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Idaho's Fishing Newsletter

Ryan Chris
August 11, 2026

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A NOTE FROM RYAN!

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Fishing Reports

CJ Strike: Great place to target right now. It is smokey but fish are biting more consistently here than just about anywhere. Crappie and perch are being caught in 25-30’ as well as some schools in as shallow as 10’. In the narrows, the trollers are telling me that longer setbacks are working and to not discount the lowly wedding ring - that report is from a customer that went looking for trout and came home with 20+ good sized crappie and a couple perch. Bank anglers, don’t ignore the areas below the dam. Bass, crappie, perch and some trout are all available and a Ned rig is not a bad way to catch a lot of fish. Try the Tungsten EWG Ned heads from the shop - they are a killer around here! Pair it with a Zman TRD Fattyz - use it as the bottom weight of a drop shot and put a crappie jig 12” above it - see what happens! The most consistent bass fishing has been in the deeper parts of the main bowl and up the Snake River arm. In the main bowl - tough to beat a Carolina rigged Jr. Brush Hawg or a 5” Fluke dragged all over every 30’ piece of water you can find! I’d still have a shallow option - Lobina Rico Popper would be my choice - there’s always a shallow hunter somewhere 😉. Up the Snake River arm - take a Jerkbait, drop shot, mid depth diving crankbait like a Spro Rk Crawler and a Whopper Plopper. An IRR Tungsten jig is a given…never leave home without one!

Boise River: Its float season and some of you are finding out that it’s not uncommon to have SEVERAL float tubes and other inflatables drift by ya! Some might even offer you a cold drink if you’re nice…I like to fish around the college and red walking bridge this time of the year. Look for those deeper sections next to shallow riffles - see an undercut bank? Hit it! Small jerks and cranks are what I prefer - especially if you are targeting browns. Crappie jigs are my second suggestion and if those aren’t doing it for you - jig head and a piece of shrimp is straight up deadly.

Brownlee: Down another 3’ to 2058. Algae warning is in effect. Heavy smoke! Check road reports if you can - especially if you are trying to launch at the Spring Ramp. If you are heading to Woodhead thru Payette/Weiser, 95 funnels to one lane just past the last light as you are leaving Payette and the wait can be several minutes. Going early will avoid this. I am not hearing that guys are having issues getting in at Woodhead but there is a chance. Several reports last week from folks that couldn’t get in at Spring! If we hear anything different, we will announce it on socials. If you do decide to hit Brownlee, you are going to get bit. Fishing has been solid - though the size of the bass has gone down for most - but hey, catching a bunch of 1-2.25 pounders sounds like fun to me! Lots of deeper options are working…Carolina rigs, Neds, drop shots (throw 3/8oz - trust me - get down on em!), IRR Jigs and tubes are all excellent options. Don’t forget - we always have some shallow fish available - go with a Rico or Whopper Plopper! For the crappie hunters, several fish were caught this week on the smaller 2.5” Mooch Minnows and one customer now understands why we are such fans of the 3” Easy Shiner on an IRR Underspin!!

Snake River: Lots of fish to catch and lots of grass to try to make it a little annoying 🤣! In the areas with clear enough water that you can get a topwater through - I’d have a Whopper Plopper or Rico/River2Sea popper. To do my subsurface work I’d have an IRR Tugnsten jig, IRR EWG Ned head with a Zoom UV Speed Craw or a Crush City Ned BLT, a 3.8 Keitech Fat Swing on a Belly Weighted EWG and a 5” Super Fluke.

Wilson Springs: No Report

Lake Lowell: Still fishing well and the crowds are out there to prove it. Some of the extra traffic you’re seeing out there is probably smoke related as well - folks not wanting to risk road closures or ramp closures or spend too much time out in the smoke. And the fishing is solid - so there’s that! Don’t need much to catch ‘em right now - a frog and a flipping bait will do a lot of damage! Tough to beat the Crush City Clean Up Craw…

Cascade Reservoir: Several reports for this week so thank you to everyone that contributed!! Dillon let me know that the Ned rig/drop shot combo with a Mooch Minnow in 15-20 fish caught good numbers of perch AND some really nice sized smallies! We got another report from Patrick who was fishing slowly on the bottom with small jig heads tipped with nightcrawlers out in 25’ around Sugarloaf. They caught some nice perch! My buddy Stu let me know that he saw lots of trout around Crown Point and that he saw perch everywhere - recommended an Easy Shiner for those! Said the bass were a little slow but dragging the jig got him some good bites! Thank you everyone for the input!! It’s the community that makes it work!!

