Hook Points

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: Mostly solid reports this week - a few folks had some tough trips but overall, decent fishing! Crappie anglers have been reporting spread out schools of fish - but that the sizes of the schools have been decent. Trolling is a great way to find these schools - 60-80’ set backs, 1.5mph and don’t forget your S curves! Flicker Shads and Shad Raps are the kings but don’t forget simple soft plastics on underspins are great for trolling as well. Plenty of fish in the narrows but there are a lot of fish in the Bruneau right now and up the Snake River arm. In the Bruneau, one customer recommended trolling on the 20’ deep line and just staying on it! There are shallow fish available for bank anglers and the key to catching them will be covering water. Underspins add weight to your plastics which can give you a larger casting radius. Floats and soft plastics with crappie nibbles can allow you to find the depth that the fish are at. Bass fishing has been excellent for 1-2# smallies, larger fish have been a little tricky for most. Plenty of shallow bass and they are willing to eat a topwater (Rico Popper), a Keitech (3.3” on a 3/16oz Cipher Head, Green pumpkin color), a jig (IRR Tungsten Finesse Jig, Smallie Bug with a UV Speed Craw trailer), a jerkbait (Duo Realis PERCH!!!) and a Ned rig (let’s go with the Crush City Salted Nedroll!!). Bonus bait - Senko on a nail weight!

Boise River: Boise River Guides tells us the bite from the boat is excellent! Sounds like the bank reports have been a little tough. I’d have baits that I could cast a good distance and that fish well in current - take a look at the Daiwa cranks and jerks that we have in the shop. Drifting the small trout magnets will work as well…throw em under a float and add some split shot!

Brownlee: Current water level is 2068.7 - up almost 2’ in a week. Great place to fish right now for crappie, bass and catfish. LOTS of reports of cats being caught by bass anglers on drop shots, Ned rigs and jerkbaits…means there are a bunch of them and they are on the move. As the bass fry start moving around, you’re only going to catch more and more catfish and SHALLOW! Lots of 1-2# fish can be caught on the banks with jerkbaits, Neds, drop shots, Texas rigged beaver style baits, Keitechs and jigs. Topwaters are working as well! You might notice you catch some bigger bass if you can pull yourself away from the bank. Crappie are biting and they are good sized. Lots of schools by deep bluffs and at mouths of coves that are rocky. Your favorite soft plastic should catch these. I personally caught several a week or so ago and did it with a purple jerkbait and 3.3” Keitechs!

Snake River: Lots of grass but there are good bites to be had. Great spot to target right now for the bank angler and I wouldn’t go here right now WITHOUT a topwater! Finesse jigs, Neds, Senkos and 4-5” glide baits are great options. If you haven’t thrown a 5” Daingerous or the small Bucca Trick Shad - you should…

Wilson Springs: Lots of 10-12” keeper are biting right now is the report from a Wilson regular! Powerbait and small crappie jigs are what he recommends! Sounds like the bluegill in the back pond are shallow and happy to eat a bit of nightcrawler.

Lake Lowell: Good, bad, great, bad, good…That’s Lowell in a nutshell! Overall - definitely a place you should target right now. Try a chatterbait or spinnerbait with gold in it somewhere, a senko fished weightless, a Dry Creek tube flipped with a 1/4oz bullet weight and I’d have a buzzbait or Zoom horny toad ready to do some topwater work! Huge fan of just a white or black toad. If you are new to buzzbaits, come take a look at the Big Bite Baits Tour Toad Buzz - great topwater that’s rigged up and ready to go!

