Stump Creek Idaho

Dodging soaking thunderstorms was the name of the game on Stump Creek this last Friday. In between some drenching thunderstorms, fishing was quite good. Between three fisherman, we caught over 40 fish and missed a lot more. Most fish were in the 8-10" class but we caught around 15 that were 12" +. I caught around 20 fish - one 18" brown and the rest were cutthroat. A really nice 18" snapped my line. 

The top flies today were black woolly buggers (size 4-6). Woolly buggers that had a bead head, and were black with red, orange, and purple were the best. We also caught quite a few on bead head hairs ears and prince nymphs (size 14-16). A small mayfly hatch was starting to come on but the 1" of rain in 30 minutes put a hold on the hatch. 

Stripping the woolly bugger or allowing it to drag at the end of the hole seemed to provide the best action.

Below are pics of a 18" Brown caught in a deep hole under a willow bush and a nice 14" cutthroat.

Stump Creek - June 13-14

Stump Creek was still a little high for quality fishing. On Friday night I caught one little whitefish on a bead head  hare's ear but other than that the fishing was dead (which may have been due to my lack of skills not the fishing). There were no fly hatches on the river yet. The weather turned nasty on Saturday with rain, wind, and cold so I trip ended early. Stump Creek will be great in a few more weeks once the water recedes to more normal flows.

Oneida Narrows Reservoir

Last week my family went to Oneida Narrows Reservoir near Preston, Idaho. It was beautiful day and we were able to catch 10+ Smallmouth Bass on red and black beadhead wooly worms (size 4). A couple of the Smallmouths reached 14" and were about 2 lbs. We fished off the bank with a spinning rod, clear bubble and fly. A boat or pontoon would be excellent on this reservoir.