Coeur d'Alene Fishing Report 07.05.18

Coeur d'Alene River

Flow 689 cfs and dropping slowly at Cataldo.  Fishing has still been great.  The river is low and coming into normal summer conditions.  Look to start seeing more terrestrials, ie. ants, beetles and grasshoppers.  The warmer temps this week will start these guys up.  Not sure it's a sign but at lunch cleaning our new backyard kiddie pool out, there were dozens of flying ants, the red and black kind.  So maybe this is an isolated thing but most likely not.  The PMD hatches and Caddis are now strong every day.  The PMDs are in the 16-18 variety and a pretty mixed bag of sizes on the Caddis.  In the afternoon the fish will really be upright until dark.  Streamer and nymph fishing are still good options, just start downsizing your streamers and bead head nymphs.

St. Joe River

Flow 1,440 cfs and dropping.  This is ideal right now.  Plenty of wading opportunities and the floating is still great.  Same kind of hatches as the CDS -PMDs, rusty spinners, caddis, beetles, and ants too.  There are a few western yellow Mayflies coming off later in the day too.  These are a little bigger than a PMD, in the 12-14 variety and a brighter yellow too.  You'll see these in the afternoons, mostly.  Soft hackle fishing is great later in the day as the PMDs, Caddis and other Mayflies are coming off.  Try swinging them in the choppy riffles and keep moving through the run.  Golden stones are still about, so the Chubby Chernobyl with a bead head dropper is still a great choice. Stimmies and PMX's are good flies, as well for attractors.

Clark Fork River (MT)

Flow 14,200 cfs and dropping at St. Regis.  It is finally on!  It's been a long time coming on this river.  The next two weeks should be off the hook.  It is still a bit high, but fishable now.  Big nymph rigs with San Juan worm droppers or Pat’s rubber legs will be great options for this.  The Chubby with a dropper will be a great pattern up against the banks.  Keep your attention close to the banks and slow it down.  Stay on the oars and keep your bugs in the back eddies with the foam lines for as long as you can muster on the way by them.  Larger Stonefly patterns with rubber legs are killer right now.  This river will just progressively get better and better this month.  There should be no shortage of bugs around, Caddis, PMDs, Golden Stones too.  So, get out there and get some!!

Read past reports from the CDA region here, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.