Idaho Fish Report

It's spring and the weather is great. That must mean it is yard sale season.  That also means that people are buying used boats at these yard sales and trying to register them without the right documentation.  If the seller can’t give you a title, don’t buy the boat.  And if they do give you a title, make sure they sign it.

Unfortunately, this is very common in the spring and the common theme seems to be a boat that was registered in another state or was part of an estate and has gone through one or more owners since the last time it was registered and the title is missing.

Without the title, the last owner who held the legal title to the boat has to apply for a new title and then transfer it to the new owner.  With the legal owner possibly being several ownerships removed from the current owner, and possibly in another state, this can be a very difficult, if not impossible, endeavor.  

A couple of times it has turned out that the last legal owner is deceased and then the next of kin has to be located and it gets even stickier dealing with estates.  Occasionally boats come into NDOW to be registered by a new owner and still have a lien on it with a previous owner.

So the moral of the story is:  If you appear to be getting a smokin’ deal on a boat and the person you are purchasing it from doesn’t have the title, chances are it will be a headache to get it titled and registered. In some cases even impossible.  Buyer beware!

ANGEL LAKE

The road is closed, and the lake is ice covered.  There will be no fishing reports for this lake until late spring or early summer depending upon the winter.

CAVE LAKE

Cave Lake is sitting approximately 15 feet below normal water level.  The lake is still mostly covered in unsafe ice with open water where the creek enters the lake at the south end.  It should be ice free soon.  Expect soft, muddy shorelines.    

COLD CREEK RESERVOIR

Cold Creek Reservoir is now at minimum pool due to outlet structure repair being done by Kinross.  There is very little water and is mostly ice free.

COMINS LAKE

Comins lake is ice free.  So far fishing has been good this spring with 16-to-20-inch Rainbow Trout being caught. The water is sitting in the 40s so the Largemouth Bass in the lake are still lethargic.  Anglers will do well on nightcrawlers, a variety of spinners, wet flies behind a bubble, and even PowerBait.  Minnow imitations and large streamer patterns have been working for northern pike, many of which have been staged for spawning on the southeast shoreline.  Anglers, please note that NDOW has placed radio tags in several Northern Pike.  These pike will have an orange floy tag near their dorsal fin and a small antenna coming from their stomach. Please return these fish to the water for research purposes.  If the pike doesn’t have the transmitter tag, please humanely dispatch the fish.  Do not put it back in the lake.

ILLIPAH

The ice is coming off the lake with lots of open water for fishing. With warmer temperatures around the corner, the rest of the ice could come off quickly. The reservoir is sitting at approximately 90% of capacity. Anglers can access the reservoir from the west and fish the entire western shoreline.  Anglers will do well on nightcrawlers, spinners, and PowerBait. Fly rodders should be using olive or black wooly buggers, black leeches, red copper Johns, GR hares ears, PT nymphs and prince nymphs.

JAKE'S / BOIES RESERVOIR

Jakes Creek Reservoir is now almost ice free.  The road has dried out.  Expect fair to good fishing for trout and slow fishing for bass.  The usual worms and PowerBait, as well as small spinners, rooster tails, and panther Martins should work. Fly rodders should be using black or olive wooly buggers or leech patterns, hares ears, PT nymphs and chironomid patterns. 

JIGGS / ZUNINO RESERVOIR

The lake is ice free with very low water levels and a soft muddy shoreline.  There was a trout die off last summer, so no trout are left here.  A few blue gill and bass, but no report on how fishing is. The shorelines are soft and muddy. 

MOUNTAIN STREAMS

Snow, ice, and muddy bank conditions are making fishing difficult.  Stream flows are still low but starting to pick up. In northern Elko County, where the snow pack is the best, stream flows have increased significantly and some are unfishable. However, most streams in eastern Nevada are still well below normal.  As of April 1, the East Fork of the Owyhee was flowing at 103 cfs, the Bruneau River up to 112 cfs, the Jarbidge is flowing at 23 cfs(access through Idaho), Salmon Falls Creek at 136 cfs, Lamoille Creek at 10.3 cfs, the South Fork up a bit at 20 cfs, Cleve Creek at 5.3 cfs, Steptoe Creek at 2.7 cfs and Kingston Creek at 3 cfs. 

