NF of the CDA and St. Joe River Report May 4, 2017

A day early but happy Cinco De Mayo!  Spring has finally arrived.  It will be pushing 80 degrees in Wallace today.  Tomorrow will be in the 70's with afternoon thunderstorms.  The weekend is shaping up to be quite nice.  If you have been waiting for this winter to end to fish, then this is the weekend to start.

The North Fork of the Coeur d Alene is currently flowing at 5,200 CFS and on Tuesday the water temp was 44 degrees.  So it is still flowing fairly high and is on the cold side of optimum.  But, there are some really strong hatches going on right now.  If you are on the lower river keep an eye out for the Salmon Flies.  The March Browns are still out along with Gray Drakes and Skawala's.  I used to fish the Salmon Fly hatch each spring on the SF of the Snake or Henry's. One of the strategies was to fish large (#2-6) stonefly nymphs miles above where the hatch was happening on the lower river.  The hatch usually rolls up the river over a few week period depending on weather.  The trout will definitely be feeding on those nymph prior to the hatch.  The thought was that since the Salmon Fly is so big the fish can only eat so much.  So by the time the hatch arrives they may be a little full. Kind of like if you go to both sides of your family for Thanksgiving dinner and have 2 meals.  Just a different thought  on how to approach the Salmon Fly Hatch.  

The afternoon has been the most productive time to fish dries.  The lower river is fishing better than the upper section.    

Here is a list of flies we are suggesting;

Swisher's PMX and Original PMX
Stimmies
Galloup Tilt Wing Olive (New Fly)
Para Adam's
Female Adam's
Copper Haze
Christiaen's Grey Drake
Hilda's Spring Creek Mahogany
Kicking Klink
Para Mahogany
Big Sky Salmon Fly
King Kong
Godzilla
Sofa Pillow
King's CDC Stone
Trina's Carnage
Henry Fork Golden

San Juan Worm, Blood and Pink
Brillon's Lucent Jig (New Fly)
Galloup's War Bird Black and Coffee/Black  (New Fly)
Pat's Stone
Kaufman Stone
Double B Black Stone
Kyles Golden Stone

St. Joe River is currently flowing at 6,000 CFS.  I do not have a reading of the water temp, but I'm sure it is in the mid 40's.  The flows have been much steadier on the Joe compared to the NF of the CDA.  While I have not been on the Joe I have heard from customers and others that it is fishing very well right now.  It is still high so you will need to pick your spots and try not to fall in.  Remember it is flowing at 6,000 CFS.  The hatches and basic conditions are similar to the NF of the CDA.  Right now the lower half is fishing better than the upper half above Avery.  The last report I had was that MOON Pass is still not open. But you can reach the Red Ives station.

As for hatches and suggested flies please see the above for the NF of the CDA.

Thanks and give us a call with a report.