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Hook Points

Idaho's Fishing Newsletter

Ryan Chris
April 14, 2026

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A NOTE FROM RYAN!

From time to time, you will notice ads in the newsletter. As the subscribership to Hook Points has grown considerably, the costs to produce it and host it have now become significant. We have no plans to stop producing the letter as so many of you have told us that you find it useful! I’m happy about that!! In order to help offset the costs, we are working with a company that will help us find advertisers that pay well for ad placement. We get paid per click! You do not need to sign up for anything! Please help us offset the costs of Hook Points by clicking on the links. Please do not feel obligated to do so but the help would be welcomed!!

Fishing Reports

CJ Strike: Great week all around. Crappie fishing has really picked up and both bank and boat anglers are seeing success. We have spawners! Fish are schooled up and plenty of them can be caught pretty close to the banks. Lots of fish up in the Bruneau now. Underspins are awesome right now! Try a Northland Tackle Underspin with a Keitech Easy Shiner - 3” is my favorite size - or a Fat Swing Impact, again I personally like the bigger 3.3”. If you’re not as comfortable with a larger bait for crappie, go with an Idaho Rod and Reel Underspin Jig Head and combine it with a smaller 2.8 Fat Swing Keitech. If you don’t believe that crappies eat big baits, take a look at the picture of Brian in the Catch Spotlight section…that is a 5” Swimbait!! Plenty of fish being caught on the troll as well - the usual suspects, Flicker Shads and Shad Raps will get bit - I highly recommend a perch pattern or something with purple. For bass, lots of stuff will get bit. For smallies, look in 10-15’ with Keitech 3.3’s, Lucky Craft LV500’s, 4-6’ diving jerkbaits, Spro Rk Crawlers - and not just the red ones, IRR Tungsten Finesse Jigs and ned rigs! If you haven’t tried a Rapala Crush City Ned BLT - give that a go! The Snake River arm is still a little bit dirty - try darker colors like Junebug and black and blue - even when crappie fishing.

Boise River: Great reports this week from the river. Customer took a couple of our new Daiwa trout baits and had a great day on Saturday. Fish are on the move and out of the deeper areas that they were wintering in. If you are new to fishing the Boise, start at the bridges and go for a walk…casting small cranks and jerkbaits are great ways to cover water and target active fish. Lots of browns are caught on these styles of baits! Check out the video link of the river at Glenwood!

Boise River at Glenwood Bridge NR Boise ID

Discover water data collected at monitoring location USGS-13206000, located in Idaho and find additional nearby monitoring locations.

waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-13206000/#dataTypeId=continuous-00065-0&period=P7D&showFieldMeasurements=true

Brownlee: Current water level is 2051, up almost 5 feet from last week. Fishing really well right now and if you are a bank angler, this is a great spot to target for crappie, bass and catfish. Lots of shallow fish right now - for crappie, I’m still recommending the underspin - especially for the bank angler. It allows you to cover so much water efficiently. I don’t recommend that you stay in one place for very long (unless you’re getting bit of course!). Trolling has also been working for the crappie - spend some time around the mouths of the coves and next to bluff walls that are close to shallow areas. Catfish are chomping everywhere! Bass guys are catching them on jerkbaits, jigs, cranks and Keitechs. So they’re shallow! Do not need to be throwing your baits out into 80’ of water…For bass, target 1-15’ of water. Plenty of fish are being caught almost on the bank! IRR Tungsten Finesse Jigs are working, as are Ned Rigs, crankbaits, jerkbaits, Keitechs and tube jigs! 92 Tao is back in stock and was getting bit this weekend!

If you are looking for a painter this spring/summer - I LOVE THESE GUYS! Contact Ray and mention Hook Points for 10% OFF!

Snake River: Couple reports of some really shallow water so be careful with those boats! Fishing is good. Keitechs, crankbaits, jerkbaits, IRR Jigs and Neds!! Target the banks…Cats are shallow and chomping. Lots of grass…just part of fishing the river. Is what it is!

Wilson Springs: Lots of fish to be caught right now. Simple Powerbait and nightcrawler rigs are working. Small crappie jigs and even the Dynamic Lures HD Trout will catch you a couple!

Lake Lowell: Opens up for boats on the 15th! I expect this to fish well right out of the gate. Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, flipping baits and my early season Lowell favorite is a 3.8” Fat Swing Keitech on an EWG underspin or belly weighted EWG.

Cascade Reservoir: Perch fishing is excellent! Fish are schooled up, shallow and aggressive. Pick your favorite soft plastic, Flicker Shad or blade bait and you are going to get bit. If you haven’t fished the Northland Tackle baits - I’m telling you right now, the guys that have are finding success regularly and because most of the baits are TPE plastic, they last forever. Bass reports are picking up. Several of the perch anglers have caught nice smallies on small crappie jigs! Try a smaller 2.8 Keitech on a Cipher Ball head and retrieve is slowly and on the bottom. Tubes, lipless and jerkbaits have caught fish that I know of as well.

Horsethief Reservoir: No Report.

Owyhee Reservoir: Fishing well but with some not so great days in between the pretty dang good ones! Crappie fishing is solid - all the time. Fish are shallow! I was here on Thursday and had a trolling angler around us - out in 30’ not hooking up. I was hooking up ANY TIME I WANTED for crappie in 10’-15’!! Moral of the story, they’re shallow and the schools are huge! Bass are shallow as well. Try a spinnerbait, chatterbait, blue and chartreuse crankbait and an IRR Tungsten Finesse jig got me a really nice bite when things got tough for us! If you are in the middle of a slow bite, give a Sensei worm on a shakey head a try.

