Blackfoot River report

On July 4th, I went fishing on the Blackfoot River. The water was very low...about 18-20 inches below normal for this time of year. The lower section of the river above the reservoir was also full of carp. I caught one 20" hybrid on a Stimulator and a 36" carp (~15 lb) on a stonefly nymph.

I have never sight casted to a carp before and it was interesting to toss out the fly in front of its nose and watch it gulp it down. After about a 20 minute fight on my 5 weight fly rod, I was able to land the carp. I tried to catch a few more carp but went without success. Trying to get my fly down deep enough to the carp in the faster water  was difficult.

Based on this experience your best bet for the Blackfoot River this year would be a bow and bowfishing kit to shoot the carp. Or to try to catch them on your fly rod. All of the best holes on the upper Blackfoot River were full of carp. Usually the Idaho Fish and Game has a carp trap in the river but it appears that this year they have either removed it or the carp found another way around. Regretfully the carp push out the trout and make trout fishing mediocre at best.

Stump Creek

On Saturday I went fishing to Stump Creek in Eastern Idaho. The water was still a little high and off color. Worse than the water...not a single hatch  of any kind on the creek. It was a little weird to be on a creek without any bugs flying around. I was still able to catch 11 trout, mostly 6-10" cutthroats with one 14" brown.

Top flies for the day were a size 14-16 beadhead hare's ear, a size 4-6 beadhead black and red wooly bugger, and a size 4 muddler minnow for the brown. I fished all the flies with split shot about 10-14 inches above the fly.

Here are a couple of pictures of the fish and the Stump Creek Valley:

Steelhead Fishing - Clearwater River

Here a couple of links for some videos of our steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QKrZfcCph0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyD0y5O4Mj8

Blackfoot River - River Conditions

The upper Blackfoot River in Idaho is headed towards a dreary fishing season. The river doesn't open until July 1 and the current flow at 173 cfs is already below the 25% median. With a terrible winter for snow pack in the Blackfoot River drainage we will be lucky to have any water in the river come July 1 unless we get a drastic change in weather. When the river is low all of the quality fish head to the reservoir for cooler water. Two poor winters have taken their toll on the Blackfoot and the fishing this year will likely be poor.

Steelhead Fishing - Clearwater River

Here are some more pictures of Steelhead fishing on the Clearwater River:

Steelhead Fishing - Clearwater River

Last week, my dad, brother Kevin, and I spent a few days in Kamiah, Idaho fishing for the "B-run" steelhead on the Clearwater River. Despite an inch of rain on Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday were beautiful days and we were able to catch and land 8 beautiful steelhead. Half of the fish were wild and half were hatchery fish.

Thanks to Jarrett's Guide Service, http://wefishhere.com/, and Jeff Jarrett who provided us steelhead and spinner fishing greenies an excellent time and some beautiful fish.

Here are some pictures of the catch (my brother has my pics so I will have to upload those later):

Clearwater River

Clearwater River