Report date: 12/11/12

Currently the Clearwater is fishing great. Last week we had a high water event that shut things down for a few days, but as of yesterday the river was back to fishing great! On Monday 12/10/12 Clearwater river company clients had a fantastic day with one boat going 6-6 and the other boat going 5-7. Fish were landed while back trolling plugs and side drifting bait. This is a fantastic time of year to be fishing Idaho's Clearwater River! For the rest of this week and into next week we expect fishing to remain good, and as long as we don't get any super cold temps fishing will stay good through the end of the month and into January!

Don't forget we are offering a holiday special!  Any one who takes a trip with us during December and January will recive a twenty five percent discout!!! For More information check out www.clearwaterrivercompany.com

 

Report date: 11/20/12
Fishing over the past week was overall slower than the few weeks previous. This last Saturday was the big opening of the annual Lewiston steelhead derby. Although a good time is had by many of the contestants it almost always has a negative impact on the fishing due to the major spike in fishing pressure in a short time frame. But, with that said, when our guides found fresh ...

fish they did very well. One of our boats went 7-12 on Sunday, and another of our guides landed two on the swing on Saturday. Most of our success came for from back trolling plugs and side drifting bait. The fly guys that did well were swinging leach type patterns and sink tips.
For this week expect fishing to pick up some as the fish get used to the current conditions. I'm fact this week has gotten off to a great start as one of our guides went 5-7 today. Look to find fish in the places that might not be getting fished as regularly.

 

One word of caution to anyone headed this direction over the next few day.  WATCH THE RIVER LEVELS.  Things may get a little interesting, but then again sometimes the predictions are wrong!

Report Date: 11/13/12

Steelhead fishing on the Clearwater remained very good over the past week.  The weather front that came in on Thursday not only did not put the fish off, but made fishing better.  As has been the case over the past few weeks back trolling plugs and side drifting bait have been our two most successful methods.  Even our fly clients had very good outings this last week with multiple fish landed on flies throughout the week.  It seems that lower returns over Lower Granite have not translated into slow fishing on the Clearwater. 

Look for fishing to remain very good over the next week and into the upcoming holiday week.  For gear anglers back trolling plugs and side drifting bait will remain the top techniques for hooking Big B-Run Steelhead.  For fly anglers expect the guys throwing light sink tips to start hooking a much higher percentage of fly caught fish.  Also winter type steelhead patterns will be more effective patterns compared to earlier this season.  Think black bunny leaches!

 

Report date: 11/6/12

Fishing over the past week some of the best we have seen all season.  After the high water we had early in the week the fish seemed to be very aggressive and willing to bite.  Things were a little busy on the lower river due to a fishing derby being held in Lewiston (this was not the big derby for the year but a smaller weekend derby), but even with the increase in pressure on the lower river our guides managed to do very well.  Another plus for drift boat anglers is that the upper river has been fishing well for the last few weeks, and will continue to be a good option for anglers willing to get away from the crowds.  Our gear guides were successful back trolling plugs and side drifting eggs.  This last week was also a great week for fly angers on the river.  We heard several reports of guys getting into multiple big fish swinging flies!  Both the sink tip crowd and the guys fishing dry lines seemed to be getting into fish.  The same flies that have been producing all season continued to get grabs.  With steelhead fly fishing its more about getting your fly in front of a willing fish than the particular fly used. 

For this week expect fishing to stay good.  We have a large cold front predicted to hit the Clearwater area on Thursday so we will just have to see how that affects fishing for the weekend but there will be fish available throughout the entire river.

Report date: 10/30/12

Fishing over the past week has remained decent with last Friday being one of the best days of catching that the river has experienced since the opening of the steelhead retention season. All of our guides had multiple fish in the box at the end of the day along with plenty stories about the ones that didn't make it to the net. Gear anglers had the most consistent success side drifting eggs and back trolling plugs. Fly anglers also saw some success with most fish coming to wet flies near the surface.

The big news for this week is that just as the fishing was getting good Mother Nature decided to throw us a curve ball. Due to a very wet few days the river has become unfishable for a few days. The good news is that as I write this report the tribs seem to have peaked and flows are receding. We feel the river will be fishing well by Friday as long as flows continue dropping.

Report Date: 10/16/12

Fishing over the past week continued to be decent with gear anglers back trolling plugs having the highest rate of success.  On the water success for fly anglers seems to be as diverse as the anglers themselves.  Some guys are struggling to hook fish while others are consistently hooking up daily.  The biggest key to consistent success with the fly seems to be finding fish that want to move to the fly.  The guys out there covering the most water and fishing hard are the ones finding success.  It also seems that people willing to fish with a light sink tip are out fishing the floating line guys by a large margin. 

As most people know yesterday was the opening day of Steelhead Harvest season on most of the Clearwater River.  Some of our guides did very well getting their clients into a bunch of big B-Run steelhead.  If you are looking at getting into a few fish to keep now is the time to hit the Clearwater.  Our boats caught fish back trolling plugs and side drifting eggs.  Both of these methods can be extremely effective this time of year, and it seems that a combination of the two methods used throughout the day seems to give guys the best chance at success. 

Report Date 10/9/12

Fishing continued to be decent over the past week but the prolonged dry spell that we are in has the Clearwater running very, very, low and clear.  This has made things a little bit more difficult than normal for this time of year.  Even with the slightly more difficult conditions fly anglers continued to have a decent opportunity at hooking a few fish.  Most success has come to anglers that know the river well and are fishing hard.  Steelhead fly fishing is not easy and guys fishing lots fishy water are getting hookups.  Most of the normal dry line stuff has been producing, but the most success seems to be coming from guys willing to throw tips and larger flies.  For some reason the larger presentation is getting fish to move a little better. 

Gear anglers continue to have good success pulling plugs through productive steelhead water.  The biggest issue for gear anglers is the large numbers of fall Chinook in the system.  If you are able to get your gear into fishy water without a big nook grabbing it then we seem to end up hooking a steelhead. 

I feel overall that fishing has been fairly decent and if we can get some good rain we will see some fantastic steelhead fishing.  Pray for rain and keep fishing hard and the fish will come!