Owyhee River: Lots of anglers on the water and the trout fishing is solid. Take a Daiwa DR Minnow in gold and see what happens!

Duck valley: CAN BUY PERMITS ONLINE!!!

Some really big fish are being caught! Trolling Flicker Shads and Shad Raps are always a good idea. We just got in some cool baits from Daiwa that I think would absolutely crush here. Check out the SC Shads. I’ll list them in the new product spotlight below. From the bank, powerbait is working and I have caught several good fish here on small spoons. You can troll them or cast and retrieve from the bank!

Lucky Peak Reservoir: Great reports this week for Kokanee. Fish are on top but a couple anglers did have some success on sunny days at 20’. Purple, whites and pinks were the reports that I received!

Arrowrock Reservoir: Trout factory right now! If you are looking for a decent spot to get a new angler on some fish, the trout fishing here is excellent. From the bank, CAREFULLY take the road to the back of the lake and spend some time around the river inlet.

Anderson Ranch Reservoir: Not tough to catch them right now! Tough to find good ones though. Lots of smalls. Your favorite dodgers and baits will get bit! I am getting so many reports about so many different colors that making sure your baits have hooks in them seems to be the only commonality 🤣

Payette Lake: Couple ok reports for Kokes but overall feel is that the water is still just a smidge too cool.

THANK YOU ALAN FOR THE REPORTS AND FOR ALL YOU DO FOR THE FISHING COMMUNITY!! Let’s keep guys like this around! Support Alan and Kokabow Tackle by purchasing his products - they are available in many great shops around the valley!

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN FISH WITH ALAN?? Contact Fish and Fur Outfitters and book a trip! 208-936-5180

SALMON AND STEELHEAD BY CODY ARD!:

Pretty much same report as last week.

Little salmon is still the steelhead hot spot. Flows have cone way up, and water was off color when I drove by it on Thursday, but very fishable.

High muddy water on Tue. Upper salmon has slowed things down.

SF keeps getting big spikes, but still is running waaay higher than normal.

Bonneville salmon count went up to 199 and still just the one fish thru lower granite. FnG has set seasons for Idaho, as usual theres Clearwater controversy as a NEW fisheries manager takes over for Joe Dupont, as he retired. Joe Thiessen takes the reigns.

Local Ponds: Great week for pond fishing! Lots of trout have been stocked and weeds in most of the ponds aren’t terrible…yet…but they will be soon. The neighborhood ponds in Meridian and Eagle are getting busy. Bass fishing has been excellent. Spinnerbaits, wacky senkos (PINK!!), neds and weightless flukes!! If you have any mini max chatterbaits, give those a try as well.

Free LUNCH!!, NEW ROD!!, Good Luck at Clearlake!, BBB at Lowell, Tinted Windows Save Your Baits!!, TONS OF NEW PRODUCT

JOIN US FRIDAY for a FREE LUNCH!! We are so grateful for the amazing community of people that keep us in business! We just want to make sure that we are giving as much as we are getting! Scotty’s Dogs will be here on Friday, April 17th from 11am to 2pm. LUNCH IS FREE! Stop by the shop for your free meal ticket! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY!!
Excited to Announce a BRAND NEW, Link Casting Rod!! The “Draggin” will be in stock soon!! This rod is specifically designed for the Idaho Rod and Reel Tungsten Finesse Jig and other baits that are meant to be fished on the bottom!! It is a 7’2” Medium Heavy, X-Fast Casting rod for 3/8oz to 1oz baits. There are ONLY 50 of these models available!! The “Draggin” features custom artwork, an amazing dark green blank, genuine Fuji guides, a 15% lighter Sea Guide reel seat and an ultra light carbon fiber handle kit. This rod is a bottom dwelling monster!! So excited for this! PRE ORDER WILL GO LIVE TUESDAY APRIL 14!!
Brian is heading to fish the WON Bass Clearlake tourney this week!! Go blow up his Instagram page wishing him good luck!
DON’T FORGET TO HAND IN YOUR SIGN UPS FOR THE BBB OPEN AT LAKE LOWELL!! Forms are available in shop!
I recently had my windows tinted by Cortland Place neighbor Shadow Films Window Tinting. The owner and my friend Ben talked to me about using a ceramic film that cost a bit more but he showed me how it would keep my truck cooler. I didn’t think much of it UNTIL I LEFT A TON OF BAITS IN THE CAB ON A REALLY SUNNY DAY!! I got back to the car and the baits felt Luke warm at best and NONE were ruined. Just something to think about as summer time is getting close!!
Some very cool new Merch dropping soon!! Keep your eyes on our social media - this stuff is going to go fast.
If you haven’t been in the shop lately, we have LOTS OF NEW PRODUCT on the shelves and on the way!!
BEGINNING BASS FISHING CLASS COMING SOON!!
^{Is there something you’d like to see in the shop? Email me at [email protected]…one random suggestion just might end up winning you a prize.}

Worth Watching

Very CooL!

Technically Speaking...

Which is Better?

Local and National Fishing News…and other “Stuff”

Ponds!

New early season fishing opportunities coming to ponds in Council, McCall, New Meadows and Cascade

More than 2,000 hatchery rainbow trout are headed to four community ponds in the Southwest Region in mid-April. These four ponds haven’t historically seen their first stocking event until around Memorial Day, so it will provide an additional month of fishing for local anglers.

Idaho Department of Fish & Game

Steelhead/Salmon UPDATE!

Spring Chinook fishing set to open April 25

Bag limits and days per week open to fishing are variable by river section. Spring Chinook Season and Rules brochure is posted on the Chinook Fishing rules webpage.

idfg.idaho.gov/article/spring-chinook-fishing-set-open-april-25