Local Ponds, Boise Area

[MeCrankMate]

The weather up here is still having a hard time getting with the program. Colder than normal temps and periods of rain have made for a slow start to the fishing season this year. The local ponds have been my go to for several months now since the rivers are all running at near flood levels to accomodate the expected snow melt and I haven't had a chance to make the drive to any of the higher elevation lakes. I know they are just stocker ponds, but they're better than nothing and beats sitting on my ass thinking about fishing when I could be out doing it

Fished Riverside Pond on Wed. afternoon with my Dad after I got off work. Weather was warm and sunny when I got there so started off with Shad pattern mini jigs. Fish were hungry. Incidentally, DFG stocked some larger than normal trout this go around... so most of the fish put up a good fight and averaged around 12-14" as opposed to the normal 8-10". Weather came in around 8 and the temp dropped atleast 15 degrees in 30 mins. Caught 17 rainbows (all on Shad, orange, and Bluegill/Pink jigs) and 1 Carp that was about 5lbs. My Dad ended up with 11 rainbows. Only saw one other person out of 10 or so catch a fish other than us.

Fished Quinn's Pond several times this past week, as well as today. Been doing really good on the trout on red Thomas Bouyants and jigs. Today they liked night crawlers and Mike's Shrimp Salmon eggs on the bait rod as well as the red Bouyant. Also been catching some good LMB around the edges and on the drop offs. I had seen a few holding tight to submerged branches, but was targeting trout. Caught a nice 2 LMB on a Phoebe last Sat. Started throwing top water (buzzbaits and plugs) and had a few blow ups behind it (none stuck) and a follower that nearly took my breath away. Ended up with 5 rainbows this morning, 2 on bait and 3 on the Bouyant. None on jigs today, but I did miss a couple on the pink/white. On a side note, talked to some guys that were Scuba diving the pond and they said that the thermocline was at 10 ft and the temp at 33 ft was 49-50 degrees. Most of all the trout action that I had was in the top 5 ft of the water column. No bait fish off the bottom, all on the bobber with a 3 ft+ leader while I was pitching the jigs and Bouyant.

Also fished Merril and Settlers Ponds this last week. Early last week the weeds at Merril were on the verge of making the east side unfishable for trout and didn't catch any trout anyway. I did however catch some nice LMB's in the shallows on weedless tubes and buzzbaits. The Cops & Bobbers event was last weekend and the weeds looked like too much of a hastle for me to even bother. I hit Settler's Pond on Thurs. after softball practice and got 7 nice rainbows in about 45 mins... all on pink/white minijigs. Settler's had a nice grade of trout as well, all 12-14" with one around 16".

That's the local report for now... plan is to hit some higher elevation lakes (Cascade, Fish Lake, Tripod, and maybe Herrick Res.) next weekend and do some recon up near McCall. Seriously, can't freakin' wait till the spring flows subside so I can get back on the river... driving me nutz!!!

[BigUglyDeafGuy]

Amen on the river flows. I'd even settle for consecutive days without rain at this point.

My Dad's place is on the Clearwater north of your area. Trying to arrange a visit out there in the next month or so. I don't have even the slightest clue what I'm doing when trying to fish it, but it's still fishing you know?

[MeCrankMate]

I hear that... I'm still trying to get used to fishing on big rivers and reading the water up here. I grew up fishing smaller creeks and streams that were ultimately tributaries to the larger rivers. Only actual river that I've ever had any experience on prior to the move up here was the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra's in California. I'd say that I have the Boise here through town dialed, but the bigger stuff (ie Clearwater, Snake, ect) is still a challenge to read and figure out where the fish are holding. I've found that if you seek the pocket water, and look for the "smaller streams" within the river itself that you can be pretty successful. This season is gonna be off the freakin' charts when the flow abate.... goin' nuts playing the waiting game. Good luck to you on the Clearwater, hope you nail a hawg or two