Coeur d'Alene Fishing Report 07.19.18

Coeur d'Alene River

The current flow is 512 cfs at Cataldo.  Fishing is good but, the water is dropping into a normal summer flow.  The water temperature is much warmer so, you may want to consider starting earlier and, or fishing later.  The mid-day fishing can be slower this time of year.  There are currently lots of bugs out including; caddis, pmd's, golden stones, yellow sallies, and hoppers.  Smaller hoppers are kicking out of the taller grass right now so, try using a smaller hopper with a beetle dropper, or a bead head too.  Keep nymphing the faster riffles and pocket water, since the fish like to hide in the faster water during the heat of the day.  Streamer fishing is still okay but there is no need to throw big patterns.  Smaller black and olive sculpins will do the trick.  The evening caddis and pmd fishing is great. Plus, swinging soft hackles in there works well too.

St. Joe River

The current flow is 942 cfs and dropping.  The St. Joe is coming into its normal summer conditions.  Great walk-wading opportunities are available all up and down the river.  Look for shady areas during mid-day for feeding fish.  Orange or yellow stimulators, with a size 12 bead head pheasant tail or prince nymph dropper, are a great searching rig to use on the St. Joe.  If you are not seeing many bugs coming off, this searching rig is always a great setup. You will also find that there are a lot of caddis around mid-day, along with a few pmds, rusty spinners and spruce moths.  Floating up higher is much tougher to do now, so the lower floats are going to be better from Marble Creek on down-stream.  The evenings will be very good.

Clark Fork River (MT)

The flow right now is 7,980 cfs and dropping.  We fished the Clark Fork yesterday and did well.  The river is still a touch off-color, but that is normal for the flows that we are at now.  There is a good 3-4 feet of clarity, and it’s getting better every day.  Nymphing is still the way to go. So, be sure to use a big Pat's Rubber Legs or a Big Prince as your lead fly, with a San Juan Worm as a dropper.  We didn't see many fish feeding on the surface, but that should change as soon as flows continue to drop.  Soon, it is going to be dry-fly-city over there with the usual suspects including; pmd's, rusty spinners, caddis, golden stones, yellow sallies.

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