Idaho Fish Report

The Wyoming portion of the reservoir has ice. There are approximately 8 to 10 inches near Currant Creek and more than a foot above Firehole. Many of the smaller bays have some fishable ice, but the thickness varies so you should check it carefully. The ramp at Anvil Draw is iced over. There were 1 to three inches on Jan. 21. In Utah, Lucerne and Antelope Flats have an apron of ice forming in front of their ramps. Lucerne boaters broke through a half inch of ice on Jan. 21 to reach open water, but the ice fragments were still there and refroze in the late afternoon. The ice in the Pipeline area is stopping northern boat travel. There are now large ice sheets floating in Lucerne Bay, one of which is blocking travel to the Sheep Creek Area. You can launch a boat at Sheep Creek and Mustang. There is open water for most of those bays.


This is the last weekend of the Burbot Bash. Like in past years, you can win prizes for large fish, small fish, most fish and tagged fish this weekend. If you'd still like to register, you can sign up in person or online at burbotbash.com .


Kokanee salmon: The reservoir has reopened to the take of kokanee, but there haven't been any recent reports.

Rainbow trout: Spoons, jigs and crankbaits are working well from shore, ice and boats. Ice anglers report good fishing. Shore and boat anglers report fast fishing off rocky points and in the backs of some of the bays.

Lake trout: Anglers report fair to good fishing through the ice and in open water. You can find schools, small groups and single fish anywhere. If you mark a group, try holding position and dropping a vertical presentation like a chartreuse jigging spoon or a white, 3-inch tube jig. Try tipping your lure with a small chunk of sucker meat and varying jigging activity until you learn the fish's behavior. You should also try trolling through, or just above, the school and along the shorelines where the fish are cruising for food. Try using different crankbaits or brightly colored spoons. Please keep your limit of small, tasty lake trout to reduce competition and help both the lake trout and kokanee fisheries.

Smallmouth Bass: There haven't been any recent reports. The bass have gone deep.

Burbot: Fishing is fair to exceptional from boats and through the ice. Try fishing along the rocky points, cliffs and the old channels for a few hours starting around sunset. Burbot will hit during the day, but generally in deeper waters. They become more active, however, during the twilight hours when they move into the shallows to forage. Whether you're fishing from the shore, on the ice or from a boat, try fishing the bottom, or just slightly above it, in depths from 10 to 50 feet. You can use just about anything that glows -- like spoons, tube jigs, curly tailed jigs, minnow, jigging spoons -- tipped with some type of cut bait like sucker meat. Place your lure within inches of the bottom and recharge the glow frequently. It is common to catch a fish immediately after re-glowing and dropping a lure. You'll help the Flaming Gorge fishery by harvesting as many burbot as possible. There is no limit on burbot.