The road to Angel Lake is open but the lake is still mostly covered in unsafe ice.  It is going to be a week or two before you can fish here.    

CAVE LAKE

Cave Lake is ice free and fishing for nine to 12 inch fish has been fair to good.  The lake has been stocked with approximately  8000 fish between 10 and 11 inches this spring. Most anglers are having luck with small worms, though PowerBait is also catching fish.  Fly rodders should be using small olive or black bead head crystal buggers, small olive wooly worms, hares ears and prince nymphs.  On warmer afternoons if a hatch is seen, small Adams, black ants, Griffith’s gnats, and red or yellow humpies should all work. 

COLD CREEK RESERVOIR

Fishing here is fair to good for 10 to 12-inch trout and fair for bass. The lake was stocked with 2,000 rainbow trout averaging 11 inches earlier this spring.   The usual worms, PowerBait, small spinners and flies should all work.   

Comins Lake continues to fish well with surface water temperatures in the mid 60’s.  Anglers are catching trout averaging16 to 20 inches on a variety of tackle.  Panther Martins, spoons, PowerBait, salmon eggs, and night crawlers should all do well for the majority of bait fisherman.  Fly fisherman should use wooly buggers, leech patterns, and nymphs patterns (midges, beaded pheasant tails…etc.).  Comins was stocked this spring with approximately 10,000 rainbow trout averaging just over 8-inches.

ILLIPAH

The reservoir is full and fishing has been good.  The water is clearing.  The usual springtime flies of wooly buggers, prince nymphs, hares ears and chironomid patterns should all work.  Small spinners, PowerBait and worms should be effective as well. Illipah was stocked with 7500 trout this spring.

Very little change here as fishing continues to be fair to good.  Trout fishing is fair to good, bass fishing is slow to fair, and fishing for catfish has been fair.  The usual PowerBait and worms as well as small spinners are working for trout.  Fly rodders should be using chironomids, hares ears, PT nymphs, copper Johns, and black or olive wooly buggers.  The lake is full.

JIGGS / ZUNINO RESERVOIR

Jiggs has been with approximately 2300 trout, 300 of which are surplus brood stock averaging around 12 inches.  Anglers have been catching some blue gill and trout.  Best tactic for fly fishermen seems to be using a sink tip or intermediate sink line with a brown or black leech pattern.  A few bass are showing up in the creel, though they are still spawning due to the cooler and wetter spring.  The same presentations as at South Fork should work well here.  Trout fishing has been fair to good.  Bait anglers are doing best with worms under a bobber. 

MOUNTAIN STREAMS

While flows are subsiding as the snowpack shrinks from the warm weather, most streams are still well above normal for this time of year.  Expect well above normal flows for much of the early summer until the snow finally comes off the mountains.   The water is turbid and difficult to fish.  Shorelines are soft due high flows and the wet spring so please travel with caution.  While the flows are high, fishing below both Wildhorse and South Fork dams has been good as fish are going over the spillway at Wildhorse and through the gates at South Fork.  The USFS has opened the road into Lamoille Canyon to the public but flows are still very high.   As of June 21 the Bruneau River continues to drop and flows at 269 cubic feet/second (cfs), the Jarbidge at 59 cfs, Salmon Falls Creek at 394 cfs, Lamoille Creek at 414 cfs and has some flood warnings intermittently.  The South Fork of the Humboldt between 1,300 cfs, Cleve Creek at 43 cfs and Steptoe Creek at 27 cfs. 

High mountain lakes are still inaccessible due to snow and ice.  With the wet winter and spring some of the higher elevation lakes may not be accessible until July and most are probably still iced over. 

RUBY LAKE NWR

Not much has changed here as fishing continues to be good at the collection ditch for 13 to 16-inch trout with the occasional large trout being taken. Fishing seems to improve on rainy or windy days.  Wet flies have been performing better than the dries right now though there has been a Mayfly hatch on the warmer days.  These include the usual small nymphs such as PT’s, hares ears, olive soft hackles, BWO emergers, red or blue copper Johns and prince nymphs as well as egg patterns in orange or pink.  Wooly and crystal buggers in black, purple or olive are also working.  With the dredging done, the water is clearing though there is still some silt suspended from runoff.  The South Marsh was recently stocked and fishing at the boat ramp has been good for stockers with an occasional larger fish as well as a few bass. Unit 21 is also producing some bass using olive soft plastic grubs or olive wooly buggers.  The water temperature here is in the high-50’s pushing 60 degrees. Saturday, June 15, is the electric boat opener. Expect fair bass fishing until the water warms up. Dark four inch plastic grubs hooked weedless are the best bet for bass.  Good colors include dark green, brown, purple or blue.  Some anglers like a contrasting colored tail such as chartreuse.  If you are new to the marsh, stay on the main channel where there are marker poles.  However, some of the marker poles have fallen, so if you have a GPS, consider taking it and using the tracker feature so that you can follow your path back to the boat ramp.    

SOUTH FORK RESERVOIR

Fishing is starting to pick up with several anglers reporting good fishing the past couple of weeks using flies, bait or spinners. Over the past few weeks SF has been stocked with approximately 55,000 rainbow trout. Fishing small PT’s, hares ears or chironomids under a strike indicator have all worked.  Snail patterns and black leeches with some red flash should also be effective.  Like most of our high desert reservoirs, damselflies are hatching so damselfly nymph patterns should be effective.   The southwest side of the lake has been productive as has Tomera Cove, Hastings Cove and on either side of the dam.  Catfish have become active and anglers may want to try raw shrimp fished in low light conditions or at night. Surface water temperatures are in the mid 60’s.  Fishing below the dam in the river has been good though flows are high. The black bass are spawning so please give the guard males on the nests a break and fish the transition waters.  No black bass may be kept until July 1.

The lake was spilling earlier this week, but its slowing down.  Algae is growing and the water is getting murkier. Surface water temperatures are in the mid 60’s.  Depending upon the day and the weather, fishing ranges from good to excellent for 15 to 18 inch fish with some 20+ inch fish every once in a while.   Shore anglers continue to do well by the bridge in the Hendricks Arm using PowerBait  and with spinners.  For fly fishermen midge larva and midge emerger patterns as well as hares ears, and PT nymphs are still go to nymph patters. Black or olive wooly buggers were taking fish as well, though black is better as trout are eating black leeches. Damselflies are starting to appear so damselfly nymph fly patterns should be working.  With the lake spilling, fishing below the dam has been good for reservoir sized fish.  The lake was stocked with approximately 6,000 tiger trout averaging just over eight inches in length a couple of weeks ago.  No black bass may be kept until July 1. The campground is open and is on a first come first served basis.

WILLOW CREEK RESERVOIR

The reservoir is full!  NDOW and Barrick planted the reservoir with 5,000 five to six-inch catfish and 5,000 15-inch catfish on Friday, May 31. Expect the fishing for catfish to pick up as the water temperature starts to move above 60 degrees. Crappie from Chimney Creek Reservoir were stocked last week, but anglers are being asked to return any crappie they catch back to the lake for a couple of years while the fishery rebuilds.

WILSON RESERVOIR

The spilling is starting to subside and NDOW plans to stock the lake in about a week.  The water going over the spillway will probably quit sometime in the next week or so.  The water is still fairly clear, but algae is starting to grow.  Fishing is good for 12 to 15-inch fish that are in good shape. The same presentations, flies, baits and lures as used at South Fork, should also work well here.  Fishing below the spillway has been good.  The road is rutted with potholes but has dried out.