HIGH ALPINE LAKES

With snow on the mountains only the most experienced backcountry travelers should attempt to reach the lakes. The lakes are frozen, and fishing is done until summer.  There will be no more fishing reports for the high alpine lakes until late spring or early summer depending upon the winter.

RUBY LAKE NWR

Fishing has been fair to good depending upon the day and location, with high water levels and turbid water.   The fish that are being caught are with leech patterns, balanced leeches, crystal buggers, #14-16 hare’s ears, and #16-18 PT nymphs.  Other flies working include the usual small nymphs, olive soft hackles, red or blue copper Johns, and prince nymphs. On warmer afternoons if you see insects hatching, switch to midge emergers, blue wing olive emergers or dries. Small brightly colored spinners were doing fair for spin fishermen. Anglers may now fish the water behind and downstream of the hatchery.  Harrison Pass is now open to two wheel drive vehicles.

SOUTH FORK RESERVOIR

Surface water temperatures were 49 degrees on April 8th and fishing is picking up.  The dock is in at the main boat ramp and the water level is good for launching a boat here. However, the boat ramp at Jet Ski Beach is not useable due to a drop off at the end of the ramp which will get your trailer tires stuck.  Anglers are having success with both worms and PowerBait with fish averaging 15 to 18 inches and a few over 20. The catch rate is fair to good depending upon the day.  Fish have moved closer to shore, with trout being caught 20 to 30 feet from shore.  Flies that have caught fish include leech patterns, red copper Johns, wooly buggers, hares ears and midge patterns. Midges are starting to hatch with this warm weather and can make up almost 50% of a trout’s diet on our high desert reservoirs and up to 80% in the spring.  Fly rodders should start fishing midge patterns for success.  Ice cream cones, red butt buzzers, red and silver zebra midges, chromies and frostbite chironomids are all working.  Red seems to be the magic color.  On windy days with the waves stirring up the muddy bottom, fly fishermen should do well fishing the edges of the mud plumes with chironomids (midges).   Fishing at Jet Ski Beach has been fair to good depending upon the day.  Fishing on either side of the dam has been good as has been the south end of the lake where the river empties into the lake.  Fishing in the river below the dam and above the reservoir has been slow with very low flows though they are increasing. The long term mean flows for this time of year are around 140 cfs and current flows are only around 20 cfs, up from 10 to 12 cfs last week.

WILDHORSE RESERVOIR

Wildhorse is still completely ice covered though getting on the ice is not recommended and the edges are unsafe.  The nights were in the teens and are forecast to be in the 20’s for the next week and possibly be above freezing by next weekend.  Daytime highs forecast to be in the 50’s and 60’s for the next 10 days so expect the ice to start coming off.  But right now, we are at that in between stage when it isn’t safe to get on the ice for ice fishing and there isn’t any open water for soft water fishing.  The tailwater below the dam has below average flows and the shorelines are icy but fishing the pools has been fair to good using streamer patterns and nymphs for fly fishermen and minnow imitation lures for spin fishermen.  The further downstream you get, the better the flows as the tributaries join the main stem.

WILSON RESERVOIR

Fishing was good last weekend with anglers catching fish using a variety of presentations.  For the bait anglers, worms seem to be working better than PowerBait.  Spin fishermen should be using black spinners with gold blades.  Fly rodders were having good luck with purple wooly buggers.  Since Wilson often fishes similar to South Fork, bring the chironomid patterns.  The water level is down about 6 feet, and chances are that the lake won’t spill this year.  The road has dried out, but is rutted.  Take your time driving there, especially if towing a boat or trailer.