Kootenai River Report | Aug. 17-24, 2016

Dave Blackburn Blog, Fishing Reports Leave a Comment

River Flow: 7,000 cfs 10-16 foot visibility 55 degrees

Inflow from Lake Koocanusa : 7,000 cfs

Hatches: Tiny Winged Ants leading the hatch parade! Pale Morning Duns, Tan Caddis, Little Blue Quills, Blue Wing Olives, Lots of Hoppers and Ants working into the mix. Some Mahogany duns are starting to show in addition to heavy midge activity in the upper river.

Effective Patterns: X-Caddis, Adams, Parachute Adams, Royal Wulff, Red Quill, Purple Haze, Beadhead Prince, Copper johns, Wooly Buggers, Da-Bomb, Small Stonefly nymphs, Olive Stimulators, all hopper patterns, griffiths gnat, ant midges.

Guide report: Kootenai is down to its summer flat flow of 7,000 cfs and all stretches are fishing well. Guide boats are raising anywhere from 20-50 fish during half days on dries. Leader sizes need to be lengthened with the clearing water. Prior to hatch activity, streamer and nymph fishing is productive along with large dries/droppers. There are great caddis hatches, with ovipositing in the evenings. Cooler weather is improving the fishing conditions, with less emphasis towards a big evening, happy hour hatch. Watch for the Ant midges when you can’t see what they are taking! Have fun out there and wade safe; island points and gravels are unstable from the high flows of spring.

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