Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Fishing Report 05.03.18

Coeur d'Alene River

Flowing 8,890 cfs at Cataldo. The river has come down a bunch in the last week, but is still high. Not sure it will fish by the weekend or not—it is suppose to start climbing again soon with the warm weather to come. Maybe a day on the local lakes would be a better bet.

St. Joe River

Flowing 8,100 cfs at Calder. Same deal here—the river dropped a bunch and is going to go right back up this week with the heat. Just a teaser here folks—the lakes is where it's at.

Clark Fork River (MT)

Flowing 35,600 cfs and climbing. If you like fishing for pine trees, discarded cooler lids, and perhaps a wayward cow, this is a great option right now. It's going to be a while until the Clark Fork is back in action.

Local lakes

The crappie and bluegill fishing has been pretty darn good as of late. The cold front we saw the last few days is pushing through and we will warm back up into the 70's by the end of the week. So this should keep the panfish in action for a while. Have been getting good reports from guys picking up pike on the fly lately. Coeur d' Alene has been good—stay in the shallows in four-to 12 feet of water and keep on the move covering water and structure if possible. The bass fishing has improved quite a bit in the last week. Again, many reports of folks getting into the smallmouth as well as the largemouth. Smallies are moving into the shallow, rocky shorelines now and will readily eat a fly. The largemouth are in the back shallow weedbeds looking to spawn as well. The topwater action shouldn't be too far off with the smallmouth so don't be afraid to throw a popper in the rock shorelines. Black, olive and white Woolly Buggers with rubber legs, Congas and Double-Congas are good options too. Damselfly nymphs are a great pattern this time of year, too. Try small beadhead nymphs, like a Prince or Pheasant-tail, for the panfish either under an indicator or stripped slowly. Black or wine colored mohair leeches will be great for the panfish, too.