Horsethief Reservoir: No Report

Owyhee Reservoir: Some better reports for bass - but I’m not calling this place “on fire!” - its still fishing pretty tough for bass. I even had a couple guys mention that the crappie were more spread out and a little moody. For the bass - there are deep ones and shallow ones…for the deeper fellers, I’m going to go with a Trick Worm on a Shakey head OR on a drop shot with a heavier drop shot weight. I’ve told a ton of anglers around here how underfished the Zoom Trick Worm is - found a cool video about that and I put it down below. Such a good worm!! I’d have a jig and a Carolina rig as well. For topwater, hard for me to recommend anything other than a Rio Rico or Rico popper - Uno Mas is responsible for some great catches in the past 2 weeks there. Couple great places to throw the black ones…there’s a chance in the right area that it gets swallowed…there’s a hint in there 🫠! I know a couple of you had some luck on a white Chatterbait as well - but said that the bite was VERY sporadic.

Owyhee River: No Report

Lucky Peak Reservoir: Kokanee bite slowed for a few of you last week. For those that had success, sounds like you fished pretty darn deep - 45’ and deeper in some instances. Darker dodgers, pink hoochies and the best report that I heard of was on a Kokanee Cut Plug. Only a few trout catches reported - on homemade wedding rings!

Arrowrock Reservoir: Couple reports trickled in this week - both were almost the same…trolled all day, caught trout…and one Pikeminnow 😆

Anderson Ranch Reservoir: Best Kokanee bite there is - and not everything is tiny. Reports of 12-13” fish are coming in somewhat consistently. Was one of the better places for air quality but a fire did break out near there recently. Tough year for the fires - if you are a praying person, pray. If you are good vibes person, send ‘em.

Payette Lake: No Report.

Salmon and Steelhead Report by Cody Ard!

No Update this Week

Local Ponds: No Reports this week,

Shirts are selling QUICKLY!, WIN A NEW ROD JUST FOR FISHING!!, Something Cool is Coming to IRR…

The new Sun Hoodies have been a huge hit!! If you’re interested in them, get a hold of one quickly as we are already selling out of certain patterns and sizes! Lots of compliments on the new designs! The new Heavyweight Lifestyle Tees have been a huge hit! Also selling quickly - get ‘em while you can! We had to place another order for the Medium and Large shirts!! Still a few in stock but will sell out this week I am betting.
NEW ROD GIVEAWAY!!! We have a NEW VERSION of our MEDIUM LINK SPINNING RODS shipping in a few weeks. WE ARE GOING TO GIVE ONE AWAY!! Catch a fish wearing any of the new Idaho Rod and Reel apparel - tag us on social media or send me the picture - and you will be entered to win the rod!! If you do tag us on socials - MESSAGE me as well to let me know you did! Sometimes we don’t get notified…
Idaho Rod and Reel is committed to creating a unique experience for our customers. Whether it’s providing custom rods and tackle, opportunities to learn or meet experts, lunches and activities to meet and hang out with other anglers thru community building events, one of a kind apparel items, food drives and community outreach events and so on - it is our mission to share our love of fishing and find ways to help you fall more in love with this sport!! WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE WHAT WE HAVE COMING SOON!! Can’t wait…
Medium Heavy Link Rods have shipped!! Easily the best seller in the shop and they sell quickly - which is why we have been out of stock for a while! They will be back just in time for what I believe will be one of the best fall fishing seasons we have seen or will see for a while.
Buy a reel from Idaho Rod and Reel and it will now come with a Neoprene cover for it! Free of charge!!
Shop is STOCKED! Some very cool products and brands arriving almost daily!
^{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

This is NUTS!

Technically Speaking...

Not a good idea to not know knots…

Local and National Fishing News…and other “Stuff”

CJ Closure! Sturgeon!!

IDFG director issues conservation closure for sturgeon fishing on portion of CJ Strike Reservoir

To protect sturgeon amid abnormally low dissolved oxygen levels and high water temperatures in a portion of CJ Strike Reservoir, Idaho Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks on July 31 signed a conservation closure order for sturgeon fishing in the portion of the Snake River arm between Canyon Creek and Rattlesnake Creek, effective August 2 until September 25, 2026.

Idaho Department of Fish & Game

Summer Chinook Info

July 28, 2026 South Fork Salmon River Chinook Update

That's a wrap on another South Fork Salmon River Chinook season. After opening on June 18, the fishery remained open for 34 days, including six full weekends of fishing. We’re now within 35 fish of our harvest share, and the Director's Office has signed a closure order effective at the end of fishing hours on Wednesday, July 29.

Idaho Department of Fish & Game

Steelhead/Salmon UPDATE!

IDFG issues closure order for Chinook salmon fishing on South Fork Salmon River

All Chinook salmon fishing on the South Fork Salmon River will close effective at the end of fishing hours on July 29. Check out the Chinook Salmon Seasons and Rules page to check the status of all Idaho Chinook salmon fisheries.

Idaho Department of Fish & Game