Best Places to Fish on Fourth of July Weekend
(KLIX) – If you plan to celebrate Independence Day with a rod, reel and creel, there are some things you should know. What, for instance, are some of the best places to fish on the upcoming holiday weekend?
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has some suggestions.
Topping the department's list of best fishing spots for the Magic Valley region is Silver Creek, located west of Picabo. The department calls the rainbow and brown trout here “wily” and “cagey,” giving anglers a chance to hone their skills. Though the creek has many access points, a favorite location to fish, the department says, is near the Nature Conservancy Preserve west of Picabo because of its picturesque setting.
“The stream's abundant and predictable insect hatches bring trout to surface,” the department said in a news release, “but these fish have grown up with real and artificial flies drifting over their heads and learn to separate the real from the imitators.”
Oakley Reservoir, which Fish and Game says has a reputation for “fast-growing fish,” received 26,000 rainbow trout last year. This year it was stocked with 12-inch trout that should give anglers a chance to fill their frying pans.
Anglers have the chance to catch three species of trout at Sublett Reservoir – brown, cutthroat and rainbow. Located about 15 miles south of Raft River, this reservoir is a great destination for Pocatello and Magic Valley residents. Sublett Reservoir has three tributaries, the department said: Lake Fork, Sublett Creek, and Van Camp Creek. There also are camping opportunities.
Fish and Game says there aren't much better places to fish for kokanee salmon in Idaho right now than Anderson Ranch Reservoir, a 7.4 square-mile reservoir located about 35 miles northeast of Mountain Home.
“Kokanee are starting to move to deeper water with the warmer weather, so downriggers will help. Anglers trolling for kokanee may also encounter landlocked Chinook salmon and rainbow trout. Sometimes overlooked is the reservoir's smallmouth bass fishery.”
Big Wood River, located upstream of Magic Reservoir, this year has high flows thanks to a lot of snow this past winter in the mountains. As such, the river hasn’t been a good place to fish, but the department says that could change soon.
“The flows on this popular fly-fishing destination … could be suitable for fishing for the first time this summer, just in time for the Fourth of July,” according to the news release. Before heading out, anglers should keep an eye on river flows.”
The department urges anglers to check the 2019-21 Idaho Fishing Seasons and Rules brochure because rules vary on different parts of the river.