Idaho Fish Report

This week at Paulina the fishing was slow. One day we got stormed off the water 3 times waiting for lightning to pass. Tuesday was the day of multiple cells of electrical storms passing over us, and Wednesday was sunny but a strong south wind causing whitecaps and swell over the majority of the big lake. Callibaetis were non existent this week at Paulina. Chironomids caught a few fish under the bobber, and throat pump samples showed a few naturals in the mix, with an Olive #16 being most prevalent. Oddly, I haven’t caught a fish at Paulina on a balanced leech, jig leech or a leech stripped on a sinking line for several trips. Usually in summer, the Watermelon Balanced Leech is an absolute staple. Last summer my friend Gary introduced me to the Hot Pink Bead Black-n-Red Dub Jig Leech with tremendous success. It’s been weeks and weeks since I’ve had a bobber down fishing either of those. I am mixing it up with other colors, sizes beads….Same result. The one constant has been I can rely on Ants and Beetles and usually find some fish looking up for them. Hoppers were abundant earlier in the summer, and the week before last we did catch some fish on a hopper (Pink ones BTW), but this week no fish ever even looked at our hopper offerings.