McCall Idaho Headline News

Bass anglers are having a field day on Lake Cascade and the Salmon River, area guides and retailers report.

Lake Cascade has been a much better bass and perch fishery this past week, Tom McGlashen of Tackle Tom's in Cascade said.

Bass are taking plastic lizards in the lake. Perch are even hitting the larger three-inch plastic bass grubs in a pumpkin color, McGlashen said.

Trout fishing in the lake has remained slow for anglers, he said.

Dave Bingaman of Exodus Wilderness Adventures in Riggins said that the good bass reports from a week ago still are holding true on trips this week on the Salmon River.

Bingaman was also excited about the early steelhead numbers being reported through Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.

Steelhead season does not begin until September on the Salmon River in Riggins, but as of Sunday 195,000 steelhead had passed Bonneville Dam. That number is up from 152,000 on the same date last year.

Steelhead passing through Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River was also up over last year's number. So far, 14,328 ocean-going rainbow trout had made their way back toward Idaho, which was 2,328 more than the 10-year average by this time of year, he said.

Trout anglers are still finding success at Horsethief Reservoir, McGlashen said.

"I haven't had a negative comment all year long," he said. Anglers using Powerbait from the shore near the dam have been having the most success catching the rainbow and brown trout that were stocked in the lake this spring.

The lake was drained last fall and a fish poison was applied to rid the lake of perch that were illegally transplanted in the lake.

The lake never fully refilled from spring runoff and weeds and algae were growing well in the shallow reservoir, but it never slowed the fishing success, McGlashen said.

"Fishing should be getting better now as the water is cooling," McCall Angler fishing guide Andrew Morgan said. "Watch for the tiger muskies stocked in some of the high mountain lakes."

Fish & Game stocked tiger muskies in several area high mountain lakes to rid the lakes of overpopulated brook trout. The fish may surprise some anglers expecting a trout on the end of the line.

Morgan suggests trout anglers pack caddis and dun patterns in their dry fly box. He also said that ant patterns, cinnamon colored, are working well as are black wooly buggers and prince nymphs.

Kimberland Meadows Pond was stocked this week with 500 catchable rainbow trout by the McCall Fish Hatchery.

Next week, the hatchery will stock Browns Pond with 900 rainbow trout, Council Park Pond with 700 trout, Fischer Pond with 1,000 trout, Payette Lake with 500 trout, Rowland Pond with 500 trout and the North Fork of the Payette River below the Cascade Dam with 500 trout.