Cascade Reservoir: Bass tough, perch not, trout decent! Lots of guys up there practicing for the first few bass tournaments of the year and so far, bass have been a little grumpy 🤣! I am hearing reports of some shallow fish - but quite a few out in 12-15’, waiting to move up. I am a huge fan of the Keitech at Cascade as a major search bait. I go with the 3/16oz Cipher head so I can fish shallow and not hang up too much but can also throw out in to 20’ and not have to wait forever for the bait to hit the bottom before I start my retrieve. I’d also have a jerkbait in a perch pattern, a red or natural colored crankbait, a Big Bite Baits SoMolly on a drop shot and a senko for looking for big green ones! For the perch, get on the weed edges and get out on the troll! Flicker Shads in perch colors, Shad Raps in orange hues and jointed Shad Raps are a great call as well. From the bank, tossing small Keitech Easy Shiners or 2.8 Fat Swing Impacts on underspins are a great idea. Get around rocky points if you can - areas around the dam and Crown Point are excellent.

Horsethief Reservoir: Good reports from bank anglers throwing small spoons and powerbait and from anglers trolling from small personal pontoon boats and float tubes that were trolling Daiwa spoons and leeches on fly rods.

Owyhee Reservoir: Mixed reports for bass and phenomenal reports for small to medium sized crappie. For the bass, there are shallow fish to be caught. Look around areas with gradually sloping points and toss a weightless senko out on em. For those fish just off the bank, I’d have a Trick Worm on a Shakey Head, a 4-6” worm on a drop shot, a jerkbait and a buzzbait or popper. Never a bad idea to have a spinnerbait and a PBJ jig out here as well. Brian fished here this weekend and had an absolute blast catching crappies on darn near anything you could get in front of them! Great opportunities for the bank angler and there are plenty of areas with easy access. 1/8oz head and a soft plastic of your choice is all you will need!

Owyhee River: Some decent reports this week coming from a couple of my fly fishing buddies. Flows are low and the river is easy to wade. Lots of smaller rising fish but plenty of 14-16” fish available in slower, deeper sections if you know where to look. Which is on the bank, in the shade!

Duck valley: CAN BUY PERMITS ONLINE!!!

Fishing well right now if you can plan around the dang wind! The weeds are higher than normal for May due to the warm winter I am sure. For bank anglers throwing crawlers or powerbait, you need to be around open water and rocks - so target the dams. Otherwise, your offerings are being lost in the weeds! For those interested in trolling, need to fish high in the water column and just nick the tops of the grass. Smaller cranks will generally not dive as deep - make sure you have a few that don’t dive much past 5-6’.

Lucky Peak Reservoir: Some good sized Kokes showing up and plenty of trout. Pink is the color I have been hearing the most about. Second would be bright orange. Best fishing I have heard of is around Spring Shores.

Arrowrock Reservoir: Tons of trout and some kokes mixed in. Sounds like the better cutting fish are here. Area around the South Fork has been busy according to one customer. Mixed reports on colors - Wonder Bread and Intimidator are two dodgers that I know caught fish last week. Don’t forget the corn!

Anderson Ranch Reservoir: On fire! Some ok sized fish and a tons of littles but Alan with Kokabow Tackle says they are eager! Pick your favorite couple dodgers and get after it!

Payette Lake: Starting to pick up. Not hot and heavy yet but we are hearing about a few fish being caught. Sounds like white dodgers high in the water column with orange and pink spinners seem to be the most effective. Tuna blood corn is what one customer told me was the deal.

SALMON AND STEELHEAD BY CODY ARD!:

68K Salmon over Bonneville. 2588 over Lower Granite. I’ve already heard of fish being caught in Lewiston. Unless another eave comes over Bonneville, it’s looking like the run had peaked - hopefully not! I haven’t seen pit tag data yet so I don’t know which rivers the fish are headed to. Fish should be in Riggins by Memorial Day weekend. Get stocked up on yarn, lead, hooks, soft beads, etc. I just spend 5 days at Wind River and Drano - fish are big and feisty this year. No word on the summer run yet. I’m sure within 2 weeks we will know more.

Local Ponds: And just like that the bass got a little tricky! Senkos and flukes are my recommendations! Pond bass are lazy bass - especially post spawn pond bass! Trout stocking has some of the local ponds hopping. Check the reports and take a simple split shot rig with a nightcrawler or powerbait rigged up. They like crappie jigs too!

