On Ririe, we are finding the trout are generally shallow. If we go deep to try for those we can see on our electronics, we get very little action and find the best fishing is about 10 to 15 feet below the surface.
We troll about 1.5 to 1.8 mph with leadcore line, letting out two to three colors (about 40 to 60 feet), pulling a flasher and trailing a jig tipped with a sliver of sucker meat. We find that using a large piece of bait will get us hits, but it is tough to hook the fish.
Hopefully the spring weather will settle down, allowing us to fish more comfortably and will allow the water temperature to warm up a bit more on Ririe. Many of us are hoping for a miracle to have some kokanee show up in the catch, but we are not expecting it. Most fishermen had a tough year on Henrys last season and are hoping this year will be better.
Be careful in all your outdoor activities. I still see deer and elk being killed on the roads, so be alert and aware of your surroundings.
