What’s the latest fishing report on Idaho waters? It pays to ‘run and find out’ yourself!
When I was a kid, my favorite story was “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” Rudyard Kipling’s tale of a brave young mongoose who protects his adopted human family from evil venomous snakes. Decades later, part of the story that sticks with me is what Kipling calls the motto of the mongoose family: run and find out.
These days, so much information is available online. Doing background research on new fishing holes is good strategy, and social media sites can be useful information sources, too. But for me, when the question is “how’s the fishing,” nothing beats running and finding out for myself.
Firsthand fishing knowledge is always more reliable (and exciting) than internet reports. And in many cases, I’ve found it to be the only source of any information. Because Idaho is filled with remote landscapes and literal thousands of fisheries, many prime spots remain undocumented.
This ice fishing season, I got a tip that a regional lake was frozen. I had fished there before, but only during the summer months. Precious little ice fishing data existed online, and the few outdated reports I dug up weren’t very promising. Still, I couldn’t resist the call of the wild, or the possibility of catching slab panfish through the ice.
My buddy Jon (a kindred adventurer) and I met up at zero-dark-thirty and were on the ice well before sunrise. We applied our favorite winter panfish strategies, but an hour passed without any action. We were beginning to wonder if the trip was a misfire, when BANG! Right at dawn, I caught an 11-inch whopper of a bluegill. That fish alone (the second-biggest bluegill I’ve ever handled) was worth the trip, and it kicked off a fun day of multispecies action featuring lots of feisty bluegill, a big largemouth bass and a 14-inch slab of a crappie.
Our unexpected trip turned out to be a blast, and it also got me thinking about how many times fishing new water has produced awesome results. Looking over my 2022 catch log, I noted my two biggest smallmouth bass — both 20-plus-inch giants — were caught on previously unexplored sections of the Snake River. My adventures to rare ice fishing “bonus spots” paid nice dividends. Two seasons ago, a foray into the frozen Owyhee wilderness resulted in a state-record catch. To tame my first tiger muskie, I trekked into a remote alpine lake. And a road trip to Bear Lake led to a fun, unique day on the ice.
Over the last couple years alone, it’s amazing how much good has come from “running and finding out.” Occasionally, a trip doesn’t pan out, but the hits have far outweighed the misses. So, for me, the spirit of curiosity and adventure will continue to be one of the top tools in my tackle box. Because, as the wise wizard Gandalf said in another of my favorite childhood stories, “not all who wander are lost”. And there’s nothing better than wandering Idaho’s never-ending supply of unexplored fisheries, just waiting to get lost in their secrets. Tight lines!
Jordan Rodriguez has been fishing Idaho waters since he was a teen. Share your fish stories, adventures and questions with him at tightlinesboise@gmail.com, or visit www.tightlines208.com for the latest local fishing reports and upcoming class offerings.