Meet Chris Zuccato, New Product and Huge Restock!, Customs Products, TightLines 208 Trolling Class, Custom Purple In Stock Soon! - only 60 Available,

• We want to welcome Chris Zuccato to the Idaho Rod and Reel team! Chris is a well known angler in the Kokanee/Trout/Salmon community and brings a WEALTH of information to the shop. He is a Kokabow Pro Staffer, the owner of the Youtube Channel Idaho Hook and Hunt and was with the Nampa Sportsmans Warehouse for several years! We are lucky and grateful to have him. Look for him on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

• WE HAVE BEEN BUSY!! Thank you all for that! We are working hard to get things restocked after a busy couple of weeks. Our Keitech wall has been beat up! That should be restocked by Tuesday. Our spinnerbait wall is full again. Kokabow should be restocking us this week. Northwest Rod Bender Corn is Restocked. We have quite a few flipping baits and hooks ready for Lowell. We have quite a few Kalins grubs coming this week - crappie and bass sizes. I’ll try to keep our socials updated with pics as the baits arrive!

• I’m going to try to have some hand-tied spinnerbaits and buzzbaits made this week!!

• Join Jordan Rodriguez as he teaches about all things TROLLING! Class will be held at the Idaho Rod and Reel Learning Center on May 20 from 6pm - 8:30pm. Class is only $40 when you use the CODE “IRR” - There’s more to it than just dragging baits behind the boat…let Jordan show you how to catch more fish trolling.

• THE PURPLE JERKBAIT WILL BE BACK IN STOCK SOON! We had 60 of them made - sold out in less than 2 weeks last time we had them painted! Watch our socials for their arrival.

• Some very cool new Merch dropping soon!! Keep your eyes on our social media - this stuff is going to go fast.

• 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

I loved this!

Technically Speaking...

Get better with your electronics…

Local and National Fishing News…and other “Stuff”

Did You Know?

Steelhead/Salmon UPDATE!

Local Fish Stocking Reports

Steelhead Dam Counts

Spinnerbait trailers! Should you or shouldn’t you?

Frog Fishing from a Master!

Post Spawn Bass Movement

This guy is the man!! Crappie Tactics from one of the best.

15 Things about pro fishing…interesting!!

So good!! For the fly anglers!

Good to know!!

How to use planer boards by Chris Zuccato!!

New in the Shop

Damiki Crankbaits!

Cool Trout Magnet Kits!

The MARINA - Boats available at J and H Sales and Marine

Check out this Nitro!!

Catch Spotlight

Submit your own entry to be featured in Hook Points to: [email protected], Subject: Catch Spotlight

Jon bringing us a RARE one today!!

Congrats to Josh and Greg for their great finish at the first Western Elite Bass tournament of the year! Cashing a check is always a good thing!

Carson’s been out finding green ones!

Two great guides had a little luck at Drano! Congrats Cody Ard and Brownlee Guide Gage Warren!

Brent is on ‘em for the second straight week!

Great jog Rebecca and Tyler! Glad to see you are out fishing!

Little neck surgery didn’t slow this guy down at all! Glad you’re on the water Riley!

Dan with his biggest largemouth yet!! Congrats man!

Some crappie with a side of “tude”! Great job ladies!

Brian getting in on that Owyhee crappie action!

If there are crappie around, Jordan is gonna catch them!

Frank showing us the Yin and the Yang of fishing!

Beautiful fish and an incredible picture!

Nice job Kekoa! Glad you were able to get out!!

Shannon is on BIGS!

That’s definitely a catch worth a big smile young man!!

The Funk family walleye trip was a success!!

Big fish of the week goes to Kelvin!! Giant!!

Jordan has a knack for finding good ones!

Joey May doing Joey May kind of things!!

Hey Mark! Good to see you’re hanging out with good friends! 😄