Big lake in Eastern Idaho

Headed out with a great group of people @Bruce Baker @WindKnot for our annual lake trip to Eastern Idaho.
With fish density’s being at historic lows we didn’t have high expectations, but we pressed on East regardless.
When we arrived the first day we found the lake almost completely empty of anglers. Almost more moose, than fisherman. Not a great sign for catching.

We got the boats in the water and started fishing. The first day was tough fishing and not a lot of fish were caught. But at least it was pretty.

On the second day @WindKnot found the hot fly. His “The Polliwog” fly was the ticket (I think this fly caught 95% of all the fish on this trip).

Once @WindKnot started sharing his stash of Polliwogs the fishing picked up and fish started being caught more consistently.



There were many large fish caught. Ask @Bruce Baker about straightened out hooks .
Trigger warning, fish out of water picture below.


I ended up catching my largest on a Fire Tiger pattern.

It was a great trip, with a great group of people. Can’t wait for next year!

 

[Snopro]

Awesome report! Fire tiger color combo is hot. Are the tails from Spawn?

 

[Paul_]

Awesome report! Fire tiger color combo is hot. Are the tails from Spawn?

Yes. From Spawn.

 

[Yard Sale]

Pretty fish!

 

[troutpocket]

Very nice. Love it when an oddball pattern unlocks a tough bite. Amazing scenery too!

 

[tkww]

With fish density’s being at historic lows we didn’t have high expectations, but we pressed on East regardless.

Is there a particular/known reason for this?

 

[Paul_]

Is there a particular/known reason for this?

I think drought conditions over the last few years are a major factor.

 

[Piscihound]

Glad to hear you were successful! Heading there in a couple more weeks myself.

 

[Billy]

That 25 incher dang!!!!! Great report!

 

[ifsteve]

Glad you got into some fish. Been pretty poor for the last several months. A day here or there when somebody finds an eating pod of fish but overall just lousy. Fish population is down to 25% of target. Lots of theories why but most of us who have fished it for a long time think that allowing ice fishing is a major mistake as is bait fishing.

I mean the lake has very restrictive kill regs (2 fish and you must stop fishing once you kill your second fish) so why allow bait? Bait guys catch their first fish then just release the rest till they are ready to leave then get one more. Wish they would change it to artificials only.

 

[Florida Man]

Man. Those are some absolute tanks!!

 

[dirty dog]

Pretty fish and flies

 

[up2nogood]

Glad you got into some fish. Been pretty poor for the last several months. A day here or there when somebody finds an eating pod of fish but overall just lousy. Fish population is down to 25% of target. Lots of theories why but most of us who have fished it for a long time think that allowing ice fishing is a major mistake as is bait fishing.

I mean the lake has very restrictive kill regs (2 fish and you must stop fishing once you kill your second fish) so why allow bait? Bait guys catch their first fish then just release the rest till they are ready to leave then get one more. Wish they would change it to artificials only.

I fished it this summer , and the usual places just weren’t holding many fish . Very slow. I was in the area for six weeks, and gave it several days . It fished nothing like it did the year before .

 

[Paul_]

the usual places just weren’t holding many

I think one of the keys to our limited success was constantly moving. If we didn’t have any action in 15 minutes, we moved.
Also, we were the only boats on the west side of the lake most of the time (which says something about how poor the fishing has been there this year). So the fish had zero pressure.

 

[Hem]

I posted a picture of one of the fish I caught this last weekend on the same lake. Weather was mild with little wind.
First time fishing this lake in decades.
Though plenty of room I was surprised at the number of boats fishing....mostly on the West end. People seemed to congregate in an area, and then move almost as a collective, to other spots. Fishing was slow, but I figured it takes time to dial in. Eventually we cracked the code for that day.

 

[up2nogood]

I think one of the keys to our limited success was constantly moving. If we didn’t have any action in 15 minutes, we moved.
Also, we were the only boats on the west side of the lake most of the time (which says something about how poor the fishing has been there this year). So the fish had zero pressure.

There were times I was the only boat on the west side ( inflatable pontoon ) I could see several on the east side , but too far to go for me . That should have told me something.