Sandpoint/Ponderay, Idaho Fishing Report 05.10.18
Clark Fork River (ID)
Flows out of the Cabinet Gorge Dam are currently 94,300 cubic feet per second with maybe one foot of visibility. This river is dangerous and unfishable from boat and shore.
Lake Pend Oreille
The lake is steadily on the rise due to spring runoff. Water clarity ranges from two-to eight feet of visibility depending on where you are. Surface water temperatures are anywhere from 45-56°F. The northern pike have finished spawning, but still remain in the same sloughs, bays, and flats. Concentrate your time fishing for pike in three to eight-feet of water with a floating line. Try flies like a red Jacknife, Tinsel Town, or yellow/red Pike Slider. The bass are still in pre-spawn, but each 70°F day brings us a little closer. A lot of the smallies are staging in three-to 10-feet of water, searching for a hardy meal before they sit on the nest. For gear fisherman, pre-spawn bass in dirty water is when a Rattletrap lure works extremely well. For fly fisherman, we must resort to slightly larger profiles and flashier flies. Last week I caught a two-pound smallie on a 10-inch long pike fly, so don’t think they can’t handle it. Try flies like G Roosta, Bailes Out Minnow, or Jiggy Worm.
Lake Cocolalla
Water clarity ranges from two to three feet of visibility. As the summer goes on, water clarity will become an issue. Right now, fishing has been best before noon. Cutthroats, rainbows, and browns have been feeding just below the surface throughout the entire lake. If you wish to target browns, I would concentrate more of your time off points, flats, and along weedlines. The browns seem to be more of an ambush predator in this lake than the cutthroat and rainbows. Use intermediate sink fly lines, and tie on a rust Baby Gonga, olive Baby Gonga, or #6 Thinmint.
Kootenai River
Flows out of Libby dam are 9,790 cfs and the water is well-stained. Fishing has been hit or miss . . . mainly miss since the flows came up. If a great hatch of March browns pop off, then you might find some trout looking up. However, nymphs and streamers have been the most successful way to fish. Tie on a #8 purple Pat’s Rubberlegs, #8 Bitch Creek, #12 Squirmie Wormie with a split shot or two 10 inches above your first fly. As far as streamers, a copper articulated Sparkle Minnow or a white Dirty Hippie should do the trick.
See past reports from the Sandpoint/Ponderay area here, or click here to view all northwest regional reports.