Idaho Fish Report

The ice pack continues to recede, and conditions are changing daily. The north and south sides of the reservoir and the dam cove are all open water. Some of the shorelines are stacked with pack ice, while others are ice-free.


In the past week or so, fishing has been disappointing compared to the expected fish-catching frenzy that usually happens at ice-off. It could be that anglers are using baits and presentations that are better suited for rainbow trout than tiger or cutthroat trout. Unfortunately, there are far fewer rainbows in the reservoir than there used to be. The niche occupied by rainbow trout has been filled by Utah chubs. Scofield anglers should consider stocking their tackle box with a variety of baits, jigs, lures and crankbaits. You may have more success if you try different rigs and different presentations. If one spot is a bust, try moving up or down the shoreline or across the reservoir. One side can yield a very different catch rate than the other.


On April 22, Mike Keller and his friends reported good chub fishing.


During Easter weekend, conservation officers reported slow fishing for anglers using commercial cheese baits. Anglers who used nightcrawlers, salmon eggs or chub meat did better, but success was inconsistant. Conservation Officer James Thomas interviewed anglers on April 20, and one party of anglers did better with chub meat than any other. Also on April 20, Kathy Jo Martinez and her fiancé Justin caught 20 trout in 1.5 hours at the angler's access on the west side. They fished off the bottom with nightcrawlers, salmon eggs and chub meat. Kathy and Justin mostly caught cutthroat trout, with two tiger and one rainbow trout in the mix. In contrast, J Shirley's family fished the same area on April 21 and they only caught a single rainbow trout in two hours using nightcrawlers and PowerBait.


On April 17, Tom Ogden fly fished from a kick boat on the southeast end. In five hours, he caught one tiger and eight cutthroat trout, all of which were 12 to 15 inches long. Tom fished his flies near the bottom in six feet of water and used slow sinking line with size 4 crystal buggers or size 6 bead head olive